Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you

Subject: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Wesley S
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:09 PM

Does anyone remember this old rock and roll song? It went something like this:

"If you want to be happy for the rest of your life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
So from my personal point of view
Get an ugly girl to marry you"

There's even some chatter in it where someone asks the singer

"Hey is that your wife man? She sure is ugly..
Yeah but she sure can cook"

Sure it's an awful song - but I can't get it out of my head. I almost can see this coming from a Calipso tradition. Does anyone know the real title? The singer? Anything about it? It actually was a hit record. At least in my part of the world it was. I can't imagine it getting on the radio today.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:11 PM

I think this is the song I'm familiar with, called Always Marry An Ugly Girl.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: PoppaGator
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:18 PM

I recognized the song right away from your "Lyr Req" title, assumed that I could help, but now I realize that I don't really know any more than you ~ not the artist's name, and not the excact song title, either.

It certainly was a big hit where I came from, too. That would be in the New York City metro area, probably about 1958-62. I also have the definite impression that the song (and perhaps the actual recording as well) came from "the islands" (i.e., the Carribbean).

You have the chorus and part of the spoken interlude; here's what I remember from the verse(s):

An ugly woman cook meals on time
She always give you peace of mind...

Dang ~ I thought I'd remember at least one more couplet! Maybe it'll come to me, in which case I'll be back with more.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:20 PM

Hasn't there been an earlier thread about this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: EBarnacle
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:22 PM

Yup threads 0.7742 and 0.7967. Just enter ugly woman into the mudcat search engine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:33 PM

"I almost can see this coming from a Calipso tradition"

It is a calypso. I can't give you the full pedigree unfortunately, but it was recorded by Duke of Iron on 21.12.46 during a Carnegie Hall concert which had been organised by Alan Lomax. You can hear it on Rounder 11661-1840-2. Calypso at Midnight.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 03:29 PM

The song Wesley asked about is called IF YOU WANNA BE HAPPY. It was recorded by Jimmy Soul in 1963. Lyrics are in a thread called Lyr Req: Always Marry an Ugly Girl.

(Actually, ALWAYS MARRY AN UGLY GIRL is a different song.)

That thread is also linked to a couple of other threads. Together, they contain lyrics to several songs about ugly girls.

Some people seem to find it hard to believe that there can be more than one song about any given topic. Mention one, and people will assume you're talking about another, even if the lyrics you quote don't fit.

By the way, the numbers 0.7742 and 0.7967 don't designate any particular threads. Those numbers are supposed to measure how relevant a particular thread is to whatever words you were searching for. I don't know how those numbers are calculated, and they have always seemed pretty useless to me.

Assuming you accept the default option of "Sort (Forum) by: relevance" when you set up a search, the results are always ranked by that number, although you often see several threads with the same number. You can also select the option "Sort (Forum) by: date", which is more helpful, in my opinion, especially if you remember approximately when you previously saw something.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Wesley S
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 03:54 PM

Thanks guys, here it is again for this thread:

IF YOU WANNA BE HAPPY
(Carmela Guida, Frank Guida & Joseph Royster)

CHORUS: If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife.
So, from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you.

REPEAT CHORUS.

A pretty woman makes her husband look small,
And very often causes his downfall.
As soon as he's married her, then she starts
To do the things that will break his heart.

But if you make an ugly woman your wife,
You'll be happy for the rest of your life.
An ug-a-ly woman cooks meals on time.
She'll always give you peace of mind. CHORUS.

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

Don't let your friends say you have no taste.
Go ahead and marry anyway.
Though her face is ugly [and] her eyes don't match,
Take it from me, she's a better catch. CHORUS.

SPOKEN:
(VOICE 1:) Say man!
(VOICE 2:) Hey baby!
(VOICE 1:) I saw your wife the other day!
(VOICE 2:) Yeah?
(VOICE 1:) Yeah, an' she's ug-leeee!
(VOICE 2:) Yeah, she's ugly, but she sure can cook, baby!
(VOICE 1:) Yeah, all right!

CHORUS 4 TIMES AND FADE.

[As recorded by Jimmy Soul, SPQR 3305, 1963.]

Subject: Lyr Add: UGLY WOMAN (Rafael De Leon)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 05:38 PM

The Great Song Thesaurus says that "If You Wanna Be Happy" was written in 1963 by Frank J. Guida, Carmela Guida, and Joseph Royster. The Harry Fox Agency Website (hfa.com) confirms the songwriter names and says the song was recorded by Jimmy Soul and by Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
You'd think that would settle it and give a clear attribution for the song, but take a look at this:

UGLY WOMAN
(Rafael De Leon, Southern Music Publishing Company)
Sung by the Duke of Iron.

Now if you want to be happy living a king's life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
You want to be happy living a king's life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
All you gotta do is just what I say,
Then you will be jolly, happy, and gay
— So from a logical point of view,
You better love a woman uglier than you.

Well, a pretty woman make her husband look small,
And very often cause his downfall,
As soon as she marry, there and then she start,
To do the things that would ache his heart.
And when you think that she's belonging to you,
Boys, she's calling somebody else "doodoo." [darling]
So from a logical point of view,
You better love a woman uglier than you.

But if you make an ugly woman your wife,
You can be sure you'll be happy in all your life,
For she will never do things in a funny way,
To allow the neighbors to have anything to say,
And she wouldn't disregard her husband at all,
By exhibiting herself to Peter and Paul —
So from a logical point of view,
You better love a woman uglier than you.

Now an ugly woman give you your meals in time,
And she always try to make you happy in mind,
At nights when you lay down in your cozy bed,
She will coax, caress you, and scratch your head,
And she'll begin to love you like a little baby,
And call you sweet names like "Sugar Daddy,"
So from a logical point of view,
You better love a woman uglier than you. heh!

from the Alan Lomax Collection CD, Calypso at Midnight! The Live MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Concert, Town Hall, New York City, 1946


The tune isn't the same, but the lyrics sure are similar.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Polly Squeezebox
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 06:27 PM

Very popular with linedancers at the moment as a dance called Crazy Foot Mambo was written to this song by Paul McAdam in January 2008 - it had been in the linedance Top 10 for months but has just dropped out of the list. Song can be heard and dance seen on:

http://www.linedancermagazine.com/dancedatabase/scripts/crazy-foot-mambo.html#video

Polly
(PS Don't decry linedancing - it's what dancers turn to when their knees have been wrecked by dancing morris! - In my case anyway)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 06:50 PM

For those who remember Harry Belafonte's early work with calypso (1950's), you might recall a similar themed tune about marrying an ugly woman. I intend to pull out my old vinyls in search of it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Peace
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 07:04 PM

Ain't no such thing, IMO.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 07:53 PM

I have 4 or 5 calypso versions of this song. Also, Jimmy Soul's R/B version, "If You Want to be Happy", on a one-hit wonder CD.

Sir Lancelot - Two versions recorded about 1942 and '46
In the style of the Roaring Lion (Raphael de Leon) in duet w/ ?, -
    Ugly Woman/Trouble and Misery
Unknown - on a 10" LP from 1954
The Lion (RdL) - from 1945 & 1958

also (but not in my collection)
The Charmer - (Louis Walcott, later Farrakan) about 1953
Robert Mitchum - 1958 as 'From a Logical Point of View'==I would really like this LP. And it is that Robert Mitchum of cinema

I have a lot of Belafonte, but nothing with that song, so TJin San Diego find it for me. I hope you're not thinking of ' Mama, Look a Boo Boo."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Joe_F
Date: 10 Dec 08 - 08:18 PM

The eminent logician Willard Van Orman Quine took the title of one of his books, _From a Logical Point of View_, from the second song. It was played at his memorial service at Harvard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Get an ugly girl to marry you
From: Michael Harrison
Date: 11 Dec 08 - 12:52 AM

No question - the Jimmy Soul version was the "hit" in the 1950's or early 1960's; I remember it very well. Cheers,...........mwh