The First Thing You Know 1969 'Paint Your Wagon'

Dr. Pitt-Payne in London UK - 14 Oct 2003

God made the mountains,
God made the sky,
God made the people,
God knows why.
He fixed up the planet
as best as He could;
Then in come the people
And gum it up good.

The first thing you know

They civilize the foothills
and ev'rywhere He put hills
and mountains and the valleys below.
They come along and take 'em
and civilize and make 'em
A place where no civilized person would go.

The first thing you know.

The first thing you know.

They civilize what's pretty
by puttin' up a city
where nothin that's pretty can grow.
They muddy up the winter
and civilize it into
a place too uncivilized even for snow.

The first thing you know.

They civilize left
and they civilize right
till nothin' is left
and nothin' is right.
They civilize freedom
'til no one is free;
No one except, by coincidence me!

The first thing you know.

The boozer's in prison,
the criminal, he is'n.
And only the rascals have dough.
But soon as there's a parson
I want to put my arse on
a wagon that follows the trail of a crow.

The first thing you know.
I pick up and blow.
The first thing you know.

Soft karaoke
Words
str 25
str 50
str 110
fr hrn 60
brass 75
flute
timp
bassoon
clarinet
piano t clef
fiddle
pizz str
glock
tenor sax
harp
drum
*
The First Thing You Know 1969
from "Paint Your Wagon"
Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
Music by André Previn
copyrght 1969 by Alan Jay Lerner and Famous Music Corp.
sequence and karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Tuesday 14 October 2003 at 20.06
in association with Doug Grierson
*