Fats Waller's Way With Words

"We all had to know the dirty lyrics that got involved with some of the best-known popular tunes, because we had so many requests from the customers in the cabarets. It got so we had to be very careful to sing the right words when we were working in front of the general public."

"Eugene Sedric, a clarinetist, once told me what happened when he was on the road with the Waller group. They had been using up the time on the bus improvising new barroom verses for "Blues In The Night" and Fats was having a ball."

"They opened at the Paradise Theatre in Detroit after an all-night run on the highway. During the first show, Fats started singing some of the smelliest phrases from the night before into the microphone. The management banged down the curtain and called the cops. It took them all day to get Fats out so that his show could finish the week."

​

From Music On My Mind by Willie The Lion Smith.

Hey delivery man, where have you been?
Oh mercy, it sure is a sin.
Mama mama don't be fast.
Do not show your big fine......shortnin bread.