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"Aba Daba Honeymoon" sheet music Vintage Audio: Aba Daba Honeymoon
Updated - Saturday, 17 May, 2003

Reproduced below are the lyrics to the quirky wartime song Aba Daba Honeymoon.

Written in 1914 by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovon it was widely performed from 1914 onwards and was later used in the film King of Jazz in 1930. A rendition of the song performed by Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan is available here, recorded in 1914 (MP3 format 2,768kb).

Aba Daba Honeymoon

Way down in the Congoland
Lived a happy chimpanzee.
She loved a monkey with long tail
(Lordy, how she loved him!)
Each night he would find her there,
Swinging in the cocoanut tree,
And the monkey gay,
At the break of day,
Loved to hear his Chimpie say:

"Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Said the Chimpie to the Monk,
"Baba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Said the Monkey to the Chimp.
All night long they'd chatter away,
All day long there were happy and gay,
Swinging and singing in their hunky-tonkey way.
"Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Means "Monk, I love but you."
"Baba, daba, dab," in monkey talk
Means "Chimp, I love you, too."
Then the big baboon one night in June,
He married them and very soon,
They went upon their aba, daba honeymoon.

"Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Said the Chimpie to the Monk,
"Baba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Said the Monkey to the Chimp.
All night long they'd chatter away,
All day long there were happy and gay,
Swinging and singing in their hunky-tonkey way.
"Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Means "Monk, I love but you."
"Baba, daba, dab," in monkey talk
Means "Chimp, I love you, too."
One night they were made man and wife,
And now they cry, "This is the life,"
Since they came from their aba, daba honeymoon.

Well, you should have heard that band
Play upon their wedding day,
Each Chimp and Monkey had nutshells
(Lordy, how they played them)
And now it is ev'ry night,
High up in the cocoanut tree.
It's the same old thing,
With the same old swing,
When the Monk and Chimpie sing:

"Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Said the Chimpie to the Monk,
"Baba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Said the Monkey to the Chimp.
All night long they'd chatter away,
All day long there were happy and gay,
Swinging and singing in their hunky-tonkey way.
"Aba, daba, daba, daba, daba, daba, dab,"
Means "Monk, I love but you."
"Baba, daba, dab," in monkey talk
Means "Chimp, I love you, too."
One night they were made man and wife,
And now they cry, "This is the life,"
Since they came from their aba, daba honeymoon.

A "Dixie" (from the Hindi degci) was an army cooking pot.