SONG
"One of the better ones I've heard so far on my auditory journey through this book and through musical history. Love the Latin flavour! It made me wiggle. Also the translated lyrics below are worth a look :)" - LC
Written by: Moisés Simón (later Simons).
Label: RCA Victor.
FACTS
- This song kicked off the rumba craze in the early 1930s.
- During the 1920s, street vendors (the song title translates to 'The Peanut Vendor') had advertised their peanuts with jingles.
- The song was previously recorded in 1928 by Cuban starlet Rita Montaner, but it was this version that took the world by storm.
- It became the biggest selling song in New York in 1931. It was also a hit in Japan and Europe.
- The song's most lasting influence was in West and Central Africa, where it was labeled as a 'rumba fox-trot' and was required repertoire for any large African orchestra in that enormous region.
Translation
The Peanut Vendor
In Cuba, each merry maid
Wakes up with this serenade
Peanuts! They’re nice and hot
Peanuts! I sell alot
If you haven’t got bananas, don’t be blue
Peanuts in a little bag are calling you
Don’t waste them, no tummy ache
You’ll taste them when you awake
For at the very break of day
The peanut vendor’s on his way.
Peanuts! They’re nice and hot
Peanuts! I sell alot
If you haven’t got bananas, don’t be blue
Peanuts in a little bag are calling you
Don’t waste them, no tummy ache
You’ll taste them when you awake
For at the very break of day
The peanut vendor’s on his way.
At dawning that whistle blows
Through every city, town, and country lane
You’ll hear him sing his plaintive little strain
And as he goes by to you he’ll say:
“Big jumbos, big double ones
Come buy those peanuts roasted today
Come try those freshly roasted today!”
If you’re looking for a moral to this song
Fifty million little monkeys can’t be wrong
In Cuba, his smiling face
Is welcome most every place
Peanuts! They hear him cry
Peanuts! They all reply
If you’re looking for an early morning treat
Get some double jointed peanuts good to eat
For breakfast or dinner time
For supper, most anytime
A merry twinkle in his eye
He’s got a way that makes you buy
Each morning that whistle blows
The little children like to trail along
They love to hear the peanut vendor’s song
They all laugh with glee when he will say
“They’re roasted, no tiny ones
They’re toasted, peanuts in the shell
Come buy some, I eat more than I sell!”
If an apple keeps the doctor from your door
Peanuts ought to keep him from you ever more
In Cuba, each merry maid
Wakes up with this serenade
"Peanuts! They’re nice and hot,
Peanuts! I sell alot,
Peanuts! We’ll meet again
Peanuts! This street again
Peanuts! You’ll eat again
Your peanut man.”
That Peanut man’s gone
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