Lyr Req: Minnie the Moocher (Cab Calloway)

Subject: minnie the moocher
From: GUEST,ian guthrie uk
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 05:26 PM

Anyone have the words & tune? & mp3?

verse (approx)-

Now hear the story of Minnie the moocher.
She was a low-down hoochie coocher.
She was the roughest toughest frail,
But Minnie had a heart as big as a whale.
(repeat)

She kicked around with a guy named Smokey,
And he loved her though he was a cokie.
He took her down to Chinatown
And showed her how to kick the gong around. *
(repeat)

Oh, Minnie smoked and she started a fire;
Got a free ride in the black maria.
She gave him the money for her bail,
And he left her flat in the county jail.
(repeat)

Oh, they put Minnie where they put the crazy.
Now poor Minnie’s kicking up daisies.
This ends my story; this ends my song.
She was a good girl but they done her wrong.
(repeat)

* smoke opium

There's another song, the ballad of Smokey Joe. I know the words, but it's late.

Reach me on [e-mail] - I won't find this website again.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 05:42 PM

I thought there was a thread on MtM not long ago, but have failed to locate it. There was an earlier thread on Cab Calloway Different Cab Calloway Request which cited this website Cab Calloway, which leads to several transcriptions of the song at Minnie The Moocher.

Personally I think that if you post a request to a group like this you should keep the address to get back here; however, I have e-mailed the originator with this address.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: Pterry
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 06:07 PM

Only version I know of this appears (sung by Cab Calloway) in The Blues Brothers. Completely different though. Pterry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:22 PM

When Cab penned this song he used the same harmonic chord pattern of St James Infirmary Blues - one of his favourite songs. He changed the tempo, time signature and lyrics over the decades he played and sung this classic, presumably to keep it fresh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 08:44 PM

Minnie was (for its day) a PC version of Willie the Weeper.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 11:57 PM

check out the Heptunes site below for the lyrics:

http://www.heptune.com/minnieth.html

JAB

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:14 AM

One of these songs (Minnie or Willie) was dramatized in a long and involved Betty Boop cartoon. Anyone else see it? Very sophisticated.

SRS

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 04:28 AM

You'll also find a Real Audio version of one of the Calloway recordings at this site that I've mentioned recently: The Beat

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: JudeL
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 11:38 AM

Great site, loads of thanks, MTM does seem to be a different version than the one sung in the blues bros (one of my all time fave movies) but thoroughly enjoyed hearing it

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 05:29 PM

You can find MINNIE THE MOOCHER in this old thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: Mr Happy
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 03:33 AM

Here's the great Cab Calloway singing his greatest hit!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zxcc34Ik2QA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: Mr Happy
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 12:01 PM

More here http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8YxRTN5I7ok
from Betty Boop [Cab Calloway]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: minnie the moocher
From: Greg B
Date: 10 Sep 07 - 01:48 PM

In the BBC adaptation of Jeeves and Wooster, Wooster is
singing Minnie the Moocher and trying to induce Jeeves
to join in.

It's pretty funny when 'Sir' says something to the effect
of "It's sort of a call-and-response thing, Jeeves, I sing
one line, and you sing it back to me."

Whereupon he sings

Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-ho!

And Jeeves responds, spoken, as slowly and dryly as ever

Ho do oh dee ho dee ho, sir.

Subject: Lyr Add: MINNIE THE MOOCHER AT THE MORGUE (Burnett
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Nov 14 - 07:56 PM

The most remarkable feature of this recording is the scat choruses, which, of course, would be pointless to try to transcribe. You can hear it at YouTube or on Spotify.

I was unable to determine a copyright date, but WorldCat.org says it appeared in the songbook "Smiley Burnette Cowboy and Western Songs" which was published in 1935.


MINNIE THE MOOCHER AT THE MORGUE
As sung by Smiley Burnett

Now you've all heard the tale about Minnie the Moocher,
Who lived by the subway in New York.
Now she was a snow-eatin' sinner.
She'd steal a poor man's silver knives and fork.

Now the policeman took poor Minnie down to the jailhouse,
Then down to the morgue for a ride.
Now the policeman said: "Minnie, tell the truth now.
Did you know any o' these boys before they died?"

Well, poor Minnie looked around at all them dead corpses
To see if there was anybody that she knew,
And she said to that big fat policeman:
"Well, I think I knew maybe one or two.

"Now right over there is Burglin' Bud the bandit.
He's got a cake of ice at his head and toe.
Now that man was so hot when I knew him,
He'd 'a' turned that cake of ice into snow.

Now layin' right over there on that long stretcher,
Why, that's poor Bowery Bob who run the cabaret.
He tried to beat a rap by turnin' squealer.
Somebody bumped him off yesterday."

Minnie's eyes fell on a slab o' marble,
And she screamed like the whistle on a train.
On that slab laid Willie the Weeper.
He was just deader than the king of Spain.

Oh, Willie was Minnie's boyfriend.
She didn't know that she was gonna find him there,
Oh, laid out on a slab o' marble,
All cold, bleak, and bare.

Now my little story's all over.
You've heard 'bout poor Minnie's plight.
Now if you think this story ain't got no moral,
You can just bet your bottom dollar you're right.