In an Oriental setting in a Winter Garden show
Was a slave girl, very pretty in the colored lanterns' glow;
Tom-toms beating to her dancing made her seem a vision rare,
Never back in Egypt's hist'ry did they see such legs so bare.
With this caravan a trader came along with Chorus men,
Saw the Oriental dancer, fell in love with her right then.
"Tell me thy name, oh wondrous maiden!
Say from whence you come, oh do!"
Then the Oriental slave said, "You know where I'm from,"
I hail from
CHORUS:
Cairo, the land of joy,
I hail from Cairo, in Illinois;
I was a slave in the Oriental Cafe,
Selling cigarettes to trav'ling salesmen ev'ry day.
(Oh Schinasi, oh Mogul, oh Murad)
Back there in Cairo, you'll see the sphinx,
On ev'ry face of those rural ginks,
And by the Great Egyptian Deities,
I got these Oriental knees
In Cairo, Cairo, Illinois.