The Hold Up Rag
music by egbert van alstyne / lyrics by edward madden
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THE HOLD UP RAG - sung by Nan McGrew (Betty Boop) & Bimbo
(Harriet Lee and Billy Murray) THE BUM BANDIT (TALKARTOONS) 1931 The Hold Up Rag was composed in 1912 by prolific ragtime and vaudeville composer Egbert Van Alstyne, with lyrics by Edward Madden. By the time Van Alstyne was 18 he was touring vaudeville while working as an organ salesman, and before long he settled down in what was soon to become New York's Tin Pan Alley. By the 1910's and 1920's he was consistently churning out big hits, and he also recorded a number of piano rolls during the peak of the medium's popularity. The Hold Up Rag was often played by the house orchestra in silent western movies. In 1931 the song appears in the Talkertoon short The Bum Bandit, where it is sung by Billy Murray and Harriet Lee (as Bimbo and Betty Boop). The film's star was Bimbo, as this was only Betty Boop's fourth appearance. In the film, Betty's character Nan McGrew is a take-off Helen Kane's character in the 1930 comedy western Dangerous Nan McGrew.
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1930
BETTY BOOP |
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20??
K.N. O. |
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DANGEROUS NAN McGREW (full movie)
1930 film starring Helen Kane |
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THE HOLD UP RAG
Mister Engineer, now look a-here,
There's someone down there on the track. Yeah?
See that wicked eye?
He's out to do or die;
Hear his pistol going crack?
Hold your watch and chain,
And stop the train;
Put on the brakes and let her drag.
For you certainly got to hand it
To that gentlemanly bandit
When he makes you do the hold-up rag!
Bimbo sings:
Hands up! Hands up!
Everybody, hands up!
Get out and do that hold-up rag!
Make it snappy there,
Go into your dance;
Don't you hide that diamond in your pants!
Easy there,
Shell out, shell out!
Don't you dare to yell out,
Drop your pearls and diamonds in the bag;
All aboard!
Look out! It's the hold-up rag!
Mister Engineer, now look a-here,
There's someone down there on the track. Yeah?
See that wicked eye?
He's out to do or die;
Hear his pistol going crack?
Hold your watch and chain,
And stop the train;
Put on the brakes and let her drag.
For you certainly got to hand it
To that gentlemanly bandit
When he makes you do the hold-up rag!
Bimbo sings:
Hands up! Hands up!
Everybody, hands up!
Get out and do that hold-up rag!
Make it snappy there,
Go into your dance;
Don't you hide that diamond in your pants!
Easy there,
Shell out, shell out!
Don't you dare to yell out,
Drop your pearls and diamonds in the bag;
All aboard!
Look out! It's the hold-up rag!
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