ADD: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)

Subject: Need help finding lyrics
From:
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 05:16 PM

I am trying to find the lyrics to a R&B song I heard years ago by a lady in Atlanta. It starts out..."Well, if you wanna get frisky, you wanna feel real nice, you'd better grab it quick, pack it down with ice. Roll him over, give him coca cola.....scotch and soda....Soap and water, baby for to keep it clean...Does anyone know anything about this song? Appreciate any help. Thanks

Subject: RE: Need help finding lyrics - Wanna Get Frisky, Feel Nice
From: Pinetop Slim
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 09:07 AM

Dave Van Ronk recorded it, but I'm blocking on the title. Sorry. Someone will be along.

Subject: RE: Need help finding lyrics - Wanna Get Frisky, F
From: Trapper
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 11:01 AM

The song is "Keep It Clean", and I have it on a CD by Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson from Minneapolis (who reportedly taught Dylan to play the guitar....) Alas, GOOGLE.COM let me down - I couldn't find the lyrics.

- Al

Subject: ADD: Keep It Clean ^^
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 02:56 AM

Thank you, Slim & Trapper. I found it, but I'm not completely sure of everything.
-Joe Offer (e-mail sent)-

---

KEEP IT CLEAN
(Charlie Jordan)

Ah, you wanna get frisky,
Don't wanna pay the price
Fill it up with whiskey
And pack it down with ice

CHORUS
Ah, roll her over
Give her Coca-Cola
Yes, a dish of ice cream
Lemon soda
Well, it takes soap and water,
Baby for to keep you clean.

My little baby,
She's nice and round
She can look up
Long as I can look down

(hums)

Well the funniest gal
I've ever seen
You know, her top was purple
And her bottom was green

Well, my sugar baby,
She's the best ball in town
You just grab her by the shoulders
And you rock her up and down

Ah, now follow me, baby,
Turn your money green
I'll show you somethin'
Mr. Rockefeller never seen.

Ah, you wanna get frisky,
Don't wanna pay the price
Fill it up with whiskey
And pack it down with ice


(Transcribed from Dave Van Ronk, Live at Sir George Williams University)
Recorded January 27, 1967

@blues
filename[ KPCLEAN
JRO
Apr01 ^^

Subject: RE: Need help finding lyrics - Wanna Get Frisky, Feel Nice
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 07:53 PM

Here's some background for those interested. The Charley Jordan original is a little different. Paul Oliver quotes it (or from it - I don't have the recording and therefore do not know if it is the complete text) in his 'Songsters & Saints':

If you want to hear that elephant grunt
You can take him down to the river and then wash his trunk – now
Got him over, give 'im a Co-Cola
Lemon soda, saucer of ice cream
Take soap and water for to keep it clean

If you keeps it dirty and I keeps it clean
We don't know what keepin' it dirty means – now
You go over, get a bottle of Co-Cola etc

The terriblest sight I ever seen
Was the cook cookin' business and his hands wasn't clean – now
Yo go over, get a bottle of Co-Cola etc

You got a head like an owl, mouth like a goat
Every time you see me, lookin' for some soap
Now you go over, get a bottle of Co-Cola etc

[Charley Jordan 'Keep It Clean' Vocalion 1511. Recorded in Chicago circa mid-June 1930].

Oliver comments that Jordan's line 'We don't know what keepin' it dirty means', embracing himself and the record listeners, emphasises his identification with the audience and their familiarity with a body of bawdy songs that were widely known - 'Dirty Mother Fuyer', 'The Dozens', 'Sweet Petuni', 'Shave 'Em Dry', 'The Ma Grinder', 'Just a Spoonful', 'Shake It and Break It' etc.

Jordan was born in 1890 in Mabelville, Arkansas, served in WWI and later hoboed and worked the medicine shows until a bullet in the leg, occasioned by an argument over his manufacture of illegal liquor, confined his activities to St Louis.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Need help finding lyrics - Wanna Get Frisky, Feel Nice
From: Stewie
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 08:04 PM

The u with a circumflex over it before 'now' in each instance is meant to be a dash. It seems that HTML doesn't handle dashes, or is there some other explanation? I wouldn't know how to insert a circumflex.

--Stewie

Subject: RE: Need help finding lyrics - Wanna Get Frisky, F
From: Artful Codger
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 06:48 PM

Charley Jordan's original is on the CD "Down in the Basement", a sampling from Joe Bussard's extensive collection of 78s.

Subject: Lyr Add: KEEP IT CLEAN (Charley Jordan)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 12:51 PM

I found these lyrics at Michael Taft's Pre-War Blues Lyrics Concordance--a wonderful source, despite the unusual formatting and organization.

(The web site is organized in such a way that if you find the lyrics with Google, it's difficult to work backwards and find the identifying information. If you're looking for a specific song, with a known title and artist, it's best to start with the page I have linked to, and follow the links to the lyrics.)

(I have no idea why the web site runs the verses together and omits the chorus.)

Charley Jordan recorded 2 versions of KEEP IT CLEAN.

KEEP IT CLEAN
Recorded by Charley Jordan, Chicago, c. mid-June 1930, Vocalion-1511.
Reissued on Yazoo L-1030 "St. Louis Blues: 1929-1935"

I went to the river : couldn't get across
I jumped on your papa : because I thought he was a horse
Up she jumped : down she fell
Her mouth flew open : like a mussel shell
You sister was a teddy : your daddy was a bear
Put the muzzle on your mama : because she had bad hair
If you want to hear : that elephant laugh
Take him down to the river : and wash his yas yas yas
If you want to go to heaven : when you D I E
You got to put on your collar : and your T I E
If you want to get the rabbits : out the L O G
You got to put on the stump : like a D O G
Run here doctor : run here fast
See what's the matter : with his yas yas yas

KEEP IT CLEAN # 2
Recorded by Charley Jordan, Chicago, 17 March 1931, Vocalion-1611.
Reissued on Yazoo L-1003 "St. Louis Town: 1929-1933"

I runned to the river : runned so fast
And you couldn't see nothing : but that yas yas yas
If you want to hear : that elephant grunt
You take him down to the river : and then wash his trunk
Up he jumped : down he fell
His trap flew open : like a mussel shell
If you keep it dirty : and I keep it clean
You don't know : what keeping it dirty means
I will tell you one thing : and I mean it
It sure will take soap and water : for to keep it clean
The terriblest sight : that I ever seen
Was a cook cooking victuals : and his hands wasn't clean
You got a head like a mouse : mouth like a goat
Every time you see me : you looking for some soap

Subject: Charley Jordan - Keep it clean -meaning?
From: George Ellias
Date: 16 Mar 10 - 10:59 PM

What are your takes on this song everybody? It's been played by a lot of folk Dave Van Ronk is one of my favorites amongst these...

-G

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST
Date: 29 May 10 - 02:08 AM

For a more recent version of Keep It Clean you might want to check this live recording by Spokesmen of Soul feat. H.P. Lange out:

Spokesmen of Soul feat. H.P. Lange

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 18 Jul 10 - 02:57 PM

Jordan's entire music career and recordings were made from St Louis, he did not retire there. His circle of musicians were the legends of St Louis blues including Peetie Wheatstraw. There is nothing that indicates that he didn't grow up there because he certainly learned to play and taught others there before he died in St Louis in the 1950s. Check out the book "Devil At The Confluence, The Pre-war Blues Of St Louis, Missouri."

Subject: ADD: Wrap That Rascal (Charlie King)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Aug 15 - 05:06 AM

Charlie King wrote "Wrap That Rascal," loosely based on this song and more-or-less sharing the melody.

WRAP THAT RASCAL
(Charlie King)

Wanna get frisky, don't wanna pay the price?
Modern love is risky, follow this advice
Wrap that rascal! Wrap that rascal!
You gotta wrap that rascal if you wanna get along with me


Two young lovers, lying in bed
One snuggled up to the other & said / "Why don't we wrap that…
If you have affection, share with someone else
If you have infections, keep them to yourself / Wrap that…
(bridge) You can be creative, you can be amused
You can look for places that ain't never been used
You can stick it here, ooo & you can stick it there
But if you ain't gonna wrap it you can stick it in your ear
You gotta wrap…

Papa make a baby, Mama bound to fall
If you don't want to bring 'em up don't bring it up at all
Unless you wrap…
You can buy 'em bumpy, you can buy 'em smooth
Lubricated, decorated! red white & blue! / Why don't you…

(bridge) Who appointed Thomas? Who carpet bombed Iraq?
Who gave us the S&L's to carry on our back?
Epidemic AIDS? Economic stress?
If Bush's daddy used one we would not be in this mess
He shoulda wrapped that rascal! Wrap that rascal!
He shoulda wrapped… 'stead of going down in history

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST,sutter lee
Date: 25 Jan 18 - 01:33 AM

Willie Watson doing this led me to Charley Jordan, then checked various sources for lyrics. Listeing to Charley Jordan, i couldn't figure out what the mam had to put on her ugly hair, some say bucket, the 2n one you post says xx, but i finally heard Charley Jordan say MUTTON. Sure enough, i researched, and women would use mutton suet/grease on their hair and entire bodies. Some lyrics say saucer of ice-cream, but it's soft-serve, just as Charley Jordan says it.
The more I listen to this and read lyrics, the more I'm convinced this started as a kids game, probably without music, just a hand slapping rhyme, then easy for a musician to pick it up and put a tune to it, and it became a make up as you go along song, just keeping the same verse. That's part of what makes it so fun, a song to make people laugh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST,sutter lee
Date: 25 Jan 18 - 01:47 AM

I don't know how to edit what I just wrote;, I meant to write MUZZLE where two exes xx are. Muzzle would work, but i like the history of mutton.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST,sutter lee
Date: 25 Jan 18 - 01:57 AM

Here's Dave Van Ronk's version, when I searched for him doing Keep It Clean: He starts out with "Wanna get frisky, don't wanna pay the price."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNQfSAFPLg
He also says "Roll" her over, roll 'em over, instead of rode or ride; seems like this song's lyrics depends on audience, venue, the musician.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST,sutter lee
Date: 25 Jan 18 - 02:02 AM

The only thing fairly consistent in Keep it Clean is the chorus. I say "fairly," because some of the words differ from version to version, but they all work: saucer of ice-cream is soft-serve icecream when Charley Jordan does it. Variations in roll, or rode.
D
Roll him over, give him a Coca-Cola
A
Lemon soda, saucer of ice cream
E                                        A       E
Takes soap and water for to keep it clean

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Keep It Clean (Charley Jordan)
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Mar 24 - 02:16 PM

Steve James on his debut album Single Shot (under his birth name Stephen Cicchetti recorded a version that included the lyric

The funniest sight I ever seen was
A Tom cat sitting on a sewing machine.
The sewing machine run so gosh darn fast,
He took 99 stitches in his yaz yaz yaz….

Cheers,

Paula