The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #164925   Message #3952392
Posted By: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
23-Sep-18 - 10:28 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Kickin' the Gong Around (Koehler/Arlen)
Subject: Lyr Add: ZAZ ZUH ZAZ (Cab Calloway)
I should have been clearer about the “typical” part of my first post. The whole stage production was redone in 1933 with maybe a half dozen audio recordings, no two exactly the same.

Zaz Zuh Zaz is also a part of Calloway's Smokey Joe & Minnie series. I'm still slogging through the Minnie links and wondering if the missing songs are worth individual threads or all-in-one index. Pity the mods:

w. Cab Calloway, m. Harry White

Now, here's a very entrancing phrase,
It will put you in a daze,
To me it don't mean a thing,
But it's got a very peculiar swing.

(scat chorus)

Now, zaz-zuh-zaz was handed down
From a bloke down in Chinatown;
It seems his name was Smokey Joe,
And he used to hi-de-hi-de-ho.

(scat chorus)
(scat solo)

When Smokey Joe came into town
And he kicked the gong around,
Any place that he would go
Minnie the Moocher she was sure to go,
With her zaz-zuh-zay!

(Scat chorus)

It makes no difference where you go,
There's one thing that they sure do know.
There's no need for them to be blue,
Cause zaz-zuh-zaz will always see them through.

(Scat chorus)

Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra, Zaz Zuh Zaz/I Learned About Love from Her, Victor – 24557, 10”, 78RPM, 1934.

Note: Harry White was Calloway's regular arranger at the time. That should be him on saxophone as well.
w.Mitchell Parish, m. Frank Perkins (flip side) are also Tin Pan Alley A-team.

Lyrics transcribed from YT. Couldn't confirm the year:
YT: Cab Calloway - Zaz Zuh Zaz (1933)