from Earl Carroll’s Vanities, 1932
words by Ted Koehler
music by Harold Arlen
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
I don’t care who knows I am blue
My song wouldn’t take long
To give my heart away
I know it’s plain my heart’s in pain
My song couldn’t belong
To someone feeling gay
Refrain
I gotta right to sing the blues
I gotta right to feel low down
I gotta right to hang around
Down around the river
A certain man in this old town
Keeps draggin’ my poor heart around
All I see for me is misery
I gotta right to sing the blues
I gotta right to moan and sigh
I gotta right to sit and cry
Down around the river
I know the deep blue sea
Will soon be calling me
It must be love say what you choose
I gotta right to sing the blues