Misplaced Pages

Arabian riff: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 19:40, 23 March 2006 edit68.6.90.73 (talk)No edit summary← Previous edit Latest revision as of 14:11, 6 January 2025 edit undoSophieFatusBooksFan1456 (talk | contribs)80 editsNo edit summaryTags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit 
(652 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Widely used melody}}
'''The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid''' is a melody purportedly written by ], a showman (and later, a U.S. Congressman) who was the entertainment director of the ] in 1893. It included an attraction called "''A Street in Cairo''" which featured snake charmers, camel rides and a scandalous dancer known as ].
{{Image frame |content = <score sound=1> \relative c''{ \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"oboe" \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 2/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 120 a8 b8 c4 b4 a4 a8 b8 c8 e8 b8 c8 a4 } </score> |width=|caption = The basic melody }}


]'', first published in 1864.<ref name="Benzon2002">{{cite book|first=William|last=Benzon|title=Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=naNYH9nBbDQC|year=2002|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-860557-7|pages=253–254|quote=In compiling his collection of melodies Arban clearly wanted to present music from all the civilized nations he could think of. It is thus in the service of a truncated ethnic inclusiveness that he included an "Arabian Song"—or, more likely, the one-and-only "Arabian Song" he knew... Beyond this, the opening five notes of this song are identical to the first five notes of Colin Prend Sa Hotte, published in Paris in 1719. Writing in 1857, ] noted that the first phrase of that song is almost identical to Kradoutja, a now-forgotten ] or ]n melody that had been popular in France since 1600. This song may thus have been in the European meme pool 250 years before Arban found it. It may even be a Middle Eastern song, or a mutation of one, that came to Europe via North Africa through Moorish Spain or was brought back from one of the Crusades.|access-date=2019-11-17|archive-date=2024-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322011843/https://books.google.com/books?id=naNYH9nBbDQC|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
In North America it has become associated with all things "Eastern" (], ] etc).


"'''Arabian riff'''", also known as "'''The Streets of Cairo'''", "'''The Poor Little Country Maid'''", and "'''the snake charmer song'''", is a well-known melody, published in different forms in the 19th century.<ref name="Benzon2002"/> Alternate titles for children's songs using this melody include "The Girls in France" and "The Southern Part of France".<ref name="shira"/><ref name=Desultor/> The melody is often associated with the ] belly dance.
Recorded songs that quote this melody include:

* "Little Egypt" by ]
== History ==
* "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" by ] and by ]
]
* "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" by ]
{{Listen|type=music
* "Dance of the Snake Charmer" by ]
|filename = Arabian melody.ogg
* "Twilight in Turkey by ]
|title = "Melodia arabe"
* "Hoolah Hoolah" by ]
|description = Hünten version (1845)
* "Whiney, Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy)" by ]
|filename2 = Arabian song.ogg
* "Naggin" by ]
|title2 = "Arabian song"
|description2 = Arban version (1864)
|filename3 = Streets of Cairo.ogg
|title3 = "The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid"
|description3 = Thornton version (1895)
}}
There is a clear resemblance between the riff and the French song ''Colin prend sa hotte'' (published by ] in 1719), whose first five notes are identical. ''Colin prend sa hotte'' appears to derive from the lost ''Kradoudja'', an Algerian folk song of the 17th century.<ref name="Fuld2000">{{cite book|first=James J.|last=Fuld|title=The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVninY59ul0C|series=276|year=2000|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0-486-41475-1|quote=The opening five notes, including harmony and meter, are identical to the opening five notes of the song Colin Prend Sa Hotte in J.B. Christophe Ballard, Brunettes ou Petits Airs Tendres (Paris, 1719)....In J.B. Wekerlin, Échos du Temps Passé (Paris, 1857), ...the song is represented as a ‘Chanson à danser’ with the comment that the first phrase of the melody resembles almost note for note an Algerian or Arabic melody known as the Kradoutja, and that the melody has been popular in France since 1600. No printing of Kradoutja has been found.|access-date=2020-02-03|archive-date=2024-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322011805/https://books.google.com/books?id=EVninY59ul0C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=straightdope/>

A version of the riff was published in 1845 by ] as ''Melodie Arabe''.<ref>{{citation|author-link=Franz Hünten|first=Franz|last=Hünten|title=Fantaisie arabe pour le piano sur l'air Kradoudja op. 136|url=http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000139157&page=1|publisher=Meissonnier|date=1845|access-date=2020-02-03|archive-date=2020-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200203182250/http://bdh-rd.bne.es/viewer.vm?id=0000139157&page=1|url-status=live}}</ref> The melody was described as an "Arabian Song" in the '']'', first published in 1864.<ref name="Benzon2002"/><ref>Jackson, Roland. "Performance Practice: A Dictionary-Guide for Musicians". Routledge 2005. P. xvii. {{ISBN|978-0415941396}} </ref>

], a showman (and later a U.S. congressman), published the song as the entertainment director of the ] in 1893. It included an attraction called "A Street in Cairo" produced by Gaston Akoun, which featured snake charmers, camel rides and a scandalous dancer known as ]. Songwriter ] penned the words and music to his own version of this melody, "Streets Of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid". Copyrighted in 1895, it was made popular by his wife Lizzie Cox, who used the stage name ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/144/023a|title=Streets Of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid|last=Thornton|first=James|year=1895|publisher=JScholarship, ], Levy Sheet Music Collection|access-date=January 4, 2022|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104234956/https://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/collection/144/023a|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=shira/> The oldest known recording of the song is from 1895, performed by ] (Berliner Discs 171-Z).<ref name=berliner/>

The song was also recorded as "They Don't Wear Pants in the Southern Part of France" by John Bartles, the version sometimes played by radio host ].

==Travadja La Moukère==
In France, there is a song which ]s from ] brought back in the 1960s called "Travadja La Moukère" (from ''trabaja la mujer'', which means "the woman works" in ]), which uses the same riff.

Partial lyrics:
{{verse translation|lang=fr|
Travadja La Moukère
Travadja Bono
Trempe ton cul dans la soupière
Si c'est chaud c'est que ça brûle
Si ça brûle c'est que c'est chaud!
|Work, woman
Work well
Soak your ass in the tureen
If it is hot it burns
If it burns it's that it's hot!
}}

==In popular culture==
===Music===
Since the piece is not copyrighted, it has been used as a basis for numerous songs, especially in the early 20th century:
* "Hoolah! Hoolah!"
* "Dance of the Midway" (in reference to the ] of the ])
* "Coochi-Coochi Polka"
* "Danse Du Ventre"
* "In My Harem" by ]
* "Kutchy Kutchy"<ref name="shira"/>
* <nowiki>''Strut, Miss Lizzie''</nowiki> by ] and ]
* In Italy, the melody is often sung with the words ''"Te ne vai o no? Te ne vai sì o no?"'' (''"Are you leaving or not? Are you leaving, yes or no?"''). That short tune is used to invite an annoying person to move along, or at least to shut up.
* In 1934, during the Purim festivities in Tel Aviv, the song received Hebrew lyrics jokingly referring to the ] and its characters (Ahasaurus, Vashti, Haman and Esther) written by ], Israel's foremost lyricist of the time. It was performed by the "Matateh" troupe, under the name "נעמוד בתור / ''Na'amod Bator"'' ("we will stand in line").

====1900s====
* "Scherzo for String Quartet" by ] (1904)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sinclair, James B.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/39905309|title=A descriptive catalogue of the music of Charles Ives|date=1999|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0-300-07601-0|location=New Haven, Connecticut|oclc=39905309|access-date=2020-11-30|archive-date=2024-03-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322011818/https://search.worldcat.org/title/39905309|url-status=live}}</ref>

====1920s====
* "Sweet Mamma (Papa's Getting Mad)" by ] (1920)
* "Strut Miss Lizzie" by ] (1921)
* The "Little Egypt" segment of the ] scene in '']'' (1927)
* "Tight Like This" by ] (1928)

====1930s====
* "Dinah" by ] scene in ] (1933)
* "Twilight in Turkey" by ] (1937)
* "]" a song in the 1935 ] short, sung by ] (1935)

====1940s====
* This tune is quoted in Luther Billis' dance in "Honey Bun" from the musical ''].'' (1949)
* "]" by ] (1949)

====1950s====
* "]" by ] (1953) and ] (1990)
* "Native Dancer" by ] and ], recorded by ] (1953)
* "]" by ] (1956)
* "Teenager's Mother (Are You Right?)" by ] (1956)
* "Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si" from the motion picture ] (1958)
* "Oriental Rock" by ] (1958)

====1960s====
* "]" performed by the Beatles during their 1962 ] audition, with ] as the lead singer and ] on the drums (this track can be found on '']'').
* "Egyptian Surf" by ] (1963)
* "I've Got the Skill" by ] (US #89, 1964)
* "]" by ] (1968)
* "Funky Mule" by ] (1968)

====1970s====
* "The Grand Wazoo" by ] (1972)
* "Sharon" by ] (1972)
* "Uragiri No Machikado (裏切りの街角)" by Kai Band (甲斐バンド) (1975)
* "Pra Lá de Bagdá" by ] (1975)
* "You Scared the Lovin' Outta Me" by ] (1976)
* "Open Sesame" by ] (1976)
* "One for the Vine" by ] (1976)
* "Egyptian Reggae" by ] (1977)
* "]" by ] (1978)
* "White Cigarettes" by ] (1979)

====1980s====
* "]" by ] (1981)
* "]," by ], immediately after the line, "] died for Egypt. What a waste of time!" (1982)
* "Monster" by ] (1984)
* "Starchild" by ] (1984)
* "Egypt, Egypt" by ] (1984)
*] by ] (1984)
* "Camel by Camel" by ] (1985)
* "Chicago Smokeshop" by ] (1985)
* "Chhoti Si Kahani Se" by ], composed by ], penned by ] for the ] '']'' (1987)
* "Hoolah Hoolah" by ] (1989)

====1990s====
* "]" by ] (1990)
* "Istanbul, Not Constantinople" by ] (1990)
* "Place in France" by ] (1991)
* "Crocodile" by ] (1992)
* "Gypsy Reggae" by ] (1993)
* "]" by ] (1993)
* "Cleopatra's Cat" by the ] (1994)
* "Whiney Whiney (What Really Drives Me Crazy)" by ] (1994)
* "]" by ] (1995)
* "Soap Opera" by ] (1995)
* "Me Tengo Que Ir" by ] (1995) (Trombone part played in middle of the song)
*
*
*
* "Skatanic" by ] (1996)
* "Chance to Farewell" (헤어지는 기회) by ] (소찬휘) (1996)
* "]" by ] (1997)
* "Hokus Pokus" by ] (1997)
* "Rip Rock" by ] (1998)
* "Illusion" by ] (1998)
* "Circus" (马戏团) by ] (陶喆) (1999)

====2000s====
* "Playboy" by ] (2000)
* "Migdalit" by ] (2002)
* "]" by ] (欧阳靖) (2003)
* "Over There" by ] (2003) (lyrics)
* "Act a Ass" by ] (2003)
* "The Treasures of Ancient Egypt" by ] (2004)
* "Lækker pt. 2 feat. ]" ] (2004)
* "Would You Be My Girlfriend (你愿意做我女友吗)" by ] (花儿乐队) (2004)
* "Naggin" by ] (2005)
* "Bhool Bhulaiyaa (] Film Title Song) by ] (2007)
* "Bye Bye Baby" by beFour (2007)
* "Toc Toc Toc" by ] (이효리) (2007)
* "Killer (杀手)" by ] (林俊杰) (2007)
* "Till You Come to Me" by ] (2009)
* "¿Viva la Gloria? (Little Girl)" by ] (2009)
* "Grasswalk" by ] (2009)

====2010s====
* "Space Girl" by ] (2010)
* "]" by ] (2010)
* "S.E.X." by ] (2010)
* "Who's That? Broooown!" by ] (2010)
* "Grunt Tube" by ] (2010)
* "Spy (间谍)" by ] (汪苏泷) (2010)
* "]" by ] (2011)
* "]" by ] (2012)
* "ÆØÅ (Size Matters)" by ] (2012)
* “Gul Jana” by ] (2013)
* "I'm Not In Your Mind" by ] (2014)
* "]" by ] (2014)
* "]" by ] (2015)
* "Back On The Train" by ] (7/22/2015, Bend, OR)
* "]" by ] (2015)
* "]" by ] (2015)
* "Bay of Pigs" by ] (2015)
* "]" by ] (2018)
* "Hide Out" (사라지는 꿈) by ] (2018)
* "I'm So Hot" by ] (2019)
<!-- UNIDENTIFIED DATE
* Texan fiddle tune "Bonaparte's Retreat" (traditional)
* "Ozero Sliz" (''Озеро Сліз'') by New'z'Cool & Queens
* "Out In The Middle East" by ]
* "Pyramid Power" by The Swingin' Love Corpses
* "Monster" by ]
* "Let's Play" by ]
* "Uragiri No Machikado" (裏切りの街角) by Kai Band
-->

====2020s====
* "Tantrum" by ] (2020)
* "The Evil Folk" by KAAZE (2020)
* "]" by ] (2020)
* "Lovelife" by ] feat. ] (2020)
* "Broke N****s" by ] feat. ] (2020)
* "]" by ] (2022)
* "Vermelho" by ] (2022)
* "Benny's Got A Gun" by BLK ODYSSY feat. ] and ] (2022)
* "Snake Charmer" by Sapling (2023)
* "Knows No Bounds" by Ryder Houston (2023)
* "When The Darkness Comes" by Jeris Johnson (2023)
* "]" by ] (2024)
* "Timanttei" by Mirella (2024)
* "Śrubka" by ] (2024)

===Cartoons===
* ]: ''Arabiantics'' (1928)
* ]: '']'' (1929)
* ]: '']'' (1929)
* Mickey Mouse: '']'' (1930)
* Mickey Mouse: '']'' (1930)
* Mickey Mouse: ''Mickey Steps Out'' (1931)
* ''Circus Capers'' (1930)
* ]: '']'' (1932)
* ]: ''Circus'' (1932)
* '']'' (1933)
* Mickey Mouse: '']'' (1935)
* Mickey Mouse: '']'' (1937)
* Mickey Mouse: '']'' (1937)
* ]: ''Self Control'' (1938)
* Donald Duck: ''The Autograph Hound'' (1939)
* '']'' (1939)
* ''Goofy Groceries'' (1940)
* Pluto: '']'' (1940)
* ] "Nix on Hypnotricks" (1941)
* ]: '']'' (1940) and '']'' (1944)
* ]: ''Booby Traps'' (1944)
* "Dog, Cat and Canary" (1945)
* ''Aladdin's Lamp'' (1947)
* ] "Nurse to Meet Ya" (1955)
* ]: ''Witch Crafty'' (1955)
* Woody Woodpecker: ''Roamin' Roman'' (1963)
* '']'' (1982)
* '']'' episode "]" (1990)
* '']'' episode "Caterpillar Thriller" (2003, Japanese version only)
* '']'' – used as the melody of the "Snake Dance" song (2003)
* '']'' episode "Beach Party Mummy" (2003)
* '']'' episode "Secret Mission" (2004)
* '']'' episode "Floral Derangement" (2004)
* '']'' episode "]" (2004)
* '']'' episode "SerPunt" (2007)
* '']'' episode "Super Fast!!" (2007)
* '']'' episode "Helicopter Dad" (2013)
* '']'' episode "]" (2014)
* '']'' episode "]" (2018)
* '']'' (season 2) opening credits (2019)
*'']'' episode "The Mysterious House" (2020)
*'']'' episode "No Nut November" (2021)
*'']'' episode "Shrimp's Odyssey" (2022)

===Video games===
It appears on following ]:
* '']'' (1981 electronic game, bazaar)
* '']'' (1981)
* ''Lady Tut'' (1983)
* '']'' (1984)
* '']'' (1986)
* '']'' (1989, Level 2 – Egypt)
* '']'' (1990, Katta's Tail Inn)
* '']'' (1990, when adding a piece to the right)
* '']'' and ''Pyramid II'' (1990, first level)
* '']'' (1991, desert level)
* '']'' (1992)
* '']'' (1992, Level 3 – Egypt)
* '']'' (1993, Egyptian tribe)
* '']'' (1994, Tooting common level 3)
* '']'' (1999, Sung by Gex upon starting the level “Tut TV”)
* '']'' (2000, Egyptian time zone)
* ''] Explorers'' (2001, Egyptian area)
* ] (2009, “Grasswalk”)
* '']'' (2011, "Desert Scorcher" and "Lifted Upward")
* '']'' (2011) Lums Notes Of Desert Of Dijridoos
* '']'' (2015, "More Dig and Dash" (taken directly from ]) and "Evade and Dig and Dash")
* '']'' (2017, Pyramid Peril)
* '']'' (2018)

===Television===
* ] sings a variation with a ] in the "]" episode of '']'' (season 5).
*] as ']' plays a part of 'The Streets of Cairo' on the piano in the fourth-season episode.

===Film===
* In ]'s 1932 short film '']'', the first film in the ] series, the song is briefly used while ]'s character Charmaine is dancing around in Buttermilk Pete's Cafe.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}
* In ]'s '']'' (1933), it is heard briefly in a belly dancer scene at the beginning of the convention.
* In '']'' (1936), which won the ] in 1937, the song is heard as the backdrop to the "Little Egypt" attraction on the ] of the ] run by Billings, a character portrayed by ] and loosely based on ].
* It is heard in the beginning of ]'s short film "Le laboratoire de l'angoisse" (1971).
* In ]'s 1993 film '']'', the tune is being played several times with accordion by Grace.
* In the 1997 comedy film '']'', the title character played by ] sings the tune briefly during the opening sequence.

==Children's culture and Parodies==
The tune is used for a 20th-century American children's song with – like many unpublished songs of child folk culture – countless variations as the song is passed from child to child over considerable lengths of time and geography, the one constant being that the versions are almost always ]. One variation, for example, is:
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">There's a place in France
Where the ladies wear no pants
But the men don't care
'cause they don't wear underwear.<ref name="shira"/><ref name=Desultor/></poem>
or a similar version:
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">There's a place in France
Where the naked ladies dance
There's a hole in the wall
Where the men can see it all.</poem>

Another ]-era variation is as follows:
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">When your mind goes blank
And you're dying for a wank
And Hitler's playing snooker with your balls
In the German ]
They hang you by your dick
And put dirty pictures on the walls.</poem>

==See also==
* ] – similar musical motif, often associated with ]
* ]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=Desultor>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/desultor/2004/01/21/france-pants/ |title=France, Pants |author= |date=January 21, 2004 |work=Desultor |publisher=Harvard Law School |access-date=March 6, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402145644/http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/desultor/2004/01/21/france-pants/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="straightdope">{{cite web |url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070223.html |title=What is the origin of the song 'There's a place in France/Where the naked ladies dance?' |last=Adams |first=Cecil |author-link=Cecil Adams |work=The Straight Dope |publisher=Creative Loafing Media, Inc |access-date=2009-09-17 |date=2007-02-23 |archive-date=2008-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430085450/http://www.straightdope.com/columns/070223.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name="shira">{{cite web |first=Julie Anne |last=Elliot |title=There's a Place in France: That "Snake Charmer" Song |url=http://www.shira.net/streets-of-cairo.htm |work=All About Middle Eastern Dance |date=2000-02-19 |access-date=2009-09-17 |archive-date=2009-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918064437/http://www.shira.net/streets-of-cairo.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
<ref name=berliner>{{cite web |first=Tyrone |last=Settlemier |title=Berliner Discs: Numerical Listing Discography |url=http://www.78discography.com/Berliner.htm |work=Online 78rpm Discographical Project |date=2009-07-07 |access-date=2009-09-17 |archive-date=2010-01-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111041701/http://www.78discography.com/Berliner.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}


==External links== ==External links==
* in the ''Levy Collection'', via Jscholarship
*
* {{YouTube|THcamJ5WSFQ|"The Streets of Cairo or the Poor Little Country Maid" reference recording}}
]
* {{YouTube|ooso3YI9lM0|"The Streets of Cairo" Dan Quinn recording}}

{{authority control}}

]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 14:11, 6 January 2025

Widely used melody \relative c''{ \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"oboe" \clef treble \numericTimeSignature \time 2/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 120 a8 b8 c4 b4 a4 a8 b8 c8 e8 b8 c8 a4 } The basic melody
The melody titled "Arabian Song" in Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet, first published in 1864.

"Arabian riff", also known as "The Streets of Cairo", "The Poor Little Country Maid", and "the snake charmer song", is a well-known melody, published in different forms in the 19th century. Alternate titles for children's songs using this melody include "The Girls in France" and "The Southern Part of France". The melody is often associated with the hoochie coochie belly dance.

History

1895 sheet music cover for "The Streets of Cairo"
"Melodia arabe" Hünten version (1845)
"Arabian song" Arban version (1864)
"The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid" Thornton version (1895)
Problems playing these files? See media help.

There is a clear resemblance between the riff and the French song Colin prend sa hotte (published by Christophe Ballard in 1719), whose first five notes are identical. Colin prend sa hotte appears to derive from the lost Kradoudja, an Algerian folk song of the 17th century.

A version of the riff was published in 1845 by Franz Hünten as Melodie Arabe. The melody was described as an "Arabian Song" in the La grande méthode complète de cornet à piston et de saxhorn par Arban, first published in 1864.

Sol Bloom, a showman (and later a U.S. congressman), published the song as the entertainment director of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. It included an attraction called "A Street in Cairo" produced by Gaston Akoun, which featured snake charmers, camel rides and a scandalous dancer known as Little Egypt. Songwriter James Thornton penned the words and music to his own version of this melody, "Streets Of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid". Copyrighted in 1895, it was made popular by his wife Lizzie Cox, who used the stage name Bonnie Thornton. The oldest known recording of the song is from 1895, performed by Dan Quinn (Berliner Discs 171-Z).

The song was also recorded as "They Don't Wear Pants in the Southern Part of France" by John Bartles, the version sometimes played by radio host Dr. Demento.

Travadja La Moukère

In France, there is a song which pieds-noirs from Algeria brought back in the 1960s called "Travadja La Moukère" (from trabaja la mujer, which means "the woman works" in Spanish), which uses the same riff.

Partial lyrics:

Travadja La Moukère
Travadja Bono
Trempe ton cul dans la soupière
Si c'est chaud c'est que ça brûle
Si ça brûle c'est que c'est chaud!

Work, woman
Work well
Soak your ass in the tureen
If it is hot it burns
If it burns it's that it's hot!

In popular culture

Music

Since the piece is not copyrighted, it has been used as a basis for numerous songs, especially in the early 20th century:

  • "Hoolah! Hoolah!"
  • "Dance of the Midway" (in reference to the Midway Plaisance of the World's Columbian Exposition)
  • "Coochi-Coochi Polka"
  • "Danse Du Ventre"
  • "In My Harem" by Irving Berlin
  • "Kutchy Kutchy"
  • ''Strut, Miss Lizzie'' by Creamer and Layton
  • In Italy, the melody is often sung with the words "Te ne vai o no? Te ne vai sì o no?" ("Are you leaving or not? Are you leaving, yes or no?"). That short tune is used to invite an annoying person to move along, or at least to shut up.
  • In 1934, during the Purim festivities in Tel Aviv, the song received Hebrew lyrics jokingly referring to the Book of Esther and its characters (Ahasaurus, Vashti, Haman and Esther) written by Natan Alterman, Israel's foremost lyricist of the time. It was performed by the "Matateh" troupe, under the name "נעמוד בתור / Na'amod Bator" ("we will stand in line").

1900s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Cartoons

Video games

It appears on following computer and video games:

Television

Film

Children's culture and Parodies

The tune is used for a 20th-century American children's song with – like many unpublished songs of child folk culture – countless variations as the song is passed from child to child over considerable lengths of time and geography, the one constant being that the versions are almost always smutty. One variation, for example, is:

There's a place in France
Where the ladies wear no pants
But the men don't care
'cause they don't wear underwear.

or a similar version:

There's a place in France
Where the naked ladies dance
There's a hole in the wall
Where the men can see it all.

Another World War II-era variation is as follows:

When your mind goes blank
And you're dying for a wank
And Hitler's playing snooker with your balls
In the German nick
They hang you by your dick
And put dirty pictures on the walls.

See also

References

  1. ^ Benzon, William (2002). Beethoven's Anvil: Music in Mind and Culture. Oxford University Press. pp. 253–254. ISBN 978-0-19-860557-7. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2019-11-17. In compiling his collection of melodies Arban clearly wanted to present music from all the civilized nations he could think of. It is thus in the service of a truncated ethnic inclusiveness that he included an "Arabian Song"—or, more likely, the one-and-only "Arabian Song" he knew... Beyond this, the opening five notes of this song are identical to the first five notes of Colin Prend Sa Hotte, published in Paris in 1719. Writing in 1857, J. B. Wekerlin noted that the first phrase of that song is almost identical to Kradoutja, a now-forgotten Arabic or Algerian melody that had been popular in France since 1600. This song may thus have been in the European meme pool 250 years before Arban found it. It may even be a Middle Eastern song, or a mutation of one, that came to Europe via North Africa through Moorish Spain or was brought back from one of the Crusades.
  2. ^ Elliot, Julie Anne (2000-02-19). "There's a Place in France: That "Snake Charmer" Song". All About Middle Eastern Dance. Archived from the original on 2009-09-18. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  3. ^ "France, Pants". Desultor. Harvard Law School. January 21, 2004. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  4. Fuld, James J. (2000). The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk. 276. Courier Corporation. ISBN 978-0-486-41475-1. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2020-02-03. The opening five notes, including harmony and meter, are identical to the opening five notes of the song Colin Prend Sa Hotte in J.B. Christophe Ballard, Brunettes ou Petits Airs Tendres (Paris, 1719)....In J.B. Wekerlin, Échos du Temps Passé (Paris, 1857), ...the song is represented as a 'Chanson à danser' with the comment that the first phrase of the melody resembles almost note for note an Algerian or Arabic melody known as the Kradoutja, and that the melody has been popular in France since 1600. No printing of Kradoutja has been found.
  5. Adams, Cecil (2007-02-23). "What is the origin of the song 'There's a place in France/Where the naked ladies dance?'". The Straight Dope. Creative Loafing Media, Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  6. Hünten, Franz (1845), Fantaisie arabe pour le piano sur l'air Kradoudja op. 136, Meissonnier, archived from the original on 2020-02-03, retrieved 2020-02-03
  7. Jackson, Roland. "Performance Practice: A Dictionary-Guide for Musicians". Routledge 2005. P. xvii. ISBN 978-0415941396 "&pg=PR17&printsec=frontcover
  8. Thornton, James (1895). "Streets Of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid". JScholarship, Johns Hopkins University, Levy Sheet Music Collection. Archived from the original on January 4, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2022.
  9. Settlemier, Tyrone (2009-07-07). "Berliner Discs: Numerical Listing Discography". Online 78rpm Discographical Project. Archived from the original on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  10. Sinclair, James B. (1999). A descriptive catalogue of the music of Charles Ives. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-07601-0. OCLC 39905309. Archived from the original on 2024-03-22. Retrieved 2020-11-30.

External links

Categories: