The Carioca
- words by Gus Kahn, music by Vincent Youmans and Edward Eliscu
- Academy Award-winning song from the 1933 RKO movie "Flying Down To Rio"
(the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers)
- as recorded in New York, April 27, 1934, by New Orleans-born vocalist
Connie Boswell (1907-1976) with Victor Young & his Orchestra
Say, have you seen a Carioca?
It's not a foxtrot or a polka
It has a little bit of new rhythm, a blue rhythm that sighs
It has a meter that is tricky
A bit of wicked wacky-wicky
But when you dance it with a new love, there's a true love in her eye
You dream of a new Carioca
Its theme is a kiss and a sigh
You dream of a new Carioca
When music and lights are gone we say goodbye
Two heads together, they say are better than one
Two heads together, that's how the dance is begun
Two arms around you and lips, that's why I'm yours and you are mine
And you are mine
Now that you've done the Carioca
You'll never care to do the Polka
And then you'll realize the blue hula and bamboola are through
Tomorrow morning you'll discover
You're just a Carioca lover
And when you dance it with each new love, there'll be true love just for you
Now you'll dream of a new Carioca
Its theme is a kiss and a sigh
You'll dream of a new Carioca
When music and lights are gone and we're saying goodbye
Goodbye
