From the musical “Oh Boy!” 1917
Words by P. G. Wodehouse
Music by Jerome Kern
The sheet music:
Lyrics
1. The modern wife leads a dreadful life
That seems the modern fashion
For wicked ways and cabarets
She seems to have a passion
I never shall be up-to-date
That sort of thing, I know I’d hate
So
REFRAIN
I want to be a good little wife
In the good old fashioned way
I’ll honor and obey
From my home I’ll never stray
Although the thing that’s smart, is
To be out all night at parties
I’ll be sitting with my knitting
In the good old fashioned way
2. It’s thought quite queer
If they last a year
These marriages that we know
You’ve hardly cried, “Here comes the bride”
Before she’s off the Reno
They’ll have to change it I suppose
Fro “Here she comes” to “There she goes”
But
REFRAIN
I want to be a good little wife
In the good old fashioned way
Forever and a day
Till our two heads are bent and gray
Through days serene and stormy
There will be but one man for me
And we’ll weather life together
In the good old fashioned way