The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #66111   Message #1111525
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
07-Feb-04 - 04:13 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Rum and Coca Cola
Subject: Lyr Add: RUM AND COCA-COLA (Morey Amsterdam)
This seems to be the version of Rum and Coca Cola that Morey Amsterdam 'copyrighted.' Correctness not guaranteed.Additional verses were added by Al Stillman:

Rum and Coca Cola
Morey Amsterdam

If you ever go down to Trinidad,
They make you feel so very glad
Calypso sing and make up rhyme,
Guarantee you one real good fine time.


Drinkin' rum and Coca Cola.
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee Dollar.
Oh beat it, man, beat it.

Since the Yankee come to Trinidad,
They got the young girls all goin' mad
Young girls say they treat 'em nice,
Make Trinidad like paradise.

Drinkin' rum and Coca Cola
Go down Point Koomanah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar.
Oh, you vex me, you vex me.

From Chicachicaree to Mona's Isle
Native girls all dance and smile
Help soldier celebrate his leave
Make every day like New Year's Eve.

Drinkin' rum, etc.
It's a fact, man, it's a fact.

In old Trinidad, I also fear,
The situation is mighty queer
Like the Yankee girl, the native swoon
When she hear der Bingo (Bingle?) croon.
Drinkin' etc.

Out on Manzanella Beach,
G. I. romance with native peach
All night long, make tropic love,
Next day, sit in hot sun and cool off.

Drinkin' rum, etc.
It's a fact, man, it's a fact.

From a text at Rum and Coca-Cola
This site also has additional lyrics by Stillman (and others?). I have not put them here because some seem to be post-WW2.

Lord Invader (Rupert Westmore Grant) also composed two pieces I have not found- "Yankee Dollar," and "Cumana Beach."

Lines with 'Bamboo' come from another calypso. The 'Grass skirt' reference seemingly is from a version sung by the USO troop when they went to the South Pacific. It would be interesting to find a complete copy of this version, which probably is preserved on Armed Forces Radio tapes.