CARMEN'S BOOGIE
(based on "Habonera"
from Bizet's "Carmen
arranged by George Cates
lyrics by Mel Leven)

as recorded by The Andrews Sisters
with Nelson Riddle & his Orchestra
July 9th 1952 Los Angeles


Hate the opera, it's too high brow,
But there's one number I can dig right now!
Just like shifting without a clutch,
I ride the boogie with the Carmen touch!

You ain't livin' if you have missed
The long haired music with the crew cut twist.
Don't love of'en and don't love much,
But love that boogie with the Carmen touch!

It rips up floors, it knocks down walls,
And it's the reason that Niagara Falls!
It even made Gibralta Rock,
It ain't a thing a mockin' bird can mock!

The day it hit in old Bombay,
A Hindu couldn't charm a snake away!
They say in French, in Greek and Dutch,
The boogie wasn't boogie until it got the Carmen touch!

Knew a fella, a cad named Red,
He played fine piano but they shot him dead!
Red deserved it, the such and such,
He bluffed off boogie with the Carmen touch!

What brings saucers around from Mars,
And why do Mason leave their Mason jars?
What makes babies cry out so much?
They want their boogie with the Carmen touch!

I can reveal
The way I feel;
I love so much
The Carmen touch!

I love the boogie, I love the boogie,
I love the boogie, I love the boogie,
I love the boogie, I love the boogie,
The boogie with the Carmen touch!

I can reveal
The way I feel;
I love so much
The Carmen touch!

Don't love of'en and don't love much,
Love that boogie with the Carmen touch,
Love that boogie with the Carmen touch!



(Transcribed by Peter Akers - December 2014)