A 1917 popular song.
Words by Jimmy Morgan.
Music by Jack Coogan.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- History repeats itself, so the wise men say
I believe they’re right, because last night
I heard peculiar music play
In a dream it takes me back
Two thousand years ago
Which only goes to prove
That Egyptians were not slow
Chorus
Cleopatra has a jazz band
In her castle on the Nile
Ev’ry night she gave a jazz dance
In her queer Egyptian style
She won Mark Anthony with her syncopated harmony
And while they played, she swayed
She knew she had him all the while
In the shadow of the Pyramids
‘Neath the old Egyptian moon
A sphinx was looking on
And said, “There’ll be a wedding soon
(1. But the real Historic scandal
Was Cleo lost her sandal)
(2. Brutus stabbed poor Julius Caesar
Because he tried to please her”
As she danced to the strains
Of the Egyptian Jazz Band tune
- Egypt got the dancing craze
So the wise men say
And when they heard that music start
The natives all began to sway
Caesar came from Rome to learn
To dance the latest step
And when he heard those Jazzers play
He sure was full of pep
Sung here by Vancha March: