Everybody from Elvis Presley to Ray Stevens has gone public with performances of this Leiber & Stoller novelty song.
I favor the Coasters, and while considering the Coasters' recording,
take a bow, King Curtis!
Saxophone in hand, non-verbal musical sound effects.
Of course there is the stuttering "Yackety-Yak" display,
but when Little Egypt
"crawls on her belly like a reptile",
check out King Curtis's intense full sustained tones ...

airplay was banned on many radio stations in the southern US
in 1961, when the single version was released.


LITTLE EGYPT / YING YANG
Lyrics by Jerry Leiber
Music by Mike Stoller

spoken intro,
in the manner of a circus barker:
Step right up, folks,
And see Little Egypt do her famous dance of the pyramids
She walks, she talks,
She crawls on her belly like a reptile
Just one thin dime
One-tenth of a dollar
Step right up, folks

(sung)
I went and bought myself a ticket
And I set down in the very first row
They pulled the curtain up
And when they turned the spotlight 'way down low
Little Egypt came out struttin'
Wearin' nuttin'
But a button and a bow

Singin'
Ying Yang, Ying Yang (gitchee gitchee gitchee)
Ying Yang, Ying Yang

She had a ruby on her tummy
And a diamond big as Texas on her toe
She let her hair down
And she did the hoochie-coochie real slow
When she did her special number
On a zebra skin, I thought she'd stop the show

Singin'
Ying Yang, Ying Yang (gitchee gitchee gitchee)
Ying Yang, Ying Yang

She did a triple somersault
And when she hit the ground
She winked at the audience
And when she turned around
She had a picture of a cowboy
Tattooed on her spine
Sayin' 'Phoenix, Arizona, nineteen-forty-nine'

Yeah, but let me tell you, people
Little Egypt doesn't dance there any more
She's too busy moppin'
and a-takin' care of shoppin' at the store
'Cause we've got seven kids
And all day long they crawl around the floor

Singin'
Ying Yang, Ying Yang (gitchee gitchee gitchee)
Ying Yang, Ying Yang

Jerry Leiber Music
copyright Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC


"Little Egypt/Ying Yang" : the Coasters, featuring King Curtis, saxophone