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This week on Three Tune Tuesday, we tip our hats (and rattle some cages) with a theme that’s long overdue: Disobedient Women. From flappers and vaudeville queens to blues legends who lived out loud, we spin three songs that chart a quiet revolution—women stepping out, speaking up, and refusing to be small. You’ll hear about Rebecca, who came back from Mecca with a scandalous new spirit; Eva Tanguay, who just flat-out didn’t care; and Ma Rainey, who shattered every mold with a song too bold for her time. It’s satire, song, and side-eye for the patriarchy—and we’re not sorry.
Lyrics
Rebecca (Came Back from Mecca)
Across the street from where I live,
There lives a girl and her name is Rebecca—she’s twenty‑three.
She saw an Oriental show and then decided she would go
To Mecca across the sea.
She sailed away one day to Turkey, far away,
Stayed two years and got full of new ideas—
Now she’s back home again.
Since Rebecca came back from Mecca,
All day long she keeps on smoking Turkish tobecca.
With her veil upon her face, she keeps dancing ’round the place,
And yesterday her father found her with a Turkish towel around her.
Oh! Oh! Everyone’s worried so—they think she’s crazy in the dome.
She’s as bold as Theda Bara—Theda’s bare, but Becky’s barer—
Since Rebecca came back home.
I Don’t Care
They say I’m crazy, got no sense,
But I don’t care.
They may or may not mean offense,
But I don’t care;
You see I’m sort of independent,
Of a clever race descendant,
My star is on the ascendant,
That’s why I don’t care.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
What they may think of me.
I’m happy go lucky,
Men say I am plucky,
So jolly and care free.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
If I do get the mean and stony stare.
If I’m never successful,
It won’t be distressful,
‘Cos I don’t care.
Some people say I think I’m it,
But I don’t care,
They say they don’t like me a bit,
But I don’t care;
‘Cos my good nature effervescing,
Is one, there is no distressing,
My spirit there is no oppressing,
Just ‘cos I don’t care.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
If people don’t like me,
I’ll try to outlive it,
I know I’ll forgive it,
And live contentedly.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
If people do not try to treat me fair.
There is naught can amaze me,
Dislike cannot daze me,
‘Cos I don’t care.
If I call on a friend and she’s “not in,”
Why, I don’t care,
I simply discover I need some pins,
‘Cos I don’t care;
Her feeble slight does but amuse me,
Nothing like it could induce me,
Just ‘cos I don’t care.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
If she did mean to snub.
I’m feeling so jolly,
T’would be simple folly
To even feel the rub.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
If I do call on her
And she’s not there.
If she can’t say “Hello,”
She’s not a good fellow,
And I don’t care.
They say my hair’s in silly style,
But I don’t care,
They but amuse me all the while,
‘Cos I don’t care;
You see my hair with me’s a fixture,
And it’s color’s not a mixture,
When they call me living picture,
Surely I don’t care.
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
If my hair is not dressed swell;
I’ve got no kick coming –
It’s vastly becoming,
And suits my face so well;
I don’t care,
I don’t care,
I know that style like mine
Is mighty rare.
So no one can “Phase” me,
By calling me “Crazy,”
‘Cos I don’t care.
Prove it On Me Blues
Went out last night, had a great big fight
Everything seemed to go on wrong
I looked up, to my surprise
The gal I was with was gone
Where she went, I don’t know
I mean to follow everywhere she goes;
Folks say I’m crooked. I didn’t know where she took it
I want the whole world to know
They say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me;
Went out last night with a crowd of my friends
They must’ve been women, ’cause I don’t like no men
It’s true I wear a collar and a tie
Makes the wind blow all the while
Don’t you say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
You sure got to prove it on me
Say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me
I went out last night with a crowd of my friends
It must’ve been women, ’cause I don’t like no men
Wear my clothes just like a fan
Talk to the gals just like any old man
‘Cause they say I do it, ain’t nobody caught me
Sure got to prove it on me