Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was a jaz… Read Full Bio ↴Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was a jazz singer, bandleader, composer and actor. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer.
Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular big bands, Cab Calloway and his Orchestra, from the start of the 1930s through to the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Doc Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Chu Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker and bassist Milt Hinton. Calloway continued to perform until his death in 1994 at the age of 86.

Calloway was born to a middle-class family in Rochester, New York, and lived there until 1918. He later lived in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Cabell Calloway II, was a lawyer, and his mother, Martha Eulalia Reed, was a teacher and church organist. His parents recognised their son's musical talent, and he began private voice lessons in 1922. He continued to study music and voice throughout his formal schooling. Despite his parents' and vocal teachers' disapproval of jazz, Calloway began frequenting and eventually performing in many of Baltimore's jazz clubs, where he was mentored by drummer Chick Webb and pianist Johnny Jones.

After graduating from high school, Calloway joined his older sister, Blanche, in a touring production of the popular black musical revue Plantation Days (Blanche Calloway herself went on to become an accomplished bandleader before her brother did, and he often credited his inspiration to enter show business to her). Calloway attended Lincoln University, Pennsylvania , and left in 1930 without graduating.

When the tour ended in Chicago in the autumn, Cab decided to remain in Chicago with his sister, who had an established career as a jazz singer in that city. His parents had hopes of their son becoming a lawyer like his father, so Calloway enrolled in Crane College. His main interest, however, was in singing and entertaining, and he spent most of his nights at the Dreamland Cafe, the Sunset Cafe, and the Club Berlin, performing as a drummer, singer, and emcee. At the Sunset Cafe he met and performed with Louis Armstrong who taught him to sing in the scat style.

The Cotton Club was the premier jazz venue in the country, and Cab Calloway and his Orchestra (he had taken over a brilliant but failing band called "The Missourians" in 1930) were hired as a replacement for the Duke Ellington Orchestra while they were touring. Calloway quickly proved so popular that his band became the co-house band with Ellington's, and he and his group began touring nationwide when not playing at the Cotton Club. Their popularity was greatly enhanced by the twice-weekly live national radio broadcasts on NBC at the Cotton Club. Calloway also appeared on Walter Winchell's radio program and with Bing Crosby in his show at the Paramount Theatre. As a result of these appearances, Calloway, together with Ellington, broke the major broadcast network colour barrier.

Unlike many other bands of comparable commercial success, Calloway's gave ample soloing space to its lead members, and, through the varied arrangements of Walter 'Foots' Thomas, provided much more in the way of musical interest.

In 1931, he recorded his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher". That song, together with "St James Infirmary Blues" and "The Old Man of the Mountain", were performed for the Betty Boop animated shorts Minnie the Moocher, Snow White, and The Old Man of the Mountain respectively. Through rotoscoping, Cab not only gave his voice to these cartoons but his dance steps as well. Cab took advantage of this and timed his concerts in some communities with the release of the films in order to make the most of the attention. As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher" he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man". He also performed in a series of short films for Paramount in the 1930s (Calloway and Ellington were featured on film more than any other Jazz Orchestra of the era). In 1943 he appeared in the high-profile 20th Century Fox musical film, Stormy Weather.

In his later career, Calloway became a popular personality, appearing in a number of films and stage productions that utilised both his acting and singing talents. In 1952, he played the prominent role of Sportin' Life in a production of the Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess. Another notable role was Yeller in The Cincinnati Kid (1965). In 1967 Calloway co-starred as Horace Vandergelder in an all-black revival of Hello, Dolly! (even though the original production was still running) starring Pearl Bailey. This was a major success, and led to a cast recording released by RCA. In 1973-1974 he was featured in an unsuccessful Broadway revival of The Pajama Game.

Calloway attracted renewed interest in 1980 when he appeared as a supporting character in the film The Blues Brothers, performing "Minnie the Moocher", and again when he sang "The Jumpin' Jive" with the Two-Headed Monster on Sesame Street. This was also the year in which the cult film Forbidden Zone was released, which included rearrangements and parodies of Cab Calloway songs written by Danny Elfman, a Calloway fan.

On 18th November 1994 Calloway died, having suffered a major stroke six months earlier. In 1998, The Cab Calloway Orchestra (directed by Cab's grandson C. "CB" Calloway Brooks) was formed to honour Cab Calloway's legacy nationally and internationally.

Little Town Girl
Cab Calloway Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

You're just a little town gal,
Don't you go to the city,
The buildings are tall
And the folks got no pity,
There'll be no one there you know just to say hello,
Little town gal.

Folks don't care

If you're blue or unhappy,
That's when you'll miss
Your maw and your pappy!
You'll be wearing out your shoes with a case of blues,
Little town gal.

And when you wake up in the morning,
How you'll miss the sights that used to greet your eyes,
Oh, of the country you were born in,
You'll miss those southern sunny skies.

You're just a little town gal,
Don't you go to the city,
Stay home with your folks
And you'll be sitting mighty pretty,

So listen here to me and be proud to be
A little town gal.

Overall Meaning

The song "Little Town Girl" by Cab Calloway tells a story about a girl from a small town and her struggles when she decides to move to the city. The lyrics deliver a clear message to the girl, advising her to stay in her hometown because the city's cold, frantic pace, and lonely atmosphere can cause immense emotional pain. The city is presented as an unwelcoming place where no one cares about anyone, and everyone is too busy caught up in their lives.

The lyrics also suggest that the girl will miss the simple pleasures of life she had known before. As she walks down the bustling avenues of the city, she'll long to be back home, where everyone knows each other, and there's always someone to talk to. She'll realize that she took her family's love and support for granted, and she'll regret being so eager to leave behind her small-town life.

The song is a reflection of the era in which it was written, the 1930s when people were migrating from rural areas to urban centers. It's a nostalgic, heartfelt tribute to the importance of the simple things in life and the memories we make in our hometowns.

Line by Line Meaning

You're just a little town gal,
You are a young girl living in a small town,

Don't you go to the city,
Don't make the mistake of going to the city,

The buildings are tall
There will be many tall buildings,

And the folks got no pity,
People there have no sympathy,

There'll be no one there you know just to say hello,
You won't know anyone there who greets you,

Little town gal.
A girl who lives in a small town.

Folks don't care
People don't care,

If you're blue or unhappy,
If you're sad or unhappy about something,

That's when you'll miss
That is when you will long for,

Your maw and your pappy!
Your parents (mom and dad) who you left behind!

You'll be wearing out your shoes with a case of blues,
You'll be walking around aimlessly with sadness,