Louis Jordan & His Tympany 5 Saturday Night Fish Fry Lyrics

Now, if you've ever been down to New Orleans
Then you can understand just what I mean,
Now all through the week it's quiet as a mouse,
But on Saturday night, they go from house to house;
You don't have to pay the usual admission
If you're a cook or a waiter or a good musician.
So if you happen to be just passin' by
Stop in at the Saturday night fish fry!

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

Now, my buddy and me was on the main stem,
Foolin' around, just me and him,
We decided we could use a little something to eat,
So we went to a house on Rampart Street;
We knocked on the door and it opened with ease,
And a loose little miss said, "Come in please,"
And before we could bat an eye,
We were right in the middle of a big fish fry!

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

Now the folks was havin' the time of their life,
And Sam was jivin' Jimmy's wife,
And over in the corner was a beat-up grand
Being played by a big, fat piano man!
Some of the chicks wore expensive frocks,
Some of them had on bobby socks,
But everybody was nice and high
At this particular Saturday night fish fry!

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

Now, my buddy and me, we fell right in,
And we hollered, "Let the joy begin!"
Now, we figured this was a good place to play,
'Cause the party was already underway;
But all of a sudden the lights went low,
And everybody made straight for the front door,
Man, I was so scared I didn't know where to go,
I stood right there, then I fell on the floor!

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

Now, the women was screamin' and jumpin' and yellin',
The bottles was flyin' and the fish was smellin';
And way up above all the noise they made,
Somebody hollered, "Better get out of here; this is a raid!"
Now, I didn't know we was breakin' the law,
But somebody reached up and hit me on the jaw,
They had us blocked off from the front and the back,
And they was puttin' 'em in the wagon like potatoes in a sack.

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

I knew I could get away if I had a chance,
But I was shakin' like I had the St. Vitus dance,
Now, I tried to crawl under a bathtub,
When the policeman said, "Where you goin' there, bub?"
Now, they got us out of there like a house on fire,
Put us all in that Black Maria,
Now, they might have missed a pitiful few,
But they got both me and my buddy, too!

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

We headed for jail in a dazed condition,
They booked each one of us on suspicion;
Now my chick came down and went for my bail,
And finally got me out of that rotten jail;
Now, if you ever want to get a fist in your eye,
Just mention a Saturday night fish fry!
I don't care how many fish in the sea,
But don't ever mention a fish to me!

It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!
It was rockin'! It was rockin'!
You never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' till the break of dawn!

[Spoken]

Give me one of them there fish sandwiches!
Get away from there, boy!
Yowza!