From the 1923 musical “The Stepping Stones”.
Words by Anne Caldwell.
Music by Jerome Kern.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. When I went to school
We were so very poor
I hadn’t any coat at all
When it came fall
When the wind would blow
I used to shake and shiver so
From that came the name you recall
Refrain:
Everybody calls me “Little Red Riding Hood”
Everyone laughed at me, I must confess
Kids well-clad rudely would stare
For I had nothing to wear
Until mother died her wedding dress
From it made for me my little Red Riding Hood
Saying, “One day there’ll come, if you are good
Fairy Prince with kindly face
He’ll embrace, then replace
With a wedding veil your little Red Riding Hood”
2. People ask my name
And when I tell them just exactly
What I was baptized
They seem surprised
It is plain to see
Until I’m “Missus Somebody”
I’ll answer that name they devised