ok this is a semi-urgent request to be emailed an mp3 of this as its rather hard to track down. (nb: i actually do own this, but on an old 10" that is halfway cross the country).
also tho this thread can be to talk about this, babbit and the bromide, and other lovely and biting gershwin tracks that have gotten pushed aside in favor of his more sappy standards.
i heard a classic "stairway to paradise" version the other day done with a terrible fake-french accent and it made the song so much more classic.
i think a great deal has been lost in the distillation down to the "great american songbook", no?
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 12 August 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)
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.
Books that are out of key
We quickly bury;
You will find liberty
In Mr. Webster's dictionary.
New York or Philadelph'
Won't put you on the shelf
If you would be yourself --
But you can't be yourself in Boston.
2
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
By looking down your nose;
Keep up the status quos --
Or they'll keep you out of 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.
3
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.
You're of the bourgeoisie,
And no one bothers --
Not if your fam'ly tree
Doesn't date from the Pilgrim
Fathers.
Therefore, when all is said,
Life is so limit-ed,
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.
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 12 August 2006 16:50 (nineteen years ago)