Ali Baba
(Ali Baba Be My Baby)
1953


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Highlights
  • Written for the 1953 Paramount Pictures film Here Come The Girls, directed by Claude Binyon, starring Bob Hope, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Martin and Arlene Dahl.
  • Bob Hope stars as an inept chorus boy in a stage show in the early 1900s. After being fired, he finds himself being used as bait to catch an attacker when a killer goes after the real star.
  • Here Come The Girls was likely planned to be a 3-D feature. The film is full of 3-D gimmicks such as knives being thrown towards the viewer.
  • The film was produced by Hope’s company Hope Productions Inc. and released by Paramount Pictures.
  • This film had two working titles, Girls Are Here to Stay and then Champagne for Everybody before they settled on Here Come The Girls.
  • Original print ad tagline: “MORE GIGGLES…MORE GAGS…MORE GALS!”

WRITTEN BY RAY EVANS & JAY LIVINGSTON
COPYRIGHT 1953


Recording History
Rosemary Clooney, Here Come The Girls, soundtrack, 1953
Lyrics
I’m mad about a sheik
I must have his embrace
And when he’s near me; dear me
I’ll tell him to his face.
 
Oh Ali Baba, be my baby,
Take me by the hand;
Maybe we’ll make love huh, maybe?
On the desert sand! Ah, on the desert sand.
 
Ali Baba, sell your harem,
Why pay all the rent?
Send your harem harum scarum,
Come into my tent. Ah, come into my tent!
 
Forget the lady waitin’ in Persia,
I’m the girl who really prefers ya!
When a dreamy melody stirs ya,
You just come to me!
 
Shimmy dancers doin’ it sock-o
Try to tempt you back in Morocco,
But I’ll chase ‘em off o’ the block oh,
You belong to me!
 
Ali Baba, be my baby,
I’m at your command;
Maybe make some love huh, maybe?
On the desert sand!
 
Ah on the desert sand.
On the desert sand! Huh?
(Interlude, optional)
 
I’ll peel you a grape!
I’ll pour you some wine!
I’ll show you a shape
That’s mine, all mine!
 
We both have a horse,
But mine is big and white.
C’mon a my horse, my horse,
We’ll ride off in the night.
 
So, Ali Baba, be my baby,
I’m at your command;
Maybe make some love huh, maybe?
On the desert sand!
I’ll peel you a grape!
I’ll pour you some tea!
I’ll show you the shape
That’s shaking Ar-a-bee!
 
I have a burning wish
To steal away with you.
I wanna ride on, glide on
A camel built for two!
 
So, Ali Baba, be my baby,
I’m at your command;
Maybe make some love huh, maybe?
On the desert sand! 
ALI BABA as sung by Rosemary Clooney in the Paramount Pictures film Here Come The Girls. Music and words by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. (Special Picture Release)