Papa
Niccolini (The Happy Cobbler)
People
Like You And Me
Peekaboo
To You
Pennsylvania
6-5000
Perfidia
Polka Dots And
Moonbeams
Prairieland
Lullaby
Papa Niccolini
(The Happy Cobbler)
As recorded by the Glenn Miller
Orchestra on October 20th 1941 with Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke and the
Modernaires.
Written by Don
George-Anne & Jean Edwards.
RE:
He
can mend any tattered shoe, Papa Niccolini
He’s
your friend anytime you’re blue, Papa Niccolini
People
send all their troubles to Papa Niccolini
´Cause
he trades all their old dreams for new
Children
stop at his little shop looking for a penny
Though
he’s poor still you may be sure he has given many
And
I’m told with his heart of gold Papa Niccolini
Will
make all of your daydreams come true
Monday right up till Sunday
He’s patting and mending old
shoes
From Monday right up till
Sunday
He‘ll mend all
your heartaches and blues
MOD:
Texas,
Texas, what do you walk that way?
TB:
My
shoes need fixin‘,
Ain’t
got the dough to pay...
MOD:
You
should see old Papa Niccolini
If
that’s the way you feel
Papa
Niccolini knows what to do with a heel...
TB:
Can
he mend any tattered shoe, Papa Niccolini?
MOD:
He’s
your friend anytime you’re blue, Papa Niccolini
TB:
Then
I‘ll send all my troubles to Papa Niccolini
MOD:
'Cause
he trades all your old dreams for new
TB:
Children
stop at his little shop lookin‘ for a penny
MOD:
Though
he’s poor still you may be sure he has given many
TB:
And
I’m told with his heart of gold Papa Niccolini
MOD:
Will
make all of your daydreams come true...!
(instrumental interlude)
MOD:
Patching
and mending
Mending and
patching
Works from Monday
right through Sunday
TB:
Who‘s
that?
MOD: Papa Niccolini!
Words by Mack Gordon, music by Harry Warren. (From the movie „Orchestra Wives“, featuring the Glenn Miller Orchestra!). Lyrics taken from closed captions. Vocal by Marion Hutton, Ray Eberle, Tex Beneke and the Modernaires. Recording date unknown.
(Marion, Ray, and the Modernaires)
Say, get a
load of that moon, look at those stars, we get it all for free!
All
the pretty birdies sing for people like you and me
You've heard
of "roses are red, violets are blue", that's corny
poetry!
Maybe corn is just the thing for people like you and me!
Folks may
say we're antiquated; if they do, who cares?
So we're not
sophisticated, leave it to the millionaires!
I'm gonna
stick to the moon, stay with the stars, that's my philosophy!
Nature
must have thought up spring for people like you and me!
(musical interlude)
(Tex joins the group)
Say, get a
load of those guys, high in the skies, winging to victory
Up'n at
'em in the fight for people like you and me.
Hey, get a load of those gobs, doin'
their jobs, keeping the sea lanes free
Just to make the future
bright for people like you and me!
You must put
your Yankee heart and soul in everything you do
Keep 'em flyin',
keep 'em rollin', Uncle Sam will see you through!
We'll have to roll up our sleeves,
tighten our belts, but through the dark we'll see
The lady with
the Liberty light for people like you and you and you and
People
like you, people like you and me!
(lyrics transcribed from the closed captions by Jim Mc Coy)
As recorded by the Glenn Miller
Orchestra on May 20th 1941 with Paula Kelly and the Modernaires.
Words and music by Joseph Meyer, Carl
Sigman and Johnny Mercer (The music sheet lists those three but does
not specify who did exactly what).
Peekaboo to you, you dreameroo
Whoever let you out alone
Peekaboo to you with all that woo-woo
Walkin‘ in a danger zone
Don‘t you know the big bad
wolves are out
Prowlin‘
the neighborhood
And you look
mighty good
Little red riding
hood
Take a look at how they hold a pow-wow
Take a listen to the sighs
Take a look at me and you can see
I’m jealous with the light green
eyes
Mom, hand me my fowling
piece
I'll police those
charms
Then I’ll say
peekaboo, peekaboo to you
In my
arms...!
(Wow! That was one piece of work...
Much debate and mystery surrounded these lyrics, and only due to the
archeological help and investigating of longtime Miller experts John
Cooper, Rick Gerber and Bill Elliott they can be presented here now.
Let me quote what John Cooper wrote to me after some months of
digging into the archives:
"SOLVED! A cooperative effort
between myself and Bill Elliott, the Los Angeles swing orchestra
leader. We kept bouncing ideas back and forth, boosting them or
shooting them down. Then Bill got out his rhyming dictionary and what
he found was so arcane it was hard to believe. Finally, Bill, who is
a big Johnny Mercer fan, got in touch with the library in Atlanta,
Georgia, where Mercer's archives are kept. A librarian retrieved the
information and verbally told Bill: 'Hand me my fowling piece, I'll
police those charms'. This will be confirmed by Rick Gerber, who has
secured a copy of the sheet music for PEEKABOO TO YOU."
I
can't thank you enough for that one, gentlemen. You did a marvellous
job. )
The original Bluebird recording, dating
from April 28th 1940, is the well-known instrumental version, with
the orchestra only calling out the phone number of the famous old
Pennsylvania Hotel in New York City, where the Miller band often
played. The lyrics presented here are from a record which Dutch
neo-swing singer Taco made in 1985. I don't know of any Miller
(or other) recording with any lyrics.
The
authors are stated in both versions as Jerry Gray (Miller's longtime
arranger) and Carl Sigman, who also co-wrote Peekaboo
to you. Maybe somebody
can help here...?
Numbers I get by the dozen
Everyone's uncle and cousin
But I can't live without buzzin'
Pennsylvania 6-5000
I got a sweetie I know there
Someone who sets me aglow there,
Gives me the sweetest "Hello
there"
Pennsylvania 6-5000
We don't say, "How are you?"
And very seldom ask, "What's
new?"
Instead we start and
end each call
With, "Baby,
confidentially, I love you!"
Maybe it sounds a bit funny
When I'm away from my honey
Here's what I do with my money
I call Pennsylvania 6-5000...
As recorded by the Glenn Miller
Orchestra on February 19th 1941 with Dorothy Claire and the
Modernaires.
Words by Milton
Leeds, Music by Alberto Dominguez.
To you my heart cries out, Perfidia,
For I found you, the love of my life,
in somebody else’s arms
Your
eyes are echoing perfidia,
Forgetful
of our promise of love, you’re sharing another’s
charms...
With a sad lament my dreams have faded
like a broken melody
While the
gods of love look down and laugh at what romantic fools we mortals
be...
And now I know my love was not for you
And so I take it back with a sigh,
perfidious one,
Goodbye...
As recorded by the Glenn Miller
Orchestra on February 24th 1940 with Ray Eberle.
Words
by Johnny Burke, music by James Van Heusen.
A country dance was being held in a
garden
I felt a bump and heard
an „Oh, beg your pardon!“
Suddenly
I saw polka dots and moonbeams
All
around a pugnosed dream
The music started and was I the
perplexed one
I held my breath
and said, „May I have the next one?“
In
my frightened arms polka dots and moonbeams
Sparkled
on a pugnosed dream
There were questions in the eyes of all
the dancers
As we floated over
the floor
There were questions
but my heart knew all the answers
And
perhaps a few things more...
Now in a cottage built of lilacs and
laughter
I know the meaning of
the words „ever after“
And
I always see polka dots and moonbeams
When
I kiss the pugnosed dream!
As recorded by the Glenn Miller
Orchestra on December 27th 1940 with Ray Eberle.
Words
by Frank Loesser, music by Victor Young. (From the movie
„Arizona Sketches“)
My prairieland lullaby
The
sweetest tune that I know
The
wind out there singin‘ high
And
prairie doves hung a-low
It’s in my soul
Like
the dusty tumbleweeds that roll
And
purple hills that rise
Way up
to the skies
The sweetest tune
that I know
My prairieland
lullaby
It’s in my veins
All
the music of these lonely plains
And
now I lay me down and peacefully sigh
The
sweetest tune that I know
My
prairieland lullaby...!