Creole ladies walk along with rhythm in their thighs

Rhythm in their feet and in their lips and in their eyes

Where do highbrows find the kind of love that satisfies

Underneath the Harlem moon

There's no fields of cotton

Picking cotton is taboo

They don't live in cabins like the old folks used to do

Their cabin is a penthouse up on Lennox Avenue

Underneath that Harlem moon

Why they just live on dancing

They're never blue or forlorn

'Cause it ain't no sin to laugh and grin

That's why darkies were born

Oh they shout Hallelujah

Every time they're feeling low

Every sheik is dressed up like a Georgia gigolo

You may call it madness but they call it hi de ho

Underneath the Harlem moon