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The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doing now, man, for more years than I know. They played it like that in the shanties and in their juke joints, and nobody paid it no mind 'til I goosed it up. I got it from them. Down in Tupelo, Mississippi, I used to hear old Arthur Crudup bang his box the way I do now, and I said if I ever got to the place where I could feel all old Arthur felt, I'd be a music man like nobody ever saw - Elvis Presley, 1956, Last Train to Memphis

Author Topic: Papa's on the house top  (Read 806 times)

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Offline gmeyer

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Papa's on the house top
« on: August 11, 2021, 02:12:36 PM »
Does anyone have an idea about what the song 'Papa's on the house top' is all about?  It would be easy to describe the Leroy Carr song as just a novelty, but I am curious if there is more to it than simply 'get out of the house, you're making too much noise'...

Offline Johnm

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Re: Papa's on the house top
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2021, 10:49:55 AM »
Hi gmeyer,
I have always considered "Papa's On the Housetop" to be a novelty song, though an unusually well-crafted one. I think the whole point of the song is how perfectly the lyrics scan with the rhythm of the melody and the melodic riff upon which the song is based. It's really kind of a blues patter song, like some British music hall songs or some of those of Gilbert and Sullivan. Other people might hear it differently, but I certainly don't see any deep inner meaning to it--it just seems a carefree, funny, happy song to me. And there is certainly no through storyline to the lyrics.
All best,
Johnm

Offline Devils Son Inlaw

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Re: Papa's on the house top
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2021, 05:40:12 AM »
I love that song and I'd agree with Johnm, it seems to be just a great song with funny lyrics.

Tags: Leroy Carr 
 


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