Big Bill Jefferson a railroad man,
Says "I try to save but never can.
Every month I've got to buy my babe a dress,
Then the landlord hands me out a dispossess,
She's got Brinkley hats and Gibson sacks
Long straight fronts and habit backs,
I get enough remuneration, goodness knows,
But ev'ry single cent I earn she spends on clothes. So
CHORUS:
I'm going to get myself a black "Sal-om-ee"
A Hootchie-Kootchie dancer from Dahomey
All that she'll wear is a yard of lace
And some mosquito netting on her face
A whole new outfit costs about a cent, And
then she can wiggle out of paying rent,
There's no use of talking, I'm tired of my home,
So I'm going to get myself a black Sal-ome.
Big Bill took a trip to Coney Isle,
Saw a dancer dressed up in a smile,
Oriental ear-rings and a string of pearls,
Surely was the Queen of the Salome girls,
Took her up to Ethiopian Hall,
To the dark town fancy ball,
She hadn't hardly started in to wiggle about,
When ev'ry colored gentlemen [sic] began to shout. Oh