'Wind It Up, I've Got A New Needle'

One of our occasional vocalists is Mr. Cole Hopper, who is also an 'occasional' lyricist. He recently penned these tasty little rhymes, and the Big Island Aloha Band and I worked on the tune.

I've never been one for aspersions cast

Rarely been first, most always last

Don't like to drag up your sordid little past

But wind it up, I've got a new needle

Wind it up, got a new needle.

Now I've often been left in Coventry

Had many a case of verbal dysentery

Love to make running commentary

So wind it up, I've got a new needle

Wind it up, got a new needle.

If you give me an inch I'll take a mile

And you'll be left with my Cheshire Cat smile

I will sing a little ditty of you, honeychile

And wind it up, I've got a new needle

Wind it up, got a new needle.

So, if you give me an inch I'll take a mile

And you'll be left with my Cheshire Cat smile

I will sing a little ditty of you, honeychile

And wind it up, I've got a new needle

Yes, wind it up, got a new needle.

It's as big as our local church steeple

Oh, wind it up...

I've got a new needle.

Words by Cole Hopper and music by Dukelele and the Big Island Aloha Band.

Copyright Djinn Jivin' Records (1930). Reissued 2009.

Where in blue blazes have you been?

I suppose you probably think I must have disappeared into the ether, or been swallowed up by a willy-willy, or even gone to jazzbo valhalla. 'Twas none of those things, just been travelling with my travellin' band, touring the country and the outback between Melbourne and Sydney, sippin' some serenity.
We went from Melbourne to Ballarat and Bendigo, Echuca and Albury, to Canberra and back down to Eden and on up the coast to Sydney. We stopped at many a little town along the way and played in many a little town hall or church hall. Sometimes we arrived at the same time as the picture show man and had to compete with his audience accroual to make a shilling. Sometimes we had to compete against the local church congregation to even make a penny!
But play we did! Like the devil was our whippin' boy. Some crowds had never heard any modern dance music, they'd only had local country dance bands playing jigs and waltzes and polkas. We hit town and, even if we were only there to play one night, the air was electric after the first tune and people would come running from all over town. After a time on the road our reputation began to proceed us and we either were met with a shebang welcome or were chased out of town before our old bus got a chance to stop. It got to where we realised we'd have to carry an extra supply of petrol and oil in case we couldn't fill up the tank in one of these towns.
When we got to Wollongong we got to play in some of the bigger hotels that had a stage and a dance floor. That felt more like home again but we sometimes missed the warmth of the simpler townsfolk we'd met along the way and the blokes and girlies we'd shared a drink, a yarn, and sometimes a bed with.
Funnily enough, most of the recent tunes we played didn't get as much of a clap as some the oldies like The Sheik of Araby, Makin' Whoopee, or the Black Bottom. But then again, radios are pretty scant in some parts and half of the pianola rolls we came across were still from the Noughties, so I suppose even those tunes would seem pretty new.
When we finally hit Sydney the old bus had to be put into a local garage for some major repair. This meant we had to cancel a few bookings on the outskirts of Sydney but we were able to play more nights at places like the Trocadero and the Regent. Sydney was on fire with some hot bands playin' and we fanned the flames no end.