When Broadway Was A Pasture 1911

by James Pitt-Payne, London UK - 11 Aug 2005

Been around the town
done the place up brown
seen most ev'rything there is to see
And been in each café
turned night into day.
But I guess New York is not the place for me.
I s'pose there was a time
I might have liked this little town,
but that was many years ago today,
with our imagination
let us sweep those buildings down,
imagine daisies growing on Broadway.

When Broadway was a pasture,
when FortySecond Street was but a lane,
when they used to feed the cow
at what is Times Square now,
When Herald Square was but a field of grain
Manhattan Isle was lonesome,
when there wasn't fifty people to be found
but each fellow was your friend,
things were very diff'rent then,
but Broadway is no pasture now.

When Broadway was a pasture,
when FortySecond Street was but a lane,
folks would only feed the cow
at what is Rector's now.
When the Knickerbocker was a shanty plain
at what is known as Sherry's
only buttercups and berries could be found,
when Grandma would plant her vines
at what now is Hammerstein's,
but Broadway is no pasture now.

Lambs that used to play
and gambol on Broadway,
you'll find instead are sheepish grafters now;
and if you should go broke
with ev'rything in soak.
They'll find a way to trim you any how.
It is not very long ago
that Broadway used to be
as level as a prairie, so they say,
now that brings up a question
that has always puzzled me,
can you be on the level on Broadway?

When Broadway was a pasture,
when FortySecond Street was but a lane,
when they used to feed the cow
at what is Times Square now,
When Herald Square was but a field of grain
Manhattan Isle was lonesome,
when there wasn't fifty people to be found
but each fellow was your friend,
things were very diff'rent then,
but Broadway is no pasture now.

When Broadway was a pasture,
when FortySecond Street was but a lane,
folks would only feed the cow
at what is Rector's now.
When the Knickerbocker was a shanty plain
at what is known as Sherry's
only buttercups and berries could be found,
when Grandma would plant her vines
at what now is Hammerstein's,
but Broadway is no pasture now.

Soft karaoke
Words
piano 1
piano 2
piano 3
piano 4
lyric
pizz str bass
*
When Broadway Was A Pasture 1911
Words by Joe McCarthy - Music by Al. Piantadosi
Dedicatee: To Miss Valeska Suratt
© MCMXI by Leo Feist, Inc., New York
*
sequence and karaoke by James Pitt-Payne, London UK
on Thursday 11 August 2005 at 22.44
in association with Doug Grierson
*