"I'll See You in C-U-B-A," 1919 Prohibition Roaring 20's Irving Berlin Broadway Tin Pan Alley song

Roaring 20's prohibition song with by Irving Berlin, great American composer-lyricist, with a Latin rhythm! Berlin, who immigrated to the U.S. as a small child with his Russian-Jewish family, grew up roaming the streets of New York City and left home to become a singing waiter at a New York restaurant by his early teens. He absorbed all the ethnic musical influences surrounding him, and as a composer-lyricist, he enjoyed writing songs that imitated different ethnic musical modes. Here, we see him enjoying a Lain-esque turn with a topical song speaking to a then-contemporary concern--Prohibition! It seems that Cuba was an especially appealing place to visit with its flowing wine and panatella cigars (and stellas--fellas--panatellas is an especially creative rhyme). The song is notable both as a prohibition song (many Tin Pan Alley and Broadway songs were written on the theme!) and as an example of Americans' pre-Cuban revolution attitudes toward Cuba as vacation destination. We don't have to worry about Prohibition anymore, and our attitudes toward Cuba are more nuanced, but as things get colder in the Northern hemisphere at the time of this recording (December), I think many are still longing for a tropical clime!
If you're interested in another prohibition song, please listen to:
• "Everybody Wants a Key...
...and if you're interested in more fun Roaring 1920s music, I recommend:
• "Don't Bring Lulu," (1...
• "If You Knew Susie (Li...
#broadway #1920smusic #broadwaymusicals #tinpanalley #irvingberlin #cuba #prohibition #roaring20s #roaring20smusic
According to The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin, the song was introduced in the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic of 1919, a late-night production that took place after the Ziegfeld Follies in the rooftop of Ziegfeld's New Amsterdam Theatre. The song was also featured in the Greenwich Village Follies of 1919, where it was performed by Ted Lewis, billed as The Jazz King, as one of a set of 4 numbers: When My Baby Smiles at Me, The Vamp, I Know Why (Because I'm in Love With You," and "I'll See You in C-U-B-A" (Norton's A Chronology of the American Musical Theatre provides a complete song list for this and most other Broadway productions). The song enjoyed recordings by Lewis, Billy Murray, and Jack Kaufman. One can imagine that once prohibition ended, the song ceased to be topical and fell out of public favor! A couple decades later, it found new life with a revised lyric by Berlin in the 1946 film Blue Skies, where it was performed by Bing Crosby and Olga San Juan. Nat King Cole recorded the song in 1956.
Alec Wilder, in his American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, opines that "One would assume from the title that Berlin's concentration would have been on the lyrics. Well, perhaps it was, but with it he wrote a very good melody. His main strain is composed of wide steps laced together with chromatic steps and they make a very agreeable and unforgettable line. Ant that's another element of Berlin's songs, unforgettability." Wilder doesn't dispense praise with liberality, so he must have really liked this one!
I'd like to share a couple notes on the lyric. The printed lyric says "fellers", but the intended pronunciation has to be "fellas" in order to rhyme with "stellas" and "panatellas." Also, the printed lyric reads "And where dark-eyed Stellas," but when compared with the melody I was playing in the piano, it seemed to be missing a word, so I am singing "And where (the) dark-eyed Stellas."
Lyric:
Not so far from here
There's a very lively atmosphere
Everybody's going there this year
And there's a reason
The season opened last July
Ever since the U.S.A. went dry
Everybody's going there and I'm going too
I'm on my way to Cuba
There's where I'm going
Cuba, there's where I'll stay
Cuba, where wine is flowing
And where (the) dark-eyed Stellas
Light their fellers' panatellas
Cuba, where all is happy
Cuba, where all is gay
Why don't you plan a wonderful trip to Havana?
Hop on a ship and I'll see you in C-U-B-A
Take a friend's advice
Drinking in a cellar isn't nice
Anybody who has got the price
Should be a Cuban
Have you been longing for the smile?
That you haven't had for quite a while?
If you have then follow me and I'll show the way
I'm on my way to Cuba
There's where I'm going
Cuba, there's where I'll stay
Cuba, where wine is flowing
And where (the)dark-eyed Stellas
Light their fellers' panetellas
Cuba, where all is happy
Cuba, where all is gay
Why don't you plan a wonderful trip to Havana?
Hop on a ship and I'll see you in C-U-B-A