I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo

[David Conwill]

Does anyone know the story behind the lyrics of this song? I grew up a Glenn Miller fan and always liked it, and then I started dating (and eventually married) a student at Western Michigan University (in Kalamazoo), so it's particularly meaningful to me.

I've always speculated that it's telling the story of a University of Michigan student dating a girl at Western (or at least in Kalamazoo) just because the lyric "Jackson!" sounds like a conductor calling out the station stop for Jackson, Mich., between the Ann Arbor and The 'Zoo.

If anybody knows, I'd sure like to.

-Dave

 

[dhermann1]

I think the term "Jackson" was just a common hip phrase for people to call each other in those days. The rest I couldn't help with. The song was a follow up to their hit "Chattanooga Choo Choo", so it may be just another train song. (It's been pointed out by various people that swing is train music and rock n roll is car music.) The writing team on both songs was Mack Gordon and Harry Warren.
Yeah, it's a great song. I've been known to hum it on many occasions.

 

[David Conwill]

I think the term "Jackson" was just a common hip phrase for people to call each other in those days.

Hence why the singer in some versions says "Hiya, Mister Jackson" instead of just "Jackson."

Thanks for the illumination. It could be that it's just a bubblegum song with no real story behind the lyrics.

-Dave

 

[skyvue]

I don't know that there's much of a story to it. It was written in 1942 for the movie ORCHESTRA WIVES.

The Jackson reference is likely merely the name of the narrator, or perhaps the gal is referencing the popular slang term of the day, "Solid, Jackson."

I'm gonna send a wire,
Hoppin' on a flyer,
Leavin' today;
Am I dreamin'?
I can hear her screaming,
"Hiya Mr. Jackson," everything's O-K-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O
Oh, what a gal, a real pipperoo...

(EDIT: Sorry, DHermann snuck in ahead of me)