Cagney and Shanghai Lil

Posted: January 10th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Following up on yesterday’s post about Dietrich and Shanghai Lily, a wee bit more on James Cagney and Shanghai Lil from the 1933 film Footlight Parade, a Busby Berekely hoofer extravaganza. The Shanghai Lil scene is the final show stopper – an opium den, all very sinful and Cagney dancing and singing with Ruby Keeler in her silk jim-jams. Dietrich, Keeler – Shanghai Lil, the ‘white flower in the Orient’ was a stereotype based on reality – a trip to Shanghai’s infamous Line on Kiangse Road (Jiangxi Road) would have turned up plenty of them in the late 1920s while a ride out to the Badlands would have had them swarming.

Anyway, for the record here’s the lyrics to Shanghai Lil (Al Dubin and Harry Warren)

Temples reaching to the stars, international bazaars
Chummy little Chinese ladies, drinking at those dinky bars
Balmy breezes rom the sea, blossoms in the cherry tree
Everything is so familiar, but where, oh, where is she

I’ve covered every little highway
And I’ve been climbing every hill
I’ve been looking high and I’ve been looking low
Looking for my Shanghai Lil

The stars that hang high over Shanghai
Bring back the memory of a thrill
I’ve been looking high and I’ve been looking low
Looking for my Shanghai Lil

I learned to love her
The little devil was just a butterfly
But you’d discover something on the level
Shining in her eye

Oh, I’ve been trying to forget her
But what’s the use, I never will
I’ll be looking high and I’ll be looking low
Till I find my Shanghai Lil

Anxiously I cast an eye on each street throughout Shanghai
Plenty Oriental ladies beckon as they pass me by
But my mind just can’t erase one outstanding lovely face
So, until the day I find out, I’ll never leave this place

I’ve covered every little highway
And I’ve been climbing every hill
I’ve been looking high and I’ve been looking low
Looking for my Shanghai Lil

The stars that hang high over Shanghai
Bring back the memory of a thrill
I’ve been looking high and I’ve been looking low
Looking for my Shanghai Lil

I learned to love her
The little devil was just a butterfly
But you’d discover something on the level
Shining in her eye

Oh, I’ve been trying to forget her
But what’s the use, I never will
I’ll be looking high and I’ll be looking low
Till I find my Shanghai Lil

PS: I can’t be bothered to go out much but I hear there’s a place in Hongkew called Chinatown that runs some sort of cabaret where they do a version of Shanghai Lil – no idea whether they make a pig’s ear of it or not, but nice to know someone remembers it.

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