From the operetta “Bitter Sweet”, 1929
Words and music by Noel Coward
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Blase boys are we, exquisitely free
From the dreary and quite absurd
Moral views of the common herd
We like porphyry bowls, chandeliers and stoles
We’re most spirited, carefully filleted souls
Refrain:
Pretty boys, witty boys, too, too, too
Lazy to fight stagnation,
Haughty boys, naughty boys
All we do is to pursue sensation
The portals of society
Are always opened wide
The world our eccentricity condones
A note of quaint variety
We’re certain to provide
We dress in very decorative tones
Faded boys, jaded boys
womankind’s gift to a bulldog nation
In order to distinguish us
From less enlightened minds
We all wear a green carnation
We believe in Art, though we’re poles apart
From the fools who are thrilled by “Greuze”
We like “Beardsley” and green “Chartreuse”
Women say we’re too Bored to bill and coo
We smile wearily, it’s so drearily true
Refrain:
Pretty boys, witty boys, you may sneer
At our disintegration
Haughty boys, naughty boys, dear, dear, dear
Swooning with affectation
Our figures sleek and willowy
Our lips incarnadine
May worry the majority a bit
But matrons rich and billowy
Invite us out to dine
And revel in our phosphorescent wit
Faded boys, jaded boys
Come what may, art is our inspiration
And as we are the reason
For the “nineties” being gay
We all wear a green carnation
Refrain:
Pretty boys, witty boys
Yearning for permanent adulation
Haughty boys, naughty boys, every pore
Bursting with self-inflation
We feel we’re rather ‘Grecian’
As our manners indicate
Our sense of moral values isn’t strong
For ultimate completion
We shall really have to wait
Until the Day of Judgment comes along
Faded boys, jaded boys, each one craves
Some sort of soul salvation
But when we rise reluctantly
But gracefully from our graves
We’ll all wear a green carnation