Hot Lips

"Hot Lips" ("When He Plays Jazz He's Got - Hot Lips") is a popular song written by jazz trumpeter Henry Busse, Henry Lange, and Lou Davis. The song was a #1 hit for Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. Henry Busse was a founding member of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra recorded the song on June 23, 1922 in New York and released it as a Victor 78, 18920-A. The recording was no. 1 for 6 weeks. The Paul Whiteman recording was featured in the Oprah Winfrey movie The Color Purple (1985), directed by Steven Spielberg.

First published in 1922, it was advertised as "A Blues Fox Trot Song" The song is about a trumpet player. The chorus is:

He's got hot lips— When he plays Jazz,

He draws out step,— Like no one has,

You're on your toes,— And shake your shoes,

Boy, how he goes— When he plays Blues.

I watch the crowd— Until he's through,

He can be proud— They're "cuckoo,' too;

His music's rare You must declare,— The boy is there

With two hot lips, He's got hot lips.^[1]

The song has been recorded many times. The initial issue was by Paul Whiteman's orchestra of which Busse was a member at the time.

References

Bibliography

• Busse, Henry; Lange, Henry; Davis, Lou. "Hot Lips" (sheet music). New York : Leo. Feist, Inc. (1922).