A tawdry #1 Hit from the Greatest Generation: "Rum and Coca Cola"

[darkstar]

Marvel at the moral clarity on display! See the steely anti-imperialist stance! Delight in the way that Morey Amsterdam--yep, that Morey Amsterdam--accurately plumbs the psyches of all Trindad women and their daughters!


From 1945:


Rum and Coca-Cola
Words & Music by:
Morey Amsterdam


If you ever go down Trinidad
They make you feel so very glad
Calypso sing and make up rhyme
Guarantee you one real good fine time

Drinkin' rum and Coca-Cola
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar

Oh, beat it man, beat it

Since the Yankee come to Trinidad
They got the young girls all goin' mad
Young girls say they treat 'em nice
Make Trinidad like paradise

Drinkin' rum and Coca-Cola
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar

Oh, you vex me, you vex me

From Chicachicaree to Mona's Isle
Native girls all dance and smile
Help soldier celebrate his leave
Make every day like New Year's Eve

Drinkin' rum and Coca-Cola
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar

It's a fact, man, it's a fact

In old Trinidad, I also fear
The situation is mighty queer
Like the Yankee girl, the native swoon
When she hear der Bingle croon

Drinkin' rum and Coca-Cola
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar

Out on Manzanella Beach
G.I. romance with native peach
All night long, make tropic love
Next day, sit in hot sun and cool off

Drinkin' rum and Coca-Cola
Go down Point Koomahnah
Both mother and daughter
Workin' for the Yankee dollar

It's a fact, man, it's a fact

Rum and Coca-Cola
Rum and Coca-Cola
Workin' for the Yankee dollar

[TexasSissy]

1. I didn't know it had that many verses.

Good song. (I hadn't realized what the words meant before, though! Pretty shocking stuff!)

[Wickerman]

2. Neil Bush thanks you very much!

He'd been searching for those lyrics.

[Zorro]

3. Morey got sued over this song

by Louis Nizer, king of lawyers...it was over royalty rights, I believe.

The song wasn't a Morey Amsterdam original...the original songwriter was a native Trinidadian. Morey had heard it and it was popularized by the Andrews Sisters, I think.

One thing you didn't want to do in those days was have Louis Nizer arguing your opponent's case.

[dumpster_baby]

4. "Workin' for the Yankee dollar"--a wry celebration of predatory capitalism

and a little American, imperialist smugness thrown in, too.

[darkstar]

6. Yep

it's freaky that way. A reeeeeeel head scratcher. These are the values we're supposed to go back to?

Maybe Britney or some such could sing some song that celebrates U.S. GIs using teen prostitutes in Kuwait or sumptin. Oh and their Moms too. Hopefully, however, Britney's will better explain the paradox that even though it's "for the Yankee dollar," the Kuwati girls really, really, really do actually love the American GIs. After all, even their mom's can't say know to their charms

[Bridget Burke]

5. So add a squeeze of lime: it's a "Cuba Libre"

The original lyrics were meant to be ironic.