What if Ain't We Got Fun Was Afrobeat
Bill collectors gather
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What if Ain't We Got Fun Was Afrobeat
The rent is still unpaid, but the ground under it has moved a long way from 1921. The strutting pit band is gone. In its place is a 1970s Lagos groove: a bead-covered gourd shaking in the right hand, congas and a talking drum sliding around the drum kit, an electric bass walking its own path under two clean interlocking guitars, and a horn section that answers the voice instead of decorating it.
The words are Gus Kahn's and Raymond B. Egan's, set to Richard A. Whiting's tune, and not one of them has been changed. Both verses are sung, and so are both printed sets of chorus words — the second chorus is not the first one repeated. In the first, "the rich get rich and the poor get children"; in the second, "the poor get laid off". The 1921 sheet prints both, so both are here, in printed order 12. A "chappy" is the sheet's slang for a young fellow, and the joke is still the same one: the collectors are at the door, the bride is cheerful anyway, and the household keeps its rhythm.
Play it on a Saturday afternoon when the flat is untidy and the kettle is on, or on the walk to a friend's place with the week's small disasters still fresh. The band takes its time getting going, then the horns come in under the first sung line, and by the second chorus the whole thing is a parade for people with no money in their pockets.
References
- 1Ain't We Got Fun (1921) — Wikisource
en.wikisource.org
- 2The 1921 song sheet, Jerome H. Remick & Co., New York and Detroit — first music page
commons.wikimedia.org
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