The Streets of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid

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Easy piano arrangement: Click here

Lyrics

I will sing you a song, and it won't be very long
'Bout a maiden sweet, and she never would do wrong.
Ev'ryone said she was pretty. she was not long in the city.
All alone, oh, what a pity, poor little maid.

She never saw the streets of Cairo.
On the Midway she had never strayed;
She never saw the kutchy-kutchy,
Poor little country maid.

She went out one night, did this innocent divine,
With a nice young man who invited her to dine.
Now he's sorry that he met her, and he never will forget her,
In the future he'll know better, poor little maid.

She never saw the streets of Cairo.
On the Midway she had never strayed;
She never saw the kutchy-kutchy,
Poor little country maid.

She was engaged as a picture for to pose,
To appear each night in abbreviated clothes.
All the dudes were in a flurry, for to catch her they did hurry,
One who caught her now is sorry, poor little maid.

She was much fairer far than Trilby,
Lots of more men sorry will be,
If they don't try to keep away from
This poor little country maid.

Research

I have been researching the origin and musical symbolic meaning of the Cairo melody, which is often used as a cliche to signify the Middle East, or more broadly, anything considered exotic. It is also known as the snake-charmers song or "There's a Place in France..." The melody was used at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago for an exhibition called "Street in Cairo," where a dancer called Little Egypt danced the infamous kutchy-kutchy (or hutchy-kutchy). I have been informed that the lady depicted in the video above is not the original Little Egypt but a later imitator, as there were many other dancers that used the name, capitalizing on the popularity of the original. Sol Bloom claims to have composed the melody, although there is some evidence that it may have originally come from a folk tune.

In 1895, James Thornton wrote "The Streets of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid," which uses the hutchy-kuthcy melody for the verses, with a chorus in the relative major key. When I first began researching the song, I had a lot of difficulty finding a recording, so I decided to make the one above as a reference recording for others that might be interested in the song's history. I based it on two different piano/vocal arrangements of the tune (the only two I could find). I took the parts that I liked most from each arrangement and rearranged it and made some very minor edits that I felt made more musical sense. On July 27, 2013, my recording of "The Streets of Cairo or the Poor Little Country Maid" was played on the Dr. Demento Show. Later on, I found the original publication of the public domain 1895 sheet music at https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/31253. I also eventually located the original recording of the song by Dan W. Quinn from 1895, which features a slightly different arrangement, but is in most respects the same as the sheet music. With the assistance of Barret Hansen (Dr. Demento), and his incredible knowledge of recorded music, I have taken the recording of the early Berliner record and adjusted it to the approrpiate speed so that it sounds in the original D minor/F major.

A large number of popular songs have borrowed the hutchy-kutchy melody including Steve Martin's "King Tut" and "Istanbul not Constantinople" by Four Lads and They Might be Giants. More information on the history of the borrowing of this melody can be found in the Wikipedia article about the Arabian Riff.

Parody lyrics of this tune are quite prominent. I personally remember learning some on the school playground in the 1980s. My belief is that different versions of these parody lyrics may go all the way back to the time of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. After all, this melody was playing over and over at the Street in Cairo exhibit, which was right next to the fair's biggest attraction - the world's first Ferris Wheel. Millions of people from all over the world rode the wheel, which explains why this song is so ubiquitous, yet few people know what it is called. So far, I have traced parody lyrics as far back as 1934. If you can find any earlier instances, please e-mail me at the address below!

Parody from The Columbia Jester (1934)

Photos and Links

Street in Cairo, 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago)

The same location in Midway Plaisance Park (Chicago), 2025

Location on map marked with a star. The skating rink is where the first Ferris Wheel once stood.
Informational pamphlet about the Street in Cairo




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Contact info:
Samuel Stokes ● Samuelstokes@yahoo.com