Song-spiration Saturday: Don’t Bring Lulu

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Saturday, December 14, 2024

Pearl, Lulu, and Rose with angel-bots, by Teagan R. Geneviene
Pearl, Lulu, and Rose with angel-bots, by Teagan R. Geneviene

Hello, one and all.  I know that I’ve been talking about Lulu quite a bit… but being around her is such fun.  Unless you’ve been following my blog for a lot of years, what you might not know is that Lulu’s first book, Hullaba Lulu: a Diesel-Punk Adventure started with inspiration from a 1920s song. My friend, Rob Goldstein told me that his grandmother used to sing to him a funny 1920s song called “Don’t Bring Lulu.” 

That song’s lyrics were the inspiration for so many things, including Lulu’s uninhibited personality, the fact that she is a great dancer, even her “reddest red” hair color.  It also gave me the names and personalities for the two friends who were in the first book, Rose and Pearl.  Of course, my imagination went off the rails for the rest of the story…

    Roaring Twenties that a little of the inspiration for Hullaba Christmas: Lulu and the Snatched Santa came from his storytelling.

Image collage by Teagan
Image collage by Teagan

Perching on the front of Santa’s sleigh, as if it was the handlebars of a bicycle is definitely something Lulu would do.  Here are the fun words to the song “Don’t Bring Lulu.”  Many recordings don’t include the slower paced intro from the original below.

Lyrics

Your presence is requested, wrote little Johnny White,But with this invitation, there is a stipulationWhen you attend this party, you'll all be treated right,But there's a wild and wooly woman you boys can't invite
You can bring Pearl, she's a darn nice girl,But don't bring Lulu!You can bring Rose with the turned-up nose,But don't bring Lulu!Lulu always wants to doWhat the folks don't want her toWhen she struts her stuff around,London bridge is falling down!
You can bring cake or a porterhouse steak,But don't bring Lulu!Lulu gets blue and goes cuckooLike the clock upon the shelfShe's the kind of smarty breaks up every party,Hullabaloo loo, don't bring Lulu,I'll bring her myself!
Last week we had a party, a real high-toned affair,And then along came Lulu, wild as any ZuluShe started in to Charleston, and how the boys did stare,But when she did the hula-hula, then she got the air
You can bring Flo, her dad's got doughBut don't bring Lulu!You can bring Lil, she's an awful pill,But don't bring Lulu!
Lulu has the reddest hair, auburn here and henna thereHow can we boys keep our heads?Bulls go wild when they see red
You can bring peas and crackers and cheese,But don't bring Lulu!When she gets sore and slams the doorThe plates fly off the shelfShe can make a feller wild on sarsaparillaHullabaloo loo, don't bring Lulu,She'll come here herself
You can bring ham and crackers and jamBut don't bring Lulu!Lulu goes wild, and when she's wildShe climbs upon the shelf!She can make a pastor be a dancing masterHullabaloo-loo, don't bring Lulu,I'll bring her myself!
Songwriters: Lew Brown / Ray Henderson / Billy Rose

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Wishing you a sparkling, fun-filled, hullaba weekend.  Don’t do anything Lulu wouldn’t do!  Hugs.

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Now, the obligatory shameless self-promotion.

Hullaba Christmas cover

Hullaba Christmas: Lulu and the Snatched Santa

E-book Now on Sale for $1.49

E-book:  relinks.me/B0D33MN3NJ

Paperback:  relinks.me/B0D8WR8T5B

Hullaba Lulu: a Diesel-Punk Adventure

Kindle:  relinks.me/B08JKP1RS4

Paperback:  relinks.me/B08JDYXPZM

♣ ♣ ♣

This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. 

Copyright © 2024 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene. 

Rowboat photo Copyright © Dan Antion

All rights reserved. 

No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.  Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

All images are either the property of the author or used with permission, or from free sources.

44 thoughts on “Song-spiration Saturday: Don’t Bring Lulu”

  3. A fabulous song, Teagan. I know I’ve heard it before – on your site or Robs? Can’t remember. And what a flashback to hear Rob mentioned. I followed him for so long and then he seemed to bow out of blogging. He was a kind person, and I recall he loved your stories. 🙂 ❤

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  8. It’s a lot of fun here today Teagan. I love the song. I know it from somewhere, but can’t remember where.

    Dorothy Provine has the perfect voice to sing it, and I can totally see how it grabbed your imagination to the point that you ran… a long way … with it.

    Of all the characters you created in your writings, is Lulu your very fave?

    Hugs!

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    1. Thanks so very much, Resa.

      Oh! That’s a great, and difficult question. Lulu is certainly the most fun, and a great way to vent inhibitions. A close second for that was Granny Khan by from Pip’s 1920s Adventures. But for an overall favorite… Applesauce, that’s hard.

      If I think of “favorite” as the characters to which I feel closest… Maybe Emlyn from Dead of Winter (although Halr (the dead king) is my favorite form that series).

      My favorites might actually be from unpublished (and unfinished) Wheel of Fortune… The heroine Venus Ventura and sidekick Moe Dean, and the several secondary characters. I wish so hard that I could be “well” enough to finish that story… But I let it be a way of symbolically writing a better ending to my own childhood. That made it too personal, and so, too hard. I do love those characters though, even though they’ve been waiting 4 years for the ending. I would love to be able to finish that quirky, atoms punk story. Thanks for this comment. Big hugs winging back to you.

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      1. BIG HUGs back to you, Teagan!
        Gee, it sure sounds like that story with Venus Ventura and sidekick Moe Dean should be finished.
        Maybe 2025 will be the year you feel well enough to complete – Wheel of Fortune?

        Thinking about it all, as I type to you, my dear Teagan, it seems life… being born into an existence … is a Wheel of Fortune.

        Well, there you go making me think!
        Extra hugs!

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    1. LOL, Noelle, I’ve begun to think that we’re as old as our childhood TV stations were limited in their programming. What I mean is, the small city TV stations (which were all my even smaller town TV could pick up) showed mostly movies that were 20 years old (or more) and reruns of TV series that were nearly as old. So I remember a lot of things that were before my time. And then there’s how time becomes a loop. LOL. Hugs.

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  15. I had heard the song when I was much younger but I never gave it much thought until the first story. You brought Lulu to life, Teagan. I love hearing it now, and it pops up on my favorites on YouTube, and it’s usually the trailer for the Dieselpunk Adventure (one of your best videos). She’s a classic character from a treasured imagination. Thanks for bringing her 😉

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  16. Like Robbie, I didn’t know the lyrics to the song. It’s fabulous! thanks for sharing them and for creating Lulu, who sounds very much like the girl in the song. And thanks to Rob for the inspiration! Big hugs, Teagan, and love to Velma and Daphne!

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    1. Haha. Cindy, everybody wants angels boys of their own, including me! I wish Wicky, Wacky, and Woo (the housekeeping bots from Valentino’s train) could clean my house.

      I’m sorry if you double-ordered the books, but you’re right — the will make great stocking stuffers. Thanks so very much. Big hugs.

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