Seventeen And Twenty-One 1927 'Strike Up The Band'

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 27 Jan 2005

[Timothy:] Age was creeping on me,
I had just turned twentyone,
you then dawned upon me,
and a new day was begun.
[Anne:] I was getting wrinkled,
I had just turned seventeen;
then my bright star twinkled
as it brought you on the scene.
[Timothy:] All the day and night time
it was true love that I craved;
you came at the right time
and a lonely soul was saved.
Oh love was late in reaching me!
I never had been kissed,
and from what you've been teaching me,
oh dear, how much I've missed!

[Anne:] I had to wait till I was seventeen;
[Timothy:] and I, in turn, till I was twentyone.
When we met I asked myself quizzically:
"Do you only love this girl physically?"
But bigger, better, finer, your appeal?
My heart soon told me that my love was real.
Oh, why, oh, why, oh, why did
I have to wait as I did,
and mope along till I was twentyone?

[Anne:] I have to wait till I was seventeen;
[Timothy:] and I, in turn, till I was twentyone.
Years and years I moped and sat tragically;
you appeared, I changed like that! Magically!
It's you who caused
my sleeping heart to wake!
When you came 'round I really got a break.
You've made life gay and fresher,
you gave me high blood pressure.
Why did I have to wait till seventeen?
[Timothy:] Heigh ho! Heigh Ho!
Oh what a blow! I had to wait till twentyone

[Anne:] At the age of seven,
in the days of long ago,
I'd have thought it heaven
if you'd been my gigolo.
[Timothy:] If I'd only caught you
when my blood was young and hot,
then when others sought you,
I'd have shot them on the spot!
[Anne:] Let us grin and bear it,
though it be a bitter pill;
we cannot repair it,
time alone cures ev'ry ill.
There still is love and plenty too!
And plainly to be seen.
Think! I might have been twentytwo,
while you'd have been eighteen!

[Anne:] I have to wait till I was seventeen;
[Timothy:] and I, in turn, till I was twentyone.
When we met I asked myself quizzically:
"Do you only love this girl physically?"
But bigger, better, finer, your appeal?
My heart soon told me that my love was real.
Oh, why, oh, why, oh, why did
I have to wait as I did,
and mope along till I was twentyone?

[Anne:] I have to wait till I was seventeen;
[Timothy:] and I, in turn, till I was twentyone.
Years and years I moped and sat tragically;
you appeared, I changed like that! Magically!
It's you who caused
my sleeping heart to wake!
When you came 'round I really got a break.
You've made life gay and fresher,
you gave me high blood pressure.
Why did I have to wait till seventeen?
[Anne:] Oh me, oh my!
To think that I was forced to wait till seventeen!

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
Seventeen And Twenty-One 1927 Gershwin
from "Strike Up The Band"
Music & Lyrics by George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin
© 1927 by WB Music Corp. (Renewed)
*
sequence and karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Thursday 27 January 2005 at 12.46
in association with Doug Grierson
*