EGYPTIAN FANTASIES
I've never been to Egypt, except the Cairo airport, the only Middltransit point then to Israel. So I have to take others' words for its splendors and delights. Thought you'd like to hear some of them.
Cairo was once the Havana of the Middle East. There Muslims practiced the same kind of hedonistic Islam as the pleasure-principled Judaism that Jews practiced while Moses was holding his famous interview with God atop Mount Sinai. Egyptian night life and tourism were the salacious subjects of pop tune and rag in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Today I present a cavalcade of recordings about high and hot times in Egypt and how that fact of life easily lent itself to composers on Broadway and in Harlem. Although most of these songs were classified as novelties then, they have endured as cherished classics—thanks to the proliferating number of jazz and high society revival bands and singers. Some of their homages and preservations are present in this mix.
The Golden Age remains a gold mine whose tailings are being worked every day. It makes me happy and hopeful to think some teenager might hear Sidney Bechet’s “Egyptian Fantasy” and have a Damascus Road experience. As I have long said, the 78 is one of the principal means of cultural archeology now and major means of social networking then. Consider these sonic travel brochures. Or just ask your camel driver what’s a person supposed to do after dark in Cairo? These songs indicate a splendid time was still us guaranteed for all. For those who want Viewmaster vistas of Egypt, there are excusions to the Pyraminds and King Tut’s tomb. Cleopatra would be welcome here but I couldn’t find a song worthy of this Queen. If ever a woman had a night life with royals and celebrities, she was one.
Sidney Bechet, Egyptian Fantasy, 1941
Allen Toussaint, Egyptian Fantasy, 2009
Theatre Bizarre Orchestra, Egyptian Fantasy, 2017
The Happy Six, By the Pyramids, 1919
Clyde Doerr, Suez (Ferde Grofe). 1922
Sophie Tucker, Old King Tut, 1923
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, Old King Tut, 2013 (recorded for HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”)
Art Hickman, Cairo, 1919
Art Hickman, The Streets of Cairo, 1919 (Hickman loved Egypt)
Louisiana Rhythm Kings, There’s Egypt in Your Eyes, 1923
Abe Lyman, Queen of the Nile, 1923
Ted Lewis, Egyptian Ella, 1931
Harry Reser’s Six Jumping Jacks, Egyptian Ella, 1931
The Passadena Roof Orchestra, Egyptian Ella, 2016
Howard Lanin, Lady of the Nile, 1925
Bert Ralston (Alec Cripps. voc.), Lady of the Nile, 1926
Isham Jones, By the Silvery Nile, 1922
Nick Lucas, My Song of the Nile, 1929 (I love this guy)
Ben Selvin (Scott Bellew, voc.), My Song of the Nile, 1929
Ray Noble (al Bowlly, voc.), when It’s Sunset on the Nile, 1931
Adrian Schubert (Elemer Feldkamp, voc.), Love Song of the Nile, 1933
Ray Noble (al Bowlly, voc.), When It’s Sunset on the Nile, 1931
Duke ellington, Arabian Lover (Dorothy Fields-Jimmy McHugh), 1929 (a showcase for trumpeter Cootie Williams which I used one the fragile asumption the lover is Egyptian)
Charlie Ventura & Kai Wnding, East of Suez, 1947
Jackie & Roy, East of Suez, 1981
Roy Orbison, Shahdaroba, 1963 (single version, released on Monument in 1963)
Where the Nile flows
And the moon glows
On the silent sand
Of an ancient land
When a dream dies
And the heart cries
Shahadaroba
Is the word they whisper low
Shahadaroba, Shahadaroba
Means the future
Is much better than the past
Shahadaroba, Shahadaroba
In the future
You will find a love that lasts
So when tears flow
And you don't know
What on earth to do
And your world is blue
When your dream dies
And your heart cries
Shahadaroba
Fate knows what's best for you
Shahadaroba, Shahadaroba
Face the future
And forget about the past
Shahadaroba, Shahadaroba
In the future
You will find a love that lasts
Shahadaroba
Madness, Night Boat to Cairo, 1979
Night boat to Cairo
It's just gone noon, half past monsoon
On the banks of the river Nile
Here comes the boat, only half-afloat
Oarsman grins a toothless smile
Only just one more to this desolate shore
Last boat along the river Nile
Doesn't seem to care, no more wind in his hair
As he reaches his last half mile
The oar snaps in his hand before he reaches dry land
But the sound doesn't deafen his smile
Just pokes at wet sand with an oar in his hand
Floats off down the river Nile
Floats off down the river Nile
All aboard, night boat to Cairo
Night boat to Cairo
Colin Hancock’s New Orleans Orchestra, Purple Rose of Cairo, 2019 (Colin is a genius who plays every instrument on this record; I nominate him as the greatest one-man band in history.)
And I just read a book about an Englishwoman living in Cairo during the war - so great soundtrack for that, too!
This was so much fun!!