HONG KONG BLUES
Hoagy Carmichael  1939

Hoagy Carmichael (vocal & piano) 
Artie Bernstein (bass) Spike Jones (drums)  

recorded May 11th 1942
 Los Angeles

also rec by -
Kenny Ball & his Jazzmen '64
George Harrison '81
Annie Ross '81


It's the story of a very unfortunate coloured man
Who got 'rrested down in old Hong Kong.
He got twenty years privelige taken away from him
When he kicked old Buddha's gong;

And now he's bobbin' a piano just to raise the price
Of a ticket to the land of the free.
Well, he say his home's in 'Frisco where they send the rice,
But it's really in Tennessee;
That's what he said!

I need someone to love me,
Need somebody to carry me
Home to San Francisco,
And bury my body there!

Oh, I need someone to lend me
A fifty dollar bill, and then
I'll leave Hong Kong far behind me
For happiness once again.

Won't someone believe
I've a yen
To see that Bay again?
But when I try to leave,
Sweet opium won't let me fly away!

I need someone to love me,
Need somebody to carry me
Home to San Francisco,
And bury my body there!

That's the story of a very unfortunate coloured man
Who got 'rrested down in old Hong Kong.
He got twenty years privelige taken away from him
When he kicked old Buddha's gong.



(Transcribed by Peter Akers - September 2012)