"
"Just a Gigolo" is best known in a form recorded by Louis Prima in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, "I Ain't Got Nobody" (words by Roger Graham and music by Spencer Williams, 1915). Although these two songs have nothing else in common, the popularity of Prima's combination, and of David Lee Roth's 1985 cover version of the medley, has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition.[citation needed] The coupling of the two songs had its genesis in an earlier Louis Prima recording from 1945, which was then adapted by Sam Butera for Prima's 1950s Las Vegas stage show, during which Prima would revisit his old hits in a new, jive-and-jumping style. The success of that act gained Prima a recording deal with Capitol Records, which aimed to capture on record the atmosphere of his shows. The first album, titled The Wildest! and released in January 1957, opened with "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody", which then became Prima's signature number and helped relaunch his career.
"Just a Gigolo" Lyrics
I'm just a gigolo and everywhere I go
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance selling each romance
Ooh, what they're saying
(chorus)
There would come a day when youth will pass away
What will they say about me
When the end comes I know
They say "He was just a gigolo"
Life goes on without me
I'm just a gigolo and everywhere I go
People know the part I'm playing
Paid for every dance selling each romance
Ooh, what they're saying
(chorus)
Cuz I ain't got nobody
Nobody cares for me, nobody, nobody cares for me
I'm so sad and lonely
Sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won't some sweet mama come and take a chance with me
Cuz I ain't so bad
Sad and lonesome all the time
Even on the beat, on the, on the beat
I ain't got nobody
Nobody cares for me, nobody, nobody
Really ain't got nobody, sad and lonesome
Baby need love
I, I, I, ain't got nobody
Nobody, nobody cares for me ,nobody, nobody
I'm so sad and lonely, sad and lonely
Won't some sweet mama come and take a chance with me
Cuz I ain't so bad
Really want that soul, little loving soul all the time
Even on the beat, cherry, cherry on the beat
Need a long tall darling, mama
Feeling sick
Got nobody, no, nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody, no one, no one
Loopey loop, darling, darling
Getting serious, got to see the walls
Over there. nobody, got no one, nobody
Nobody, nobody, nobody
Nobody, nobody cares for me</di
</div>
