The Back Bay Polka 1946 'The Shocking Miss Pilgrim'

Dr. Pitt-Paynein London UK - 09 Aug 2003

Give up the fond embrace,
pass up that pretty face,
you're of the human race,
but not in Boston.
Think as your neighbors think,
make lemonade your drink;
you'll be The Missing Link
if you don't wear spats in Boston.
Painters who paint the nude
we keep repressing;
we take the attitude
even a salad must have dressing.
New York or Philadelph'
won't put you on the shelf
if you would be yourself,
but you can't be yourself in Boston.
You can't be yourself,
you can't be yourself,
you can't be yourself in Boston!

Don't speak the naked truth.
What's naked is uncouth.
It may go in Duluth
but not in Boston.
Keep up the cultured pose,
keep looking down your nose,
keep up the status quos
or they keep you out of Boston.
Books that are out of key
we quickly bury.
You will find liberty
in Mister Webster's dictionary.
Laughter goes up the flue.
Life is one big taboo.
No matter what you do,
it isn't being done in Boston.
It isn't being done,
it isn't being done,
it isn't being done in Boston!

Somewhere the fairer sex
has curves that are convex,
and girls don't all wear specs
but not in Boston.
One day it's much too hot,
then cold as you know what.
In all the world there's not
weather anywhere like Boston.
At natural history
we are colossal.
That is because you see,
at first hand we study the fossil.
Strangers are all dismissed.
Not that we're prejudiced;
you simply don't exist
if you haven't been born in Boston.
You haven't been born,
you haven't been born,
if you haven't been born in Boston!

On Boston beans you dine,
then go to bed at nine.
You mustn't undermine
the town of Boston.
No song except a hymn,
and keep your language prim;
you call a leg a limb
or they boot you out of Boston.
You're of the bourgoisie
and no one bothers,
not if your family tree
doesn't date from the Pilgrim Fathers.
Therefore when all is said,
life is so limited;
you find, unless you're dead,
you never get ahead in Boston.
You never get ahead
unless you're dead,
you never get ahead in Boston!

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
The Back Bay Polka 1946 Gershwin
from "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim" - 1947
Lyrics and Music by George and Ira Gerswhin
copyright 1946 by Gershwin Pub.Corp.
sequence and karaoke by Dr. Pitt-Paynein London UK
on Saturday 09 Aug 2003 at 11.11
in association with Doug Grierson
*