Arabian riff

The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid is a well-known melody in the United States. Alternate titles for children song using this melody include "The Girls in France", "The Southern Part of France."

History

The song originally was purportedly written by Sol Bloom, a showman (and later, a U.S. Congressman) who was the entertainment director of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It included an attraction called "A Street in Cairo" produced by Gaston Akoun, which featured snake charmers, camel rides and a scandalous dancer known as Little Egypt. Songwriter James Thornton penned the words and music to his own version of this melody, "Streets Of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid". Copyrighted in 1895, it was made popular by his wife Lizzie Cox, who used the stage name Bonnie Thornton. The oldest known recording of the song is from 1895, performed by Dan Quinn (Berliner Discs 171-Z).

The first five notes of the song are similar to the beginning of a French song named "Colin Prend Sa Hotte" (1719), which in turn resembles note for note an Algerian or Arabic song titled "Kradoutja". The song appears frequently in cartoons when something that is connected with deserts, Arabia, Egypt, belly dancing, or snake charming is being displayed.

Lyrics

As with many songs often sung by children, there are wide variations to the common lyrics.

Variant #1

Oh the girls in France

Wear their whiskers in their pants

And the things they do

Would kill a Russian Jew

And the clothes they wear

Would freeze a polar bear.

Do what your mama says

And do what your papa says

But don't split your pants

Doing the Hootchy Kootchy Dance

Variant #2

Oh the girls in France did the hokey cokey dance

Singing Annie put your fanny close to mine:

Oh the girls in Spain did the very, very same

Singing Nellie put your belly close to mine.

Variant #3

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.

With their long blond hair and the boobies in the air.

There's a hole in the wall where the men can see it all.

The way they shake is enough to kill a snake.

Variant #4 (Common in Britain)

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.

and the men play drums

on the naked ladies' bums !!

There are alternate endings of the final verse, including:

* But the men don't care 'cause they're in their underwear

* But the men don't care 'cause they like to see them bare

* But the men don't care 'cause they chew their underwear

* But the men don't care 'cause they smoke their underwear

Variant #5 (Common In United States)

There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance.

There's a hole in the wall where the boys can see it all.

But the ladies don't care 'cause they're in their underwear.

Variant #6 (Glaswegian version)

Does yer maw drink wine, does she drink it aw the time?

Does yer da drink gin, does he drink it oot a tin?

Yet another variant includes the lines:

There's a place in France where the ladies wear no pants

And the men go around with their weenies hanging down.

Travadja La Moukère

In France there is a popular song that immigrants from Algeria brought back in the 1960s called "Travadja La Moukère", which uses exactly the Hoochy Coochy tune. Its original tune, said to be based on an original Arab song, was created around 1850 and subsequently adopted by the Foreign Legion. Partial lyrics :

Travadja La Moukère

Travadja Bono

Trempe ton cul dans la soupière

Si c'est chaud c'est que ça brûle

Si ça brûle c'est que c'est chaud !

The use of melody in popular music

Since the piece is not copyrighted, it was used as a basis for several songs in the early 20th century:

• "Hoolah! Hoolah!"
• "Dance of the Midway"
• "Coochi-Coochi Polka"
• "Danse Du Ventre"
• "Kutchi Kutchi"

Later popular songs that include all or part of the melody include:

• "Speak Chinese" by Jin
• "Harem Nights" (also known as "In the Harem") by Irving Berlin
• The "Little Egypt" segment of the World's Columbian Exposition scene in Show Boat
• "Little Egypt" by Oasis
• "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" by The Four Lads and by They Might Be Giants
• "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" by Pam Tillis
• "Dance of the Snake Charmer" by Carl Stevens and His Circus Band
• "Twilight in Turkey by the Raymond Scott Quintette
• "Playboy" by Red Wanting Blue
• "Revolution 9" by The Beatles
• "Hoolah Hoolah" by Can
• "Whiney, Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy)" by Willi One Blood
• "Naggin" by Ying Yang Twins
• "You Scared the Lovin' Outta Me" by Funkadelic.
• "Rip Rock" by Canibus
• "Killer” (杀手) by Lin Junjie
• "Funky Mule" by Ike and Tina Turner
• King Tut by Steve Martin
• "Lies," by Thompson Twins, immediately after the line, "Cleopatra died for Egypt. What a waste of time!"
• "Cleopatra's Cat" by the Spin Doctors.
• "Viva la Gloria (Little Girl)" by Green Day
• "Take It Off" by Ke$ha
• "Starchild" by Teena Marie
• "Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si" from the motion picture Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

Appearances in cartoons

• The Karnival Kid (1929)
• Goofy Goat Antics (1933)
• Circus Capers (1930)
• Mighty Mouse: Aladdin's Lamp (1947)
• Woody Woodpecker Witch Crafty (1955)
• Toon Factory Porky: Ali Baba Bound
• Vincent (1982)

Appearances in computer games

From cartoons the song has been adapted to video games. It appears on following computer and videogames:

• Bombo (1986)
• Lemmings 2 (1993, Egyptian tribe)
• The Lost Vikings (1992, Level 3 - Egypt)
• Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 (1991, desert level)
• Oh Mummy (1984)
• Rampage Through Time (2000, Egyptian timezone)
• Rick Dangerous (1989, Level 2 - Egypt)
• Zool 2 (1994, Tooting common level 3)

See also

• Farida Mazar Spyropoulos and Ashea Wabe (on the origins of "Hootchy Kootchy")
• Asian Riff (a similar stereotyped musical motif, popularly associated with China)

External links

• Fresno State University description