And I thought "what a cool Hawaiian Tune..."

I recently bought a great CD entitled "Steeling Round The World", which basically showcases international bands during the steel guitar craze from about the 1930's to the 1950's.

The first track was a neat be-boppy, yet haunting tune in a minor key, which is very unusual for Hawaiian tunes.

I assumed (yeah, I know) it was a Hawaiian standard because it had alot of steel guitar work in it.

The CD was a bit misleading because I couldn't tell if the song had a Hawaiian sounding name done by a German steel guitar band, or vice-versa.

So I spent a week little the riff-heavy little toe-tapper.

Quite proud of my work one practice night, I played it for our ukulele player - the wildly fantastic Shirley Orlando - and she immediately started playing it on her uku.

She told me she played the tune frequently as a little girl with her on guitar and her dad on accordian. The tune was - Bei Mu Bist Du Schon!

(Turns out it was a hit for the Andrews Sisters in 1939)

...which is actually Jewish (AND German) and means "With me you are beautiful!" (Bei mir bist du schoen).

Which reminded me that the OTHER Andrew Sisters hit, Rum and Coca Cola, was THE first exotica tune I was exposed to as a teenager in Germany (my dad was a swing boy), which led to extensive Calypso research, which is a great pre-Exotica genre.

Great tune.

Is it just me or was the tune reused for an ad campaign in the '70s or '80s with the lyrics "Root beer, Mister Shane" ...? I think it was for A&W or Frostie Root Beer ... I vaguely recall some kind of Wild West saloon set ...

Another hit song with a Hebrew/exotica melody was "Nature Boy" by Eben Ahbez, sung by Nat King Cole. This was featured at King Kukulele's Tiki Taix show last friday.

Here's a link to chords and lyrics:

http://theguitarguy.com/naturebo.htm