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Queenie / Strip Polka

[ Roud - ; Johnny Mercer]

Queenie is a peculiar music hall song sung at Forest School Camps. It was written by Johnny Mercer with the title Strip Polka and recorded by the Andrews Sisters in 1942.

Jon Boden sang Queenie as the 8 February 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Lyrics

Jon Boden sings Queenie

There’s a low-down tavern where the boys all go
To see Queenie, the star of the burlesque show.
But the highlight of the evening is when on the stage she trips
And the band plays the polka while she strips.

Chorus:
Take’em off, take ’em off! Cry the boys at the back,
Take’em off, take ’em off! Be your natural self,
But Queenie is a lady and it’s only pantomime
So she stops… but only just in time.

There’s another side of Queenie that the boys don’t see,
She dreams of a cottage surrounded by trees.
But the payment of the mortgage takes an awful lot of chips
So the band plays the polka while she strips.

(Chorus)

Some day, Queenie will fall,
Queenie, pride of them all.
Some day, churchbells will chime… but only just in time!.