Song of the Day 8/16: Desi Arnaz, “Babalu”

Guest post by Nathan Arizona

If some 1950s Donald Trump – Franco? Stalin? – had tried to deport Desi Arnaz back to Cuba, millions of “I Love Lucy” fans would have raised el infierno. As Ricky Ricardo, he was crucial to the show. He was the one who loved Lucy.

Occasionally the wildly popular TV show sent him down to the Tropicana to play some Cuban music. Actually, as co-producer with wife Lucille Ball he sent himself. These interludes were not just a way for Ricky to escape Lucy’s antics in their New York apartment. Arnaz was a talented conga player, singer and band leader and the nightclub scenes let him show off his skill.

Arnaz began his career after his wealthy family fled a Cuban revolution and migrated to Miami when he was a teenager. The family’s wealth disappeared and they had to live in what a new biography describes as a rat-infested warehouse. He found a job cleaning canary cages. But he was a good musician and later joined the band of popular orchestra leader Xavier Cugat. As a featured performer, he became so popular that he was able to go out on his own.

When Arnaz played the La Conga nightclub in New York he kicked off the conga craze in this country. The handsome and personable immigrant drew the attention of people scanning the clubs for talent. Soon he was on Broadway and then in Hollywood, where he met Lucille Ball. And before long they were on TV.

The Afro-Cuban “Babalu” was his signature song. It was written in Spanish creole by Margarita Lecuona in 1939 and recorded several times before Arnaz got to it. It’s a humorous song about a god in the Yoruba religion and how to worship him.

This nightclub performance is more amazing than you might expect from Lucy’s Ricky Ricardo.

Here he is in the 1940 movie “Too Many Girls,” leading what might be the most enthusiastic conga dancing ever. He makes an explosive entrance. Lucille Ball shows up at 3:30. She’s dancing with another guy but surely noticed the dashing Cuban with the conga.The featured female dancer is the great Ann Miller. Conga is based on a Cuban carnival dance.