Before teaming up with Keely Smith, Prima was already a popular trumpet player, singer and consumate SHOWMAN for over a decade who'd already been married three times. He had scored success by writing the swing anthem "Sing, Sing, Sing" a huge hit for for Benny Goodman, and scored with some novelty tunes for himself like "Robin Hood", "Bell Bottom Trousers" in 1945 and 1948's "Civilization (Bongo Bongo Bongo)". Prima had emerged from the New Orleans jazz scene, before starting a big band, and his charm & looks had him selling out major venues nationwide including drawing record crowds to New York's Paramount Theater. His records often played upon his Sicilian heritage, and novelty tracks included "Please No Squeeza Da Banana," and "Josephine, Please No Lean On The Bell."
He was considered a bit philanderous, and dated numerous women even when married. The boisterous & colorful Italian-American performer had already operated a nightclub under the name the "Famous Door" in Los Angeles where he also began dating starlets & using show biz contacts to appear in some films alongside fellow performers like Bing Crosby.
Dorothy Jacqueline Keely aka Keely Smith was discovered by Prima in Norfolk VA on tour in the late 1940's. She came up to the bandstand and won an impromptu talent contest with her voice. Prima took an instant liking to her dry wit and got the young girl's mother to sign a permission slip and she hit the road with the band. At the time Prima was signed to Columbia, and they began recording material under the direction of Mitch Miller.
Prima's career had many ups & downs, and his financial status was always precarious. By the early 1950's, with his popularity waning he could no longer afford to pay a big band, and he could find no steady work anymore on the east coast. After a desperate plea to an old talent agent friend, he was signed to play five graveyard sets in a small lounge in a new Las Vegas casino called the Sahara in 1954. Legend has it that Prima was so broke when he arrived in the desert outpost that his shoes had holes in them.
Explaining his situation to his brother in New Orleans, it was arranged that a small combo of young musicians led by Sam Butera would be shipped out to Las Vegas pronto to back Louis & Keely.
Barely having met before their opening night, the group instantly became a hit in Las Vegas, and they performed nightly from midnight until 6 am. Prima would blow his horn ala Louis Armstrong, joking, jigging and jostling against Butera on the tiny stage. Keely would ignore the boys hyperactive hub bub, filing her nails, and looking bored & blase' between her vocal lines. The audiences ate up the mix of comedy & hot swing sounds.
The tiny Casbar lounge began filling up early and joining stray gamblers some nights were other show people and celebrities like Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack entourage. Suddenly, like a phoenix, Prima was back on top and was offered a recording contract from Sinatra's label Capitol.
They had numeous hits, and the casino show excitement was captured live for the 1956 album the album The Wildest! They later won a Grammy in 1959 for their collaboration on "That Old Black Magic".
The liner notes described their combination of talents:
"By all odds, the combination of Louis Prima and Keely Smith shouldn't work. How could Louis, a confirmed inciter to riot, and Keely, normally a model of smoky-voiced sobriety, do anything but clash? But clash they don't. Explode they do!"
-from The Hits Of Louis And Keely, Capitol Records
Despite having two children, Prima and Smith divorced in the early 1960's after it became apparent the couple were no longer aligned, most conspicuously the curious culprit Louis "Just a Gigolo" Prima being unable to curb his wandering eye. He eventually remarried for a 5th and final time to Gia Maione and continued the act in a similar vein while Keely Smith went on to a solo career that continues to this day as a popular balladeer.
I Ain't Got Nobody
Louis Prima & Keely Smith Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance, selling each romance
Ooh, and they're sayin'
There will come a day when youth will pass away
What will they say about me?
When the end comes, I know
Life goes on without me
I'm just a gigolo and everywhere I go
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance, selling each romance
Ooh, what they're sayin'
And there will come a day when youth will pass away
What will they say about me?
When the end comes, I know
They was just a gigolo
Life goes on without me, 'cause
I ain't got nobody
Nobody cares for me
Nobody cares for me
I'm so sad and lonely
Sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won't some sweet mama come and take a chance with me?
'Cause I ain't so bad
An' I'll sing her sweet love songs
All of the time
She will only be, only be
Bip boz dee, boze dee, bop, biddly bop
I ain't got nobody
Nobody cares for me
Nobody cares for me
Nobody cares for me
Nobody cares for me
Humala bebuhla zeebuhla boobuhla
Humala bebuhla zeebuhla bop
I ain't got nobody
Nobody cares for me
Nobody cares for me
I'm so sad and lonely
Oh lonely, oh lonely, lonely, lonely
Won't some sweet mama, come and rescue me
'Cause I ain't so bad
An' I'll sing her sweet love songs
All of the time
She will only be, only, only, only
Only, only, only, only be
Baby, c'mon sugar, darling
Ain't got nobody, baby
There's nobody (nobody)
There's nobody (nobody)
There's nobody (nobody)
There's nobody (nobody)
There's no one (no one)
There's no one (no one)
Loot de loot (loot de loot)
Dolly dolly (dolly dolly)
Gernish gernish (gernish gernish)
Stot say da wool (stot say da wool)
Over den (over den)
Nobody (nobody)
No, no one (no, no one)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody cares for me
Louis Prima's song "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" is a melancholic and humorous tune that describes the life of a gigolo who is down on his luck. The lyrics express the reality of being a gigolo and the notion that the youth will soon pass, and he will be left with nothing but an empty existence. The lyrics also mention that the gigolo is selling every dance and romance but is still lonely and sad; he is longing for someone to rescue him.
In the first verse, the gigolo acknowledges that he is just playing a role that people know wherever he goes. He is paid for his dance and every romance he sells. It's as if he is a puppet-master, controlling his audience's desires, and they are willing to pay him for the temporary pleasure he provides. In the second verse, the gigolo repeats the same lyrics, but the difference is that he recognizes that one day, youth will pass away, and no one will remember what he has done. He will be left with nothing but a memory.
In the chorus, the gigolo talks about being sad and lonely and not having anyone who cares for him. He longs for a sweet mama to come and take a chance with him; he promises to sing her sweet love songs all the time. The chorus further repeats the gigolo's loneliness - there's nobody to care for him.
Overall, the song "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody'' is a sad story of a gigolo who is down on his luck, lonely, and looking for someone who will rescue him from his sad existence.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm just a gigolo and everywhere I go
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance, selling each romance
Ooh, and they're sayin'
The singer is proclaiming that he is a gigolo and everyone he meets is already aware of his role as a paid lover. He gets paid for each dance he performs and every romance he sells, and people are talking about him.
And there will come a day when youth will pass away
What will they say about me?
When the end comes, I know
They was just the gigolos
Life goes on without me, 'cause
The singer reflects on his future as a gigolo, knowing that eventually his youthfulness will fade away. He then asks himself what people will say about him when he is gone. He concludes that they will always remember him as just one of many gigolos and that life will continue without him.
I ain't got nobody
Nobody cares for me
Nobody cares for me
I'm so sad and lonely
Sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won't some sweet mama come and take a chance with me?
'Cause I ain't so bad
The singer confesses to feeling sad and lonely because he has no one to care for him. He then pleads with a potential lover to take a chance with him, as he is not such a bad person after all. He hopes for companionship and love in his life.
An' I'll sing her sweet love songs
All of the time
She will only be, only be
Bip boz dee, boze dee, bop, biddly bop
The singer promises to serenade his lover with sweet love songs all the time. He notes that she will only be with him and that he will sing to her using whimsical, playful lyrics.
Humala bebuhla zeebuhla boobuhla
Humala bebuhla zeebuhla bop
The singer employs a nonsensical phrase as a tongue-in-cheek expression of his growing frustration and loneliness.
There's nobody (nobody)
There's nobody (nobody)
There's nobody (nobody)
There's nobody (nobody)
There's no one (no one)
There's no one (no one)
Loot de loot (loot de loot)
Dolly dolly (dolly dolly)
Gernish gernish (gernish gernish)
Stot say da wool (stot say da wool)
Over den (over den)
Nobody (nobody)
No, no one (no, no one)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody (nobody)
Nobody cares for me
The singer repeats 'nobody' and similar nonsense phrases several times to emphasize his solitude and lack of companionship. He acknowledges that nobody seems to care about him, highlighting his deep sense of isolation and despair.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Leonello Casucci, Julius Brammer, Irving Caesar
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind