Hernandos Hideaway
Archie Bleyer
(Richard Adler-Jerry Ross)
from the musical "The Pajama Game"
(Billboard Top 30 of 1954 #10)

I know a dark secluded place.
A place where no one knows your face.
A glass of wine, a fast embrace.
Its called Hernandos Hideaway. Ole!

All youll see are silhouettes.
And all youll hear are castanets.
And no one cares how late it gets.
Not at Hernandos Hideaway. Ole!

At the Golden Fingerbowl or any place you go
You will meet your Uncle Max and everyone you know,
But if youll go to the spot that I am thinkin?of,
You will be free to gaze at me and talk of love.

Just knock thee times and whisper low
That you and I were sent by Joe,
Then strike a match and you will know
Youre in Hernandos Hideway. Ole!

Just knock three times and whisper low
That you and I were sent by Joe,
Then strike a match and you will know
Youre in Hernandos Hideaway.

"Hernando's Hideaway" is a popular song about a 1920s speakeasy.

It was written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The song was published in 1954. The song was featured in the musical The Pajama Game.

The best-known recording of the song was done by Archie Bleyer, reaching #2 on the Billboard chart in 1954. A rendition by Enoch Light featured prominently on Command Records' "Provocative Percussion" as well as the Command test record. It has also been covered by David Clayton Thomas and is often spun by breakbeat DJs. R&B singer Debelah Morgan sampled it on her international pop hit "Dance With Me". Hernando's Hideaway also became a nickname for the smoking room for British parliamentarians in the House of Commons. The Labour Member of Parliament, Stephen Pound, told the House during a smoking debate on February 14, 2006: "I refer the House to the dystopic hell - 'Hernando's Hideaway' - that is the Smoking Room on the Library Corridor. It is like the Raft of the Medusa most nights, with great groups of people crammed into it."

Part of the instrumental section of the song was used as the theme for Brick Top Polford in the movie Snatch.

Played on piano, the instrumental is a tango.

The Pajama Game is set in Dubuque, Iowa. Hernando's Hideaway was a real dive in East Dubuque, Illinois perched on a high cliff overlooking the highway between Dubuque and Galena. The movie was based on the stage play of the same name which, in turn, was based on the book; and it is only in the original book that there is information about where the story takes place.

There are a number of places around the world today named Hernando's Hideway -- evidently based on the popularity of the song. But the original was the joint in East Dubuque.