Jelly Roll Gum Drop
Lyrics
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
Baby don't you know now
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
The way you do the bop
Like a spinnin' top
The Pachuko Hop
And the L.A. Slop
You make a street car stop
At the soda shop
And my eye-balls pop
When I see my
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
Mama don't you know now
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
The way you boogie all night
You're my heart's delight
You know I wish I might
Get a tiny bite of your
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, I wanna, I wanna
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, I wanna, I wanna
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, I wanna, I wanna Jelly Roll
Bop bop bah, Bop bop bah
Bop bop bah, Bop bop bah
Sha-la-la-la, Sha-la-la-la
(Cough, cough, cough)
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
Baby don't you know now
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
The way you do the bop
Like a spinnin' top
The Pachuko Hop
And the L.A. Slop
You make a street car stop
At the soda shop
And my eye-balls pop
When I see my
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
Mama don't you know now
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, got my eyes on you
The way you boogie all night
You're my heart's delight
You know I wish I might
Get a tiny bite of your
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, I wanna, I wanna
Jelly Roll Gum Drop, I wanna, I wanna
Jelly Roll Gum Drop
Players On This Song
CRUISING WITH RUBEN & THE JETS version
- Frank Zappa (Lead guitar and vocals)
- Ray Collins (lead vocals)
- Roy Estrada (Electric bass and vocals),
- Jimmy Carl Black (Drums)
- Arthur Dyer Tripp III (Drums)
- Ian Underwood (Keyboards and Tenor & alto sax)
- Don Preston (Keyboards)
- Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood (Baritone sax and tambourine),
- Bunk Gardner (Tenor & alto sax)
1984 Remix:
- Jay Anderson (String bass)
- Arthur Barrow (Bass)
- Chad Wackerman (drums)
Records On Which This Song Has Appeared
Singles
- Any Way The Wind Blows (02:56) / Jelly Roll Gumdrop (02:24) - Ruben & The Jets (1968)
- Deseri (02:09) / Jelly Roll Gum Drop (02:24) - Ruben & The Jets (1968)
Zappa Albums & Side Projects
Tribute & Cover Albums
Notes About This Song
The title of "Jelly Roll Gum Drop" illustrates its lyrics’ mixture of sexual fervor with teen-idol-song triteness; old blues lyrics referred to sexy women as jelly rolls, but Robert Johnson or Howlin' Wolf would never have dreamt of calling anyone a gum drop, which is more in line with '60s radio pop. The "Pachuco Hop" mentioned in the lyrics is a dance either inspired by or memorialized in the 1952 Chuck Higgins instrumental of the same name, which is also alluded to in "Debra Kadabra" on Bongo Fury. The Pachuko Hop was included on Art Laboe's Memories Of El Monte (and many other compilations) and was sometimes performed by The Mothers on stage.
