"Steamy" Roll Lyrics
By Paul Johnson
It's interesting to read the discussion about words on rolls. I had an entertaining experience when I recut "I'm No Angel" from an original Paramount player roll.
I had the roll transcribed quite some time back, before I was actively collecting lyrics to publish with the roll. A CD I owned had Mae West's recorded version of the song, so I wrote down the lyrics figuring they were the same as the roll.
Remembering what a rascal Mae was, I thought she might've altered the lyrics on me. To play it safe, I called the friend who loaned me the roll and had them read the lyrics over the phone. Fortunately, no one walked in during the process and I made sure the speaker-phone was shut off at my end.
Sure enough, Mae had spiced up things even more, kind of like adding more chiles to an already five-alarm Chile con Carne! It was fascinating to compare her version with the words on the roll. So, just to make things more interesting, I issued the roll with both sets of lyrics: the roll version and the Mae West version.
I agree with Joyce Brite when she says we're missing a piece of music history when we don't have the lyrics. If it wasn't for some rolls, I wouldn't even know that there were expressions in the twenties like "She Knows Her Onions". Seeing these expressions and knowing what they mean shows what things have changed and what things have stayed the same.
By the way, "I'm No Angel" was my biggest seller. It's good to know some traditions remain the same, that is: "Sex still Sells!"
Paul Johnson
The Piano Roll Shop
[ The "double entendre" song was a mainstay of small-town vaudeville
[ and later was quite popular for "Party Records". I especially enjoy
[ the slick word-gags in the songs of Sophie Tucker: "Saturday night"
[ humor written for her by the same talented composers and lyricists
[ who wrote prim "Sunday afternoon" ballads. -- Robbie |
(Message sent Sat 21 Dec 1996, 21:38:36 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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