Lorelei viewed by Gershwin

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PardonMyEnglish.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended

George Gershwin composed Pardon My English in 1933,  with lyrics authored by his brother Ira. It was a satire of the Prohibition, using an ingenious twist: to make fun of the alcohol interdiction in US, the action was set in Germany, where the plot was imagining a prohibition in reverse, with the interdiction of non-alcoholic beverages (and clandestine clubs serving cream soda and ginger ale). It was not the only twist of the plot: the main character was several times the victim in minor accidents (once provoked by a car, second time by a birdhouse, and so on), as a consequence the guy was forgetting his identity, switching back and forth between a lower-class German owner of a speakeasy (named Club 21, allusion to the homonymous bar in New York of that era)  and a sophisticated member of the British Parliament.

The musical of Gershwin had a very relative success, while its songs enjoyed a good life on their own. The Lorelei  is one of these songs and it sounds fine. Here is a record with Sara Vaughn.

Sarah Vaughan - The Lorelei, 1957
with Hal Mooney and his orchestra
(video by Praguedive)

Back in the days of knights and armour,

There once lived a lovely charmer;

Swimming in the Rhine,

Her figure was divine!

She had a yen for all the sailors,

Fishermen and gobs and whalers;

She had a most immoral eye,

They called her Lorelei.

She created quite a stir,

And I want to be like her!

I want to be like the gal on the river

Who sang her songs to the ships passing by;

She had the goods and how she could deliver,

The Lorelei!

She used to love in a strange kind of fashion,

With lots of "hey, ho-de-ho, hi-de-hi!",

And I can guarantee I'm full of passion,

Like the Lorelei!

Oh I'm treacherous, ya ya,

And I just can't hold myself in check!

And I'm lecherous, ya ya,

I wanna bite my initials on a sailor's neck!

And each affair has a kick and a wallop,

For what they crave I can always supply!

I wanna be like that other trollop

Called the Lorelei!

(http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/l/loreleithegershwin.shtml)

Here is a very small list of synonyms for a couple of so words from the lyrics:

yen - yearning
gob - American sailor
stir - fuss
lecherous - lustful
wallop - heavy blow or punch
speakeasy - clandestine bar during American Prohibition era


(Musica Nova)