I Used to Work in Chicago

DESCRIPTION: The singer works in a succession of stores, asking female customers their desires, mistakenly fulfilling them and getting fired.
AUTHOR: see NOTES
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Holstein-Friesian World)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous clothes wordplay
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England) US(Ro,SW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Cray-EroticMuse, pp. 245-251, "I Used to Work in Chicago" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 277, "In Chicago"/"Department Store" (notes only)
LibraryThingCampSongsThread, post 123, "I Used to Work in Chicago" (1 mention, from user nohrt4me2, posted September 28, 2021)
DT, CHCAGO*
ADDITIONAL: _Holstein-Friesian World_ magazine, Volume 18 (1921) (available on Google Books), p. 90, filed under "Smiles," "(I used to work in a Department store in Chicago)" (1 verse)
Roud #4837
RECORDINGS:
Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra, "I Used to Work in Chicago" (RCA Victor 20-2037, 1946)
Pearl Trio [Larry Vincent], "I Used to Work in Chicago" (Pearl 53-A, 1947)
Three Bits of Rhythm, "I Used to Work in Chicago" (Modern Music MM118, 1946)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Haben Aboo an a Banner"
cf. "The Jolly Tradesmen"
cf. "My Husband's a Mason" (theme)
NOTES [729 words]: Oscar Brand has claimed a copyright of some of the verses of this song current in oral tradition. - EC
Larry Vincent claimed to have written the basic song, and it certainly has his, er, style. But the Three Bits of Rhythm record predates his, and they claim authorship credit themselves. Who knows? -PJS
It looks to me as if the idea, at least, is older than any of them. A thread on Mudcat discussed this. Jonathan Lighter found a single verse from the National Lithographer in 1923; a user going by the name "and e" found a minor variation from the Dry Goods Merchants Trade Journal in 1922, then turned up the Holstein-Friesian World version from 1921:
I used to work in a Department store in Chicago.
I use to -- but I don't anymore.
I worked at the Hosiery counter.
I use to -- but I don't any more.
One day a lady wanted some garters
And I asked her what kind she wore,
She said rubber-and rubber I did.
I used to -- but I don't any more.
Lighter went on to point out that a particular version of this was "printed in at least seven U.S. newspapers in 1923, beginning with the Winston County Journal (Louisville, Miss.) on May 11." All of these lyrics were identical (and differed somewhat from those recorded by Oscar Brand).
These early versions don't seem to have been listed as being sung, but mudcat used "cnd" found the statement "The evening's favorite [song] was that famous carol, 'I Used to Work in Chicago'" in The Slip Stream [Supplement of the Casper Herald-Tribune], December 29th, 1943, p. 5. Atlanta Constitution columnist Harold Martin described in April 1945 an air force recruit who could sing 2,000 verses of the song, and it was also sung by post-war occupation forces (The Bradley Tech, November 15th, 1945, p. 5).
None of these sourced list a tune, but it would seem that it was sung. Of course, it's possible that it circulated both as a song and as a poem.
At least some versions were known to soldiers in World War II. cnd found it in Songs of the Century [Songbook of the 100th Bomb Group], which however does not list a tune (but this might mean it had its own tune) and Songbook of the Wild Hares, 1945 (no tune listed there either). Both are available on the Internet Archive.
Lighter then cataloged recordings from 1946-1947 by
Sammy Kaye and His Orchestra
Tin Ear Tanner and His Back Room Boys
Dusty Ward and His Arizona Waddies
Larry Vincent and His Look Out Boys
Three Bits of Rhythm
Poster "cnd" speculates "I'd wager the post-war proliferation was from soldiers who learned the song during WWII returning home, similar to Mademoiselle from Armentieres in the previous war. The song stuck around college fraternities and similar progenitors of bawdy songs (I saw it in a few college periodicals in the 1920s and 1930s, but none earlier than 1923), where they passed it down orally. Then, in war, soldiers, possibly from similar frats, or possibly just bored, sang them for each other, and then from there it took off." Given its presence in the World War II songbooks, this is likely.
Cnd also found an interview with Glenn Ohrlin in which he claimed to have learned the song in the late 1930s or very early 1940s. But the interview was made more than half a century later, so the memory is perhaps slightly dubious.
Ed Cray pointed out that the opening phrases of the tune are essentially "Malbrouck"/"We Won't Go Home Until Morning"/"The Bear Went Over the Mountain"/"Pig in the Parlor," although the final phrases are different. He observes that the line "I'll never go there any more" is similar to a line in "The Bowery," and that line also has a tune that is similar to that part of "The Bowery." Cray therefore suspects that the tune is basically "Malbrouck" with lines attracted to "The Bowery."
The Sammy Kaye version is credited to Larry Vincent and Sonny Skylar in the version found by Lighter, but to "Moe Jaffe, Louis Prima, and Larry Vincent" in the version found by "and e." "And e" also found a 1946 copyright claim attributing it to "Sunny Skylar," another to "L. Vincent, Moe Jaffe and Louis Prima," and another with "words by Jules BiHari." So odds are that all of these are attempts to claim something they borrowed from someone else.
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 277, says that this "occasionally is banned, because its verses can be risqué." "Can be"? Are there any verses that aren't? - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: EM245

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