Rose of Washington Square 1920 Fanny Brice

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 07 Dec 2006
2006

I'm Rosie, the queen of the models
I need to live up in the Bronx.
But I wandered from there
down to Washington Square
and Bohemian Honky Tonks.
One day I met Harrison Fisher
said he: "You're like roses the stems
I want you to pose for a picture
on the cover of Jim Jam Jems."
And that's how I first got my start
now my life is devoted to art
they call me:

Rose of Washington Square
I'm withering there
in basement air I'm fading,
Rose, with plain or fancy clothes
they say my Roman nose
it seems to please artistic people,
Beaux, I've plenty of those
with second hand clothes
and nice long hair
I've got those Broadway vampires
locked to the mast
I've got no future but Oh! what a past
I'm Rose of Washington Square.

Rose of Washington Square
I'm withering there
in basement air I'm fading,
Rose, with plain or fancy clothes
they say my Roman nose
it seems to please artistic people,
Beaux, I've plenty of those
with second hand clothes
and nice long hair
I've got those Broadway vampires
locked to the mast
I've got no future but Oh! what a past
I'm Rose of Washington Square.

I'm terrible good as a model
the artists are stuck on my charms,
once a feller said he would paint Venus from me
only Venus ain't got no arms.
Rube Goldberg my figure admires
he dresses me up in a veil
and uses my shape for the pictures
that he draws in the Evening Mail,
he promised some time when he's free
that he'll model a statue of me,
They call me:

Rose of Washington Square
I'm withering there
in basement air I'm fading,
Rose, with plain or fancy clothes
they say my Roman nose
it seems to please artistic people,
Beaux, I've plenty of those
with second hand clothes
and nice long hair
I've got those Broadway vampires
locked to the mast
I've got no future but Oh! what a past
I'm Rose of Washington Square.

Rose of Washington Square
I'm withering there
in basement air I'm fading,
Rose, with plain or fancy clothes
they say my Roman nose
it seems to please artistic people,
Beaux, I've plenty of those
with second hand clothes
and nice long hair
I've got those Broadway vampires
locked to the mast
I've got no future but Oh! what a past
I'm Rose of Washington Square.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano
piano
piano
piano
*
Rose of Washington Square 1920
introduced by Fanny Brice in the new
Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic
Music by James F.Hanley
© MCMXX by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.Inc. N.Y.
sequence & karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Thursday 07 December 2006 at 12.24am
in association with Doug Grierson
*