Representing the Mambo
Album - 1989 - Debaser id 31574

Bill Payne, Neon Park, Fred Tackett, Paul Barrere

Gretta's flunky, some two fisted monkey, some wild-eyed Romeo
Winds up the mountain with Rio down below
Drives too slowly past a burning impromptu altar
Attended by no one of visible means
Could be a warning just shining us on, but we're far too gone
On our way to see some Johnny
Representing the mambo
Representing the mambo... mambo... mambo oooh.. mambo

Rounding the corner we come to a halt
Doors fly open as we prepare for assault
Out from the shadows step the dangerous boys
Hands holding weapons, they treat them like toys
A debutante Gretta, the taxidermist's daughter
She knows what to say
She knows how to mingle, she knows the lingo
Muchachos we're here to see Johnny
Representing the mambo
Representing the mambo... mambo... mambo oooh.. mambo

Gretta leads us through the stone carved archway
Into the school of samba, the place of sacred rites
We push through a gauntlet of limpwristed handshakes
An empty cotillion air kisses
Gretta smiles as we make our way to the bar
The new crowd says I remind them of Frank
Who died of excessive nymphets
In Barcelona... in Barcelona

Who's that with Gretta? Yeah You know how she is...
Never the same one twice
I say old chap, would you care for a piece of cake
No thanks, Paul, my ears are too sweet now

A strange choice of work, but forensically it's true
Sudden thunder clap drum roll
Gretta's on the stage... she's a honey of a hun
A blue-eyed angel girl
Announces proudly to everyone in the room
Senhores y senores here's Johnny
Representing the mambo
Representing the mambo... mambo... mambo oooh.. mambo

Gretta Gretta I've got to slip away
It just won't work between us
Your daddy runs the house of pain
You are the taxidermist's daughter, yeah

If you walk in off the street
You can take the load right off your feet
Mamma bring the menu to your seat
But the bill of fare be short & sweet

Won't find no etouffe
Mamm never ever could cook it that way
She's all ancien regime
No nouvell cuisine

She cook gumbo
A mighty rad gumbo
It's the only way she can go
Down at the Club Rad Gumbo

Now the heads and shells stay in the stock
She stirs her roux and really rocks
One gallon shellfish stock or water
Man this gumbo is made to order

Two toes of garlick finely chopped
Man this party just can't be stopped
Mamma's pots are boiling, band starts to blow
Piano keys a flying like Fats Domino

She cook gumbo
A mighty rad gumbo
It's the only way she can go
Down at the Club Rad Gumbo
Oh no, no escargot, no cordon bleu
This ain't the place to go lookin' for beef stew
But if you like tender shrimp and rice
If ya think ya can stand the spice

She cook gumbo
A mighty rad gumbo

Now the people come from miles around
Dig what Mamma's puttin' down
Everybody knows her name
She in the seafood hall of fame

I got to get that recipe
If it means the death of me
Get my spyboy to sneak a look
Into Mamma's book

She cook gumbo
A mighty rad gumbo
It's the only way she can go
Down at the Club Rad Gumbo

She cook gumbo
A mighty rad gumbo
It's the only way she can go
Down at the Club Rad Gumbo29c:58

Paul Barrere, Bill Payne, Fred Tackett, Craig Fuller

She ain't real friendly for no good reason
Claims her life's been filled with treason
Says she's cursed by a toothless gypsy
Wonderin' why her life's so greasy

With doulbe blades she dulls her senses
Spiteful girl by all consensus
All her life it's been the same
Hell she don't even like her name

She longs to be the ingenue
To leading men tall dark and handsome
But now the play has passed her by... oh my
There's no exit
Oh no there's no way out at all
There's no exit

Jumped a train in Italy
On her way to gay Paris
Down in the Loire Valley
She got sho drunk she couldn't see
Stumblin' through a metro station
In a mood for conversation
Fortune teller read her palm
Told her that her time was gone

She longs to be the ingenue
To leading men tall dark and handsome
But now the play has passed her by... oh my
There's no exit
Oh no there's no way out at all
There's no exit

She used to model as a child
With Bardot's looks and Gigi's laughter
Enfant terrible creation
Of a sockless adman's mind
Played her first recital at the tender age of nine
Strains of Clare de Lune
Mater sipping wine
Pater in the garden gazing
At those ponies grazing
The spoils of a lonely child

She longs to be the ingenue
To leading men tall dark and handsome
Once just a jet-trash kid
Down at Les Halles
Her frequent trips to Nice
In Monaco she was always welcome
She was embraced by all society
Along the way she lost her charms
Now the play has passed her by