Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1933 | |
Drop Me Off in HarlemBuy Drop Me Off in Harlem now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it. | |
Wikipedia article"'Drop Me Off in Harlem'" is a 1933 song composed during the Harlem Renaissance composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Nick Kenny.Lawrence, A.H. 'Duke Ellington and His World' (New York: Routledge, 2003), 189. A.H. Lawrence writes that the song originated from an off the cuff remark from Ellington. Nick Kenny had hailed a taxi, and offered to share it with Ellington. Kenny asked "Where to, Duke?", and Ellington replied "Drop me off at Harlem". Kenny then fashioned lyrics from Ellington's remark and presented him with them a few days later at the Cotton Club.Lawrence, A.H. 'Duke Ellington and His World' (New York: Routledge, 2003), 189. Notable recordings*Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, February 17, 1933 *Ella Fitzgerald - 'Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook' (1958) *Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong on 'The Great Summit' (1961, re released 2001) This recording appeared in the 1989 film 'Harlem Nights'. *Richie Kamuca - 'Drop Me Off at Harlem' (1975) *Ran Blake - 'Duke Dreams' (1981) *Sun Ra - 'Nuclear War' (1982) *George Shearing Quintet - "Back To Birdland" (Telarc 2001) Lyrics(ORIGINAL VERSION) Drop me off in Harlem Any place in Harlem There's someone waiting there Who makes it seem like Heaven up in Harlem I don't want your Dixie You can keep your Dixie There's no one down in Dixie Who can take me 'way from my hot Harlem Harlem has those southern skies, They're in my baby's smile, I idolize my baby's eyes And classy up-town style If Harlem moved to China, I know of nothing finer, Than to stow away on a 'plane some day And have them drop me off in Harlem Harlem has those southern skies, They're in my baby's smile I idolize my baby's eyes And classy up-town style If Harlem moved to China, I know of nothing finer, Than to stow away on a 'plane some day And have them drop me off in Harlem If Harlem moved to China I know nothing finer than to be in Harlem (ARMSTRONG VERSION) Drop me off in Harlem Yea, good ol' Harlem You have your fun under the Harlem sun So drop me off in Harlem There's Duke Ellington up in Harlem He writes all his tunes in Harlem And old Satchmo's still swingin' Way up in Harlem All the cats are still up there They're beatin' out those riffs And Apollo of Puerto Rico Will give you a great big lisp Yes, drop me off in Harlem Yea ma, beautiful Harlem You get red beans and rice It's very nice Way up there in Harlem NotesSee also*List of 1930s jazz standards Category:Songs with music by Duke Ellington Category:Songs about New York City Category:1930s jazz standards Category:1933 songs Category:Songs with lyrics by Nick Kenny (poet) Category:Jazz songs | |
Buy Drop Me Off in Harlem now from Amazon <-- Return to songs from 1933 This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1066716394. |