What are the Wild Waves Saying? 1901 'The Little Duchess'

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 16 May 2005

There's nothing so delightful and inspiring
as a stroll upon the beach
When the heavy breakers roll
and the pretty damsels loll,
upon the beach, upon the beach.
Some figures very willowy
and others rather billowy,
the "pelican" commingles with the "peach"
There is much exhilaration
in a little guilt flirtation on the beach
upon the beach.

Oh! what are the wild waves saying, sister?
What are they saying to me?
I cannot tell what they are saying, brother,
for I have not been to sea.
What do they say of the shirtwaistman?
Must he dress in the oldfashioned way?
They say he had better be cool if he can,
that's what the wild waves say,
Oh! That's what the wild waves say.

I know a town so pious
that no nonsense is allowed
upon the beach,
where "Don't" is posted everywhere
to solemnize the crowd,
upon the beach, upon the beach.

There laughter and hilarity
are thought to be vulgarity,
policemen there the public morals teach.
When they bathe they think it criminal,
if they do not take a hymnal on the beach
upon the beach.

Oh! what are the wild waves saying, sister?
What are they saying to me?
I cannot tell what they are saying, brother,
for I have not been to sea.
They say men and women should not be free
to go in for a dip the same day.
Such freaks ought to bathe in the polar sea,
that's what the wild waves say,
Oh! That's what the wild waves say.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
What are the Wild Waves Saying? 1901
Book by Harry B. Smith
Music by Reginald De Koven
Performer: The F. Ziegfeld Jr. Musical Company.
Anna Held in - "The Little Duchess"
A Musical Comedy in Three Acts
© 1901 by Edward Schuberth & Co., 23 Unon Square, N.Y.
*
sequence and karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Monday 16 May 2005 at 16.30
in association with Doug Grierson
*