Dodgy lyrics from the Great American Songbook

You and I
Are just like a couple of tots
Runnin' across a meadow
Pickin' up lots of forget-me-nots
("You Make Me Feel So Young," Mack Gordon)

Something about the word "tots" always makes me snicker. We're like tots, said no one ever.

I'm broke
It's oke
Hate California...
("The Lady Is a Tramp," Lorenz Hart)

Oke? Did people say this word at any point in the past?

Had a very jarring moment with the former example in which all I could think of was a couple of tater tots.

Not sure if this counts as "dodgy" but have always found "They Can't Take That Away from Me" slightly unsettling due to the implication that someone is trying to erase the memories of the protagonist.

"My Funny Valentine" is not so funny in its negging

Is your figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

That lyric is amazing, come on.

I'm broke
It's oke
Hate California...
("The Lady Is a Tramp," Lorenz Hart)

Oke? Did people say this word at any point in the past?

― Josefa, Wednesday, October 6, 2021

I remember seeing "oke" a couple of times in old comic strips -- Skippy by Percy Crosby, maybe? -- and thinking it was a weird spelling of "okay," so this is a new wrinkle on my brain.

https://www.thewholenote.com/index.php/newsroom/beatcolumns-sp-2121861476/choral-jazznotes/29779-my-not-so-funny-valentine-a-brief-history

I'm broke
It's oke
Hate California...

Amusingly repurposed by MES in the 2000 song W.B. I suspect it further serves as a metonym for "Cold and Damp" referring to London. Took several years for the fall online community to dig up the borrowing, we thought "amazing hilarious rhyme".

The Lady is a Tramp bugs me for many reasons. So she doesn’t like to eat dinner late, so you slut shame her?

I've got you
Under my skin
I've got you
Deep in the heart of me
You're so deep in my heart
That I'm tachycardic and sick
and you probably should leave
Please get out
from under my skin

The Lady is a Tramp bugs me for many reasons. So she doesn’t like to eat dinner late, so you slut shame her?

I think you have it backwards?

Babes in Arms taking a beating ITT

part of the problem though innit, really. both songs had a context in the musical they were in that is generally forgotten because they endured as standards afterwards.

like My Funny Valentine for instance is sung to a male named Valentine in Babes in Arms.

(to be clear, though, Babes in Arms sucks dick and is a shit musical)

And this one is maybe not strictly from the Songbook, but "Cry Me a River" has the infamous line:

Told me love was too plebeian
Told me you were through with me, an'...
(Arthur Hamilton)

Wikipedia says this song could've been introduced not by Julie London but by a different singer, and on the Columbia label, but label honcho Mitch Miller had a problem with the word "plebeian."

I’ve never seen it, but it does contain “Where or When” which is one of my favorites.

xp

definitely responsible for a lot of classic music, i'll give it that.

funny meet cute, the main couple meets at the door within the first 5 minutes, and kiss within 35 seconds of meeting