A 1909 popular song.
Words by Percival Knight.
Music by Jerome D. Kern.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. When I was a youth approaching wise eighteen
Every girl I saw I thought a perfect queen
Any girl with simple eyes
Would surely make me sympathise
If she but looked my way
If upon the street I saw a girl in tears
German, French, American, Scotch or Dutch
I would proffer sympathy and consolation
Offer her my escort to her destination
Carry her grips and help her on her way
I’m not a bit the same today
Refrain:
Every girl I meet seems better
Than the girl I met before
It can’t be that I’m colder
It may be that I’m getting older
I love a maid a week or so
And then I look around for more
For every girl I meet seems better
Than the girl I met before
2. Love affairs in plenty I have had since then
Interesting tete-a-tes from tea till ten
I can break a heart with ease
And yet I find I’m hard to please
When ladies are concerned
Fashionable maidens too have kissed my hand
Leaving me to marry and settle down
Debutantes have eyed me in a mild flirtation
Chaperons have snubbed me in their consternation
Never could I make up my mind to wed
for to myself I’ve always said