Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena

Subject: Lyr Add: LENA THE QUEEN O' THE UPTOWN ARENA
From: reggie miles
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 01:51 AM

Dick, you asked for it. Here you go, enjoy! I think I actually sang this wrong at the Paltalk session tonight but here are the right words.


Lena The Queen o' the Uptown Arena

Lena the queen o' the uptown arena's the girl that I adore.
She spends her nights, wearing lavender tights, being bounced around the floor.
How I suffer, how I suffer, when Brunhilda the brute starts to rough her.
She goes, (painfully) "AH, AH, AHH, AHH, ouch she's pulling my hair!"
I love her half-nelson, there's nobody else in the world who's so divine
and Lena the queen o' the uptown arena will soon be mine.

Lena the queen o' the uptown arena she gives me such a fright.
I have to pay to see my fiance being strangled every night.
She can handle gorgeous Gertie but when Gert uses holds that are dirty.
She goes, (painfully) "AH, AH, AHH, AHH, ouch she bending my knee!"
Her clothes will be tattered, her teeth will be scattered but how the sun will shine,
when Lena the queen o' the uptown arena is mine oh mine.

Always wrestling, always wrestling, but some day in my arms she'll be nestling.
She'll go, (contentedly) "Ah, ah, ahh, ahh! She'll be happy with me.
But boy I'll get hurt if she catches me flirt with Maria Clementine.
When Lena the queen o' the uptown arena is mine all mine.

;o)

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 11:57 AM

LOL!! I am sorry I missed you singing this one, Reggie!

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 05:07 PM

Thanx much! Author?

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: GUEST,reggie miles
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 06:39 PM

I'll have to check and see when I get home. I got it from an old 78rpm and don't remember if I wrote down the author when I transcribed the lyircs in my song book.

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: mousethief
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 06:40 PM

Great stuff!

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: reggie miles
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 10:11 PM

Well, I just checked and it seems that I neglected to list the author in my book. The 78 is around here somewhere but it may take an act of divine intervention to discover it amidst the piles of mostly unorganized records. Once I do find it, which may be a while, I'll post you the author and what details I can about the the cut. I've been in the middle of a remodeling task for about the last ten years and it's making things like organization difficult if not downright impossible around here. I do have a corner of one room that I'm near certain may contain the disc in question but it is inaccessible at this time. I am amazed things held up as well as they did during our recent shake, rattle and roll here in the NW (upper left) corner. I'm glad I didn't have it all up on shelves yet or I might have been suffering terrible heartache about now and still cleaning up the pieces. Do they make earthquake friendly shelving?

;o)

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: late 'n short 2
Date: 20 Mar 01 - 11:16 AM

Best I can find out from a Google search is that this may have been recorded by Ziggy Talent with the Vaughan Monroe orchestra some time in the '40s.

Dan

Subject: RE: Lena The Queen O' The Uptown Arena
From: reggie miles
Date: 21 Mar 01 - 09:18 AM

Ziggy Talent sounds familiar, but I may just be recalling another recording I have by him and the 40's sounds about right. How did he come up with that name? I think seeing that title and name is what made want to by this record in the first place. That's how I usually pick them when I'm looking through a pile. If they're not familiar artists or songs that I desire, I check to see how weird the song's title sounds or performer's name might be. If it has a high weirdness factor I usually take a chance and buy it. It's a gamble and I end up with a lot of stuff that just doesn't end up being usable but the ones that do work out are worth the effort.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: GUEST,rick
Date: 02 Mar 11 - 09:04 PM

I remember the song back in the 40's when I was a kid at my uncles hotel and I don't remember but the name eddie canter keeps poping up.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 06:51 AM

Billboard says:

Ziggy Talent
PLEASE SAY GOODNIGHT TO THE GUY, IRENE
LENA, THE QUEEN A' THE UPTOWN ARENA
20-3925—(47-3925)
RCA Victor, 1950

ASCAP says:
Written by John Jacob Loeb

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: reggie miles
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 11:03 AM

Thanks Jim! That's him. I had fun with this one. Great lyrics. I enjoy these kinds of twisted tales of love. They spark the imagination and inspire me to even more twisted notions in my songwriting. ;o)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: GUEST,Rita Powell
Date: 20 Jun 13 - 10:19 PM

When trying out to dance in a local musical, I was told everyone who auditioned also had to sing. On the spur of the moment, I sang "Lena." And, I was cast as a singer, but not a dancer!!!! (At the introductory workshop, I mentioned this, as I introduced myself. "They" said, "Oh, you can dance, too." So, I did. What I didn't realize was that by doing both, I would have to go to many more rehearsals. . . :))

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: GUEST,Henry Piper of Ottery
Date: 21 Jun 13 - 04:11 AM

Does this have any relationship to the old Jazz standard " Leena, the queen of Palesteena" I've often wondered about the origins of that song, which seems to date from the twenties or even earlier.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 11:44 AM

Henry Piper: The song you refer to is properly called PALESTEENA; although some people have recorded it under the title LENA FROM PALESTEENA or QUEEN OF PALESTEENA. It was written in 1920 and recorded by Frank Crumit (and others). Lyrics have been posted here (click) and there is a link to the sheet music.

Since I haven't heard LENA, THE QUEEN O' THE UPTOWN ARENA, I can't say whether the two songs are related. It doesn't look like they would fit to the same tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: GUEST,Henry Piper of Ottery
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 12:20 PM

Jim Dixon, Many thanks for the additional info,
Henry,

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Lena the Queen o' the Uptown Arena
From: GUEST,Helena M
Date: 11 Nov 20 - 07:28 PM

OMG...these lyrics kept scrolling in my head today. When
I was a little girl in the very early 60's my dad would tease me by singing me this song whenever I cried...making me angrier with each verse as he used my name, Helena, in place of Lena. Googled the bits I remembered to see if it was a real tune or one he'd made up just to piss me off.

Sheesh, the shyt that regurgitates 60 years down the road of life.