I Used to Work in Chicago

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Contents 1 Recordings 2 Popular Culture 3 References

I Used to Work in Chicago is a humorous traditional drinking song. It was written by songwriter and entertainer Larry Vincent. The earliest printed date for the song is March 1945 in the underground mimeographed songbook Songs of the Century. Many of the lyrics are considered humorous because of the oblique sexual references.

After World War II, there were various versions of this song commercially recorded (e.g. by Spike Jones).

A verse from Spike Jones's version:

I used to work in Chicago

In a Department Store,

Behind the cafeteria

-a lady came in the door

She said she wanted an egg

I asked her what part would she like

(Yiddish accent) Yolk she vanted, yoke I told her

I'll never work there anymore...

[edit] Recordings

• Oscar Brand on Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads 1951
• Merle Travis on Guitar Rags & A Too Fast Past 1994

[edit] Popular Culture

• The song is sung by Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly in the film A Prairie Home Companion.
• A variation of this song is also occasionally performed by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam during their live performances with the final lines, "Liquor she said / Lick her I did / I don't work there anymore."

[edit] References

• Cray, Ed; The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs (University of Illinois, 1992).
• Reuss, Richard A.; An Annotated Field Collection of Songs From the American College Student Oral Tradition (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Masters Thesis, 1965).