Hernando's Hideaway

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"Hernando's Hideaway" is a show tune from the musical The Pajama Game, written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and published in 1954. The lyrics describe a dark and secretive 1920s speakeasy.

The most successful recording of the song was done by Archie Bleyer, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart in 1954. A rendition by Enoch Light featured prominently on Command Records' "Provocative Percussion" as well as the Command test record. It has also been covered by David Clayton Thomas and is often spun by breakbeat DJs. R&B singer Debelah Morgan sampled it on her international pop hit "Dance With Me". Part of the instrumental section of the song was used as the theme for Brick Top Polford in the movie Snatch.

Hernando's Hideaway also became a nickname for the smoking room for British parliamentarians in the House of Commons. The Labour Member of Parliament, Stephen Pound, told the House during a smoking debate on February 14, 2006: "I refer the House to the dystopic hell - 'Hernando's Hideaway' - that is the Smoking Room on the Library Corridor. It is like the Raft of the Medusa most nights, with great groups of people crammed into it."

The Pajama Game is set in Dubuque, Iowa. Hernando's Hideaway was a real dive in East Dubuque, Illinois perched on a high cliff overlooking the highway between Dubuque and Galena. The movie was based on the stage play of the same name which, in turn, was based on the book; and it is only in the original book that there is information about where the story takes place. There are a number of places around the world today named Hernando's Hideway, evidently based on the popularity of the song.

There are at least fifteen Finnish versions by different artists of the song, the first and most popular by Olavi Virta, 1956.