This song was a big success around 1930, and several bands (among others Bob Haring), recorded outstanding versions of it, although maybe leaning a bit too heavily on the exotic novelty sound effects. This arrangement, however, is fantastic, because with the melodic material - a pseudo-Chinese composition - he manages to attain a brilliant blend of exotism and authentic jazz. By lack of space, I refer to my other Pollack postings for more information about this band. As for sing-song girl (also known as flower girls) is an English term for the courtesans in China during the early 19th century. Many Westerners saw these girls sing but had no idea of what to call them since they were not considered prostitutes. Thus the term sing-Song Girl came about. However according to the 1892 novel by Han Bangqing called Sing-song girls of Shanghai, people in Shanghai called the girls who performed in sing-song houses as "xi sang" (Chinese: 喜丧) in Wu language. This great record was made in 1931.
