The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #41018   Message #590262
Posted By: GUEST,.gargoyle
11-Nov-01 - 12:06 PM
Thread Name: Lyr ADD: Shooting of Dan McGrew (Robert W Service)
Subject: Lyr Add: DANGEROUS DAN MCGREW (A Kramer, J Whitney
Not as good as the old Napster, but Morpheus and Kazaa are excellent sources for MP3 collections that are out of print. The simple, lilting, piano tune is easy to pick out.

[You can hear the recording, and see an image of the record label, at The Internet Archive--a Mudelf.]

DANGEROUS DAN McGREW
As recorded by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, with vocalist Kenny Gardner, 1949.

A bunch o' the boys were whoopin' it up at the Malamute Café,
And the ragtime kid at the music box was a-jazzin' a tune that was gay,
And back of the bar in a poker game sat a man that ev'ryone knew:
He was grim and cold; he was bad 'n' bold; he was Dangerous Dan McGrew.

And while Dangerous Dan was a-playin' his hand and keepin' his mind on his game,
You could see standin' by, with a gleam in her eye and her hair just as red as a flame,
A gal who was tall, with a face like a doll, and her fingernails painted blue:
A gal who was tall, with a face like a doll: the lady that's known as Lou.

When out of the night, which was fifty below, and into the din and the glare,
A man staggered in who was haggard and thin, and his face was filled with despair.
Now he looked all around until he had found the lady that's known as Lou,
And then the stranger turned and his eyes they burned on Dangerous Dan McGrew.

Then suddenly, wham! all the lights went out, and a voice cried: "Die you must!"
And then a woman screamed, and a shot rang out, and somebody bit the dust;
And then the lights flashed on, and the Northwest Mounted police came a-crashin' through.
They drew their guns and they said: "Which one is Dangerous Dan McGrew?"

And then somebody said: "Ooh! they're so big!" and skipped across the floor,
A one-two skip, hand on hip, right out through the open door.
Now was it the stranger a-takin' his leave, or the lady that's known as Lou?
It was nobody else in this whole wide world but Dangerous Dan McGrew.