The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #72368 Message #1246844
Posted By: Charley Noble
13-Aug-04 - 11:57 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: James M. Carpenter Shanties & Sea Songs
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: James M. Carpenter Shanties & Sea Son
"Those hills of gold are made of clay."
Very nice, indeed!
I've also been wondering about the wording of "Fire Down Below" where Bob Walser and others have interpreted one verse of the recording as:
And we'll go down to the Midway Plaisances, Fire down below-oh-oh-oh-ohh, boys, Fire down below! To see the pretty girls do the Hula-Hula dances, Fire down below-oh-oh-oh-ohh, boys, Fire down below!
According to notes from The Barbary Coast by Herbert Asbury, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., NY, 1933
The Midway Plaisance
Located outside the infamous Barbary Coast district on Market Street, between 3rd and 4th streets, in San Francisco between the early 1890's and early 1900's.
"The first melodeon or music hall in San Francisco to make a special feature of hoochy-coochee dancers, or, as the theatrical weekly Variety calls them. 'torso-tossers and hip-wavers.' Some of the most noted cooch artists of the day appeared at the Midway Plaisance, among them the Girl in Blue and the original Little Egypt, who first danced in San Francisco in 1897, a few years after her triumphs in the Streets of Cairo Show at the first Chicago World's Fair. The admission charge at the Midway Plaisance was ten cents, slightly lower than at the Bella Union (its older rival), and it was tougher in every way; its shows were bawdier, and virtue among its female entertainers was considered very detrimental to the best interests of the establishment. Like practically all of the other melodeons, it had a mezzanine floor cut up into booths, before which hung heavy curtains. A visitor who engaged a booth for the evening was entertained between acts by the female performers and his conduct was not questioned so long as he continued to buy liquor." (pps. 131-132)
It seems likely to me that the words "hulu-hulu" are a misinterpretation of "hoochy-coochee." Little Egypt would not be pleased. Of course, our revival singers do enjoy the reference to "hulu-hulu" dancing and maybe Carpenter's source actually sang that. I'd really appreciate it if someone could give that recording another listen.