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User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Joe Offer DTStudy: Striptease Songs (25) DTCorrection: Strip Polka (Johnny Mercer) 08 Feb 11


Here are the lyrics from Johnny Mercer: The Life, Times and Song Lyrics of Our Huckleberry Friend, by Bob Bach and Ginger Mercer (Lyle Stuart, Inc., 1982), page 105.

STRIP POLKA
(Johnny Mercer)

There's a burlesque theater where the gang loves to go
To see Queenie, the cutie of the burlesque show
And the thrill of the evening is when out Queenie skips
And the band plays the polka while she strips.

    CHORUS 1:
    "Take it off! Take it off!"
    Cries a voice from the rear,
    "Take it off! Take it off!"
    Soon it's all you can hear;
    But she's always a lady, even in pantomime,
    So she stops!
And always just in time.

She's as fresh and as wholesome as the flowers in May,
And she hopes to retire to the farm some day;
But you can't buy a farm until you're up in the chips,
So the band plays the polka while she strips!

    CHORUS 2:
    "Take it off! Take it off!"
    All the customers shout,
    "Down in front! Down in front!"
    While the band beats it out;
    But she's always a lady, even in pantomime,
    So she stops!
And always just in time.

    Queenie, Queen of them all.
    Queenie, some day you'll fall.
    Some day, churchbells will chime
    In Strip Polka time.

Oh! She hates corny waltzes and she hates the gavotte,
And there's one big advantage if the music's hot:
It's a fast-moving exit just in case something r-r-rips,
So the band plays the polka while she strips!

CHORUS 3:
    Drop around, take it in,
    It's the best in the west,
    "Take it off! Take it off!"
    You can yell like the rest;
    Take her out when it's over,
    She's a peach when she's dressed,
    But she stops!
And always just in time.

    Queenie, Queen of them all.
    Queenie, some day you'll fall.
    Some day, churchbells will chime
    In Strip Polka time.

It's the polka time,
Churchbells will chime,
It's the polka time.


Words and music by Johnny Mercer, 1942. Popularized by the Andrews Sisters, but also recorded by Mercer himself and by many others.
@dance
filename[ STRPOLKA
TUNE FILE: STRPOLKA
CLICK TO PLAY
RG

On the Mercer recording, there's a spoken introduction that I've never been able to understand. Mercer starts by singing, "This is the Strip Polka"; and then another voice answers (spoken), "I adore...[unintelligible]." Then there's an instrumental part. After that, a voice announces, "Say, let's listen and have some fun, to the gay lyrics of Handsome Harry [unintelligible - Bruno Bum??]. I don't know who the other singers are the Mercer recording - there are women's and men's voices. Whatever the case, it's a great recording - and it's Mercer's clever humor at its best.


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