Palesteena - Original Dixieland Jazz-Band , 1920

PALESTEENA
(Lena From Palesteena)
Shimmy by J. Russel Robinson & Con Conrad

In the Bronx of New York City
Lived a girl, she's not so pretty
Lena is her name.
Such a clever girl is Lena
How she played her concertina
Really, it's a shame.
She's such a good musician
She got a swell position
To go across the sea to entertain.
And so they shipped poor Lena
Way out to Palesteena
From what they tell me, she don't look the same.
They say that Lena is the Queen o' Palesteena
Just because she plays the concertina.
She only knows one song,
She plays it all day long
Sometimes she plays it wrong,
But still they love it
What more of it
I heard her play once or twice.
Oh! Murder! Still, it was nice.
All the girls, they dress like Lena
Some wear oatmeal, some Farina
Down old Palesteena way.

Lena's girlfriend Arabella
Let her meet an Arab fella
Who she thought was grand.
On a camel's back a-swaying
You could hear Miss Lena playing
Over the desert sand.
She didn't know the new ones
All she knew were blue ones
And Yusef sat and listened all day long
(or: Till Yusef sat and listened in his tent)
And as he tried to kiss her
You heard that Arab whisper,
"Oh Lena, how I love to hear your song!"
(or: "Oh Lena, how I love your instrument!")

They say that Lena is the Queen o' Palesteena
'Cause she shakes a wicked concertina.
She plays it day and night
She plays with all her might
She never gets it right,
You think it's funny,
Gets her money.
There's nothin' sounds like it should.
So rotten, it's really good.
While the Arabs danced so gaily
She would practice aily-aily
Down old Palesteena way.

Lena, she's the Queen o' Palesteena
Goodness, how they love her concertina.
Each movement of her wrist
Just makes them shake and twist
They simply can't resist
How they love it
Want more of it.
When she squeeks
That squeeze-box stuff
All those sheiks
Just can't get enough.
She got fat as he got Lena
Pushing on her concertina
Down old Palesteena way.

The ORIGINAL DIXIELAND JAZZ BAND billed themselves "The Creators of Jazz". Their record "Livery Stable Blues" became the first Jazz record ever released on February 26, 1917 for the Victor Talking Machine Company. It was wildly successful. Its release signaled the beginning of the Jazz age and helped define the wild, exuberent era we call the "Roaring Twenties". The Original Dixieland Jazz Band in 1916 moved from New Orleans to Chicago and then to New York where, on the recommendation of Al Jolson, they landed a gig at Reisenweber's Café on Columbus Circle and 58th Street, a fashionable restaurant and night-spot. The band was an immediate success, with their top hats that spelled out "Dixie", playing the trombone's slide with the foot, and so on. Their leader Nick La Rocca and cornet player delighted in stirring up the press, describing themselves as musical anarchists and coining fun statements like "Jazz is the assassination of the melody, it's the slaying of syncopation". After the Reisenweber's Café engagement end the band played at the Alamo Cafe (148th Street) and the College Inn at Coney Island. The Original Dixieland Jazz Band went on to record and play in London, producing 20 tracks for Columbia. They returned to America in July of 1920, but the public began to tire of them and they never regained the sales or popularity of their initial success. The group broke up in 1925 after La Rocca suffered a nervous breakdown.

(info based upon:redhotjazz.com)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 1920s
• dance
• bands
• Palestine
• Jewish
• Immigration
• America
• cabaret
• Roaring
• Twenties
• shimmy

[Squarerig]

This is a joy to listen to.That strange,lost-forever-sound of the twenties.Thank you for the clip.

[livingaragtimelife]

I've adored this funny song for twenty years! Lena, she's the Queen o' Palesteena Goodness, how they love her concertina. Each movement of her wrist Just makes them shake and twist They simply can't resist How they love it Want more of it. When she squeeks That squeeze-box stuff All those sheiks Just can't get enough. She got fat as he got Lena Pushing on her concertina Down old Palesteena way.

[MuzikLuver29]

My grandfather loved dixieland..I have all of his old records and I put them on and just enjoy the sound of the times back then

[hartleyndorsett]

does the pic heading this up remind anyone else of the inside fold of "Strictly Personal" by Cap'n Beefheart?

[bobbobato]

@MrNotyag Nick LaRocca has not been given the credit he deserves as a pioneer of Jazz simply do to the fact that he was a horrible, shameless racist well into the 1950s. This man tried to take all the credit for creating Jazz - how is that not objectionable? There are many white musicians of about his time who are still thought of favourably today.

[crunterstamps]

check out Frank Crumits version;Superb!!

[blivemernot]

Great

[65Pekka]

I love it!

[shaneu1]

The dominant theme is klezmer. The song was also treated as an oriental fox trot. The band's name notwithstanding, there's very little of what came to be known as "Dixieland" in it.

[shaneu1]

@ThePeaceableKingdom Glad you mentioned that. I knew I had heard it in one of Allen's films, but couldn't remember which.

[ThePeaceableKingdom]

Just a bit of trivia: Woody Allen used this music for childhood flashbacks (the magic show) in Stardust Memories...