Cootie Tickle 1919

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 12 May 2010
2010

You've heard of the Shimmie Dance
but do you know it started back in France?
I learned from a soldier man,
how this funny little dance began;
At a ragtime jubilee
the soldiers gave one night in gay Paree
A "cullud gent" by accident
introduced this novelty:

Mose began to "Ball the Jack"
Just then up and down his back,
he felt a cute little Cootie,
wigglin' wigglin' in its track,
that's what made him shake and twist,
He did something just like this
and ev'ryone began to wiggle with 'im
their shoulders movin'
to the raggy rhythm;
It's the "Cootie Tickle" back in France
Over here it's the Shimmie Dance.

Mose began to "Ball the Jack"
Just then up and down his back,
he felt a cute little Cootie,
wigglin' wigglin' in its track,
that's what made him shake and twist,
He did something just like this
and ev'ryone began to wiggle with 'im
their shoulders movin'
to the raggy rhythm;
It's the "Cootie Tickle" back in France
Over here it's the Shimmie Dance.

Now in ev'ry cabaret
the minute that the band began to play
Ev'rybody on the floor
dances like they never did before;
It's done in so many ways,
and when I see it I just sit and gaze,
And all the while
I have to smile
thinking of what caused this craze.

Mose began to "Ball the Jack"
Just then up and down his back,
he felt a cute little Cootie,
wigglin' wigglin' in its track,
that's what made him shake and twist,
He did something just like this
and ev'ryone began to wiggle with 'im
their shoulders movin'
to the raggy rhythm;
It's the "Cootie Tickle" back in France
Over here it's the Shimmie Dance.

Mose began to "Ball the Jack"
Just then up and down his back,
he felt a cute little Cootie,
wigglin' wigglin' in its track,
that's what made him shake and twist,
He did something just like this
and ev'ryone began to wiggle with 'im
their shoulders movin'
to the raggy rhythm;
It's the "Cootie Tickle" back in France
Over here it's the Shimmie Dance.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
Cootie Tickle 1919
Music by Abe Olman
Lyrics by Jack Yellen
© MCMXIX by Leo Feist Inc. - New York
*
Sequence & karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Wednesday 12 May 2010 at 10.57
in association with Veda Meyer-Castens
*