Happy Hottentot
Performer: Miss Patricola
Composer: William Jerome - Harry von Tilzer
Victor, 1920s
MP3 1,219K
This bit of cheerful booshwah is a favorite of mine. It makes a complete
hash of geography, anthropology...the works.Hoorah! Rhyming is fun! Foreigners are amusing! We can say anything we like and sensitivity training is sixty years away!
I've found references to the "happy hottentot" into the late Nineteenth C, which leads me to believe this was a recognizable character. Probably an echo of the Hottentot Venus in the public consciousness.
Unh! Unh! Roop-a-loop-a-loo!
Of a girl in Timbuctu.
Unh! Unh! Doo-ah-rinky-doo.
In her nose she wears a ring
Gosh! Ding! Pretty little thing!
She will lamp you then she'll vamp you,
Fall time then means spring.
Cuck-oo! Some stew! The birds now sing for you!
Oh, ho! This happy Hottentot has got
Got got got
Got a dinner pot that seems to say I welcome you.
Jump right in and join our stew!
And oh, whoa! There'll be a lot of you to stew
Stew stew stew
I'm a telling you when all her royal Zulu band
Wait with empty plates in hand
To meet you, greet you
Glad to eat you!
Happy Hottentot.
In her hut behind the hill
Hill! Hill! She's a daffodil!
Listen to the whippoorwill
Lil! Lil! She is dressed to kill.
Queen of all the Hottentots
Tots! Tots! Rotten Hottentots
When she dances she entrances
Every move's a treat.
She moves, she moves,
Her moves are hard to beat.
Oh! Oh! This happy Hottentot has got
Got got got
Got an awful lot
Of something, you know what I mean.
No, I don't mean gasoline!
But, oh whoa!
She does a funny little step
Step step step
Shows a lot of pep
And if the night is nice and warm
She will feast in perfect form
To host you, toast you,
Then she'll roast you
Happy Hottentot.
Oh! Whoa! Whoa! This happy Hottentot has got
Got got got
Got an awful lot
Of ways that make you fall somehow.
Oh boy, she's the cat's meow!
And, oh whoa! There never was another vamp
Vamp vamp vamp
Who was such a champ.
She'll make a present, you will bring
Then she'll start and crown you king
She'll woo you, coo you,
Then she'll stew you
Happy Hottentot.