Hootchy-Kootchy Dance, The

DESCRIPTION: "There's a place in France/Where the women wear no pants" and similar bawdy verses. Cho: "Do what your mama says and do what your papa says/But don't split your pants, doin' the hootchy-kootchy dance"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1893
KEYWORDS: sex clothes bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 276+, "Hootchy Kootchy Dance"
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer "The Hootchy-Kootchy Dance" (on Unexp1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bonaparte's Retreat" (sometimes used as a C part for that tune)
cf. "All the Girls in France" (lyrics)
cf. "Did You Ever See a Fishie?" (lyrics)
NOTES [154 words]: Yes, you know it. This is the piece that is *always* used in a cartoon as the music when anything having to do with Arabia, Egypt, belly dancing, snake charming or Muslims in general is depicted. Originally a Tin Pan Alley song, popular at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where exotic dancers adopted it instantly; Sol Bloom, entertainment director at the Exposition, claimed he wrote it, but it has also been connected to traditional tunes in Iraq and Algeria. The title usually associated with the tune is "The Streets of Cairo." (See http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-HKDance for more history.) It's a tune nearly everyone in America knows, and many older Americans (and maybe kids?) know the "women wear no pants" verse. A folk song if ever there was one. - PJS
With the ironic footnote, based on the Streets of Cairo site above, that those of Arabic culture will NOT know the tune. It is, in a way, a false stereotype. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: RcTHoKoD

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography