This is the only Cab Calloway song for which I can find sheet music that is viewable online; it’s at Temple University. (It seems like it should still be under copyright, but who am I to argue?):


THE SCAT SONG (SKAT ‘N’ SKEET ‘N’ HI DE HI)
Words by Mitchell Parish; music by Frank Perkins & Cab Calloway. ©1932.

VERSE: Many words in Webster’s dictionary
Are so very, very ordinary
If you can’t express your thoughts in that way,
You can always do it in the scat way:

CHORUS 1: When your sweetie tells you that it’s gonna be all okay,
  Just skat ‘n’ skeet ‘n’ hi de hi, and skattle attle at da day.
When you feel like shoutin’, advertise it in just this way:
  Just skat ‘n’ skeet ‘n’ hi de hi, and skattle attle at da day.
Say, don’t you give a hang what words you use at the time.
Sing that silly language without reason or rhyme.
When you face the preacher, there is only one thing to say:
  Just skat ‘n’ skeet ‘n’ hi de hi, and skattle attle at da day.

CHORUS 2: What’s the good of sighin’ when you’re down in the mouth and blue?
  Just skat ‘n’ skeet ‘n’ hi de hi, and skattle attle at da doo.
Don’t start “me oh myin’;” it’s the worst thing that you can do.
  Just skat ‘n’ skeet ‘n’ hi de hi, and skattle attle at da doo.
Say, keep on blowin’ rings and make believe it’s a dream.
When you wake up, things won’t be as tough as they seem.
Though you think you’re dyin’, there’s a long life ahead of you.
  Just skat ‘n’ skeet ‘n’ hi de hi, and skattle attle at da doo.


You can hear a recording by Cab Calloway and His Cotton Club Orchestra at The Internet Archive. It is quite different from the sheet music. It has a different intro; when he sings the verse, instruments take the place of the scat lines (which are indented above). After singing one verse, he indulges in free-form scatting for the rest of the record, interspersed with instrumental lines. Nothing he sings quite resembles the scat lines in the sheet music.