Makin’ Whoopee – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 142

I used to play this tune a lot with my dad and Grandpa when I was a kid, but we never played the B part – It has some tricky chords, which could be the reason we didn’t play it. I have a clear memory of playing it at the Big Band Boogie Ball – at the UNC ballroom with my dad on tenor banjo, my grandpa on guitar, and my brother Aaron on bass. We had a lot of fun that night.

I picked this tune tonight because I just finished practicing for a wedding gig with Jim Abraham and Tom Barbour, and Makin’ Whoopee was one of the wedding tunes. I hadn’t played it in a long time, and I really like this tune.

Makin’ Whoopee From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Makin’ Whoopee!” is a jazz/blues song, first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical Whoopee!. Walter Donaldson wrote the music and Gus Kahn the lyrics for the song as well as for the entire musical.

The title is a euphemism for sexual intimacy,[1] and the song itself is a “dire warning”, largely to men, about the “trap” of marriage.[2] “Makin’ Whoopee” begins with the celebration of a wedding, honeymoon and marital bliss, but moves on to babies and responsibilities, and ultimately on to affairs and possible divorce, ending with a judge’s advice

Makin’ Whoopee Lyrics

Another bride Another June
Another sunny honey moon
another season, another reason
for makin’ whoopie

Alot of shoes, alot of rice
the groom is nervous. he answers twice
its so Killin that he’s so willin’
To make whoopee

Picture a little love nest
down where the roses cling
picture the same sweet love nest
Think what a year can bring

He’s washing dishes and baby clothes
He’s so ambitious he even sews
but don’t forget folks thats what you get folks
for makein whoopee

Another year or maybe less
what’s this I hear? Well you can’t you guess
She feels neglected and he’s suspected
of makin’ whoopee

She sits alone most every night
He doesn’t phone her he doesn’t write
he says he’s busy but she say’s “is he?”
He’s makin’ whoopee

He doesn’t make much money
only five thousand per
some judge who thinks he’s funny
says you’ll pay six to her

he says now judge suppose i fail
the judge says budge right into jail
you better keep her i think it’s cheeper
then makeing whoopee

you better keep her
I know it’s cheaper than makin’ whoopee