Ain’t This a Countdown: Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86829)
United States
October 12, 2023 9:33am CST
Oh, yeah, you’re thinking! About time you got into the 80s! Hold your horses! Ain’t I clever in the countdown of songs with “ain’t” in the title? 
So before I head out for leaf viewing I’ll give you a song you were probably expecting…just not the version you were expecting.
Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody - Louis Prima
C’mon! Y’all know I don’t care for David Lee Roth! 
And you may not have heard the original mashup of these two songs, which Louis Prima gave us in 1956.
Louis Prima was a trumpet player and band leader, popular in the 40s (especially after playing for FDR at the White House) and 50s. He mixed jazz and popular music, heavily influenced by the music of his native New Orleans.
As you can tell by listening to the original version of this medley, Roth pretty much stole the arrangement note for note.
This song became so associated with Prima that his crypt is inscribed with the line, “When the end comes I’ll know they’ll say ‘just a gigolo’ as life goes on without me.”
A remarkable, and sadly forgotten, talent.
Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody
Written by Leonello Casucci, Julius Brammer, and Irving Caesar / Spencer Williams, and Roger A. Graham; arranged by Sam Butera
Recorded by Louis Prima
From The Wildest!, 1956
What will they say about me:
So before I head out for leaf viewing I’ll give you a song you were probably expecting…just not the version you were expecting.
Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody - Louis Prima
C’mon! Y’all know I don’t care for David Lee Roth!
And you may not have heard the original mashup of these two songs, which Louis Prima gave us in 1956.
Louis Prima was a trumpet player and band leader, popular in the 40s (especially after playing for FDR at the White House) and 50s. He mixed jazz and popular music, heavily influenced by the music of his native New Orleans.
As you can tell by listening to the original version of this medley, Roth pretty much stole the arrangement note for note.
This song became so associated with Prima that his crypt is inscribed with the line, “When the end comes I’ll know they’ll say ‘just a gigolo’ as life goes on without me.”
A remarkable, and sadly forgotten, talent.
Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody
Written by Leonello Casucci, Julius Brammer, and Irving Caesar / Spencer Williams, and Roger A. Graham; arranged by Sam Butera
Recorded by Louis Prima
From The Wildest!, 1956
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9 people like this
8 responses
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
12 Oct 23
He did something until Eddie Van Halen fired him and got a real singer like Sammy Hagar. 
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
13 Oct 23
@TheHorse — it’s a matter of taste. I never cared for Roth’s singing.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238355)
• Walnut Creek, California
13 Oct 23
@FourWalls Eddie who? Anyway, why did the Eddie guy fire him? Is Sammy Whatever a good singer?
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222726)
• United States
13 Oct 23
OMG Louis Prima! What a blast from the past. Remember Keeley Smith? I remember both songs; but I don't know which version I remember. Have a great day.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
13 Oct 23
Good grief no, I don’t remember Keeley Smith! I barely remember Louis Prima!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
12 Oct 23
There’s a video on You Tube of Rosemary Clooney singing “I Ain’t Got Nobody.” Love that so much.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98106)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
12 Oct 23
I had forgotten about this and have always enjoyed it. I have no idea why but I just love to turn up that volume and bellow I ain't got nobody and then again it's true I just got two cats,
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
12 Oct 23
They make sure you’re not so sad and lonely, though!
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98106)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
12 Oct 23
@FourWalls yes, like Freddie last night jumping on the bed, shaking it, scaring me, and meowing in my face
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382435)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Oct 23
@FourWalls We loved the band and, while they didn't play the same songs every time, they did do this one more than once or twice so we are well acquainted with it.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (91155)
• United States
12 Oct 23
I've always like this song but always associated it with Roth and not Louis Prima. Either or I still like the song
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
12 Oct 23
That’s the way it is with a lot of older songs that get covered. I had never heard “Baby Face” until the Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps recorded it in the mid-70s. Turns out, it’s a very old song!
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
12 Oct 23
Awrite!!!! It’s because Prima was Italian, right? 
1 person likes this
