From the 1943 film “Follies Girl”
Words and music by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise and Sidney Lippman
The sheet music:
Lyrics
There’s an old-time singer at a soldiers’ cafe
And oh, what memories she brings
She was a vaudeville queen back in nineteen-eighteen
And this is the song she sings
Chorus:
I knew your father, son
He was a tough, ready and rough son-of-a-gun
‘Way back in world war one
He did his bit putting the foe back on the run
He was a real American guy
Who loved his Yankee-doodle-doo
Now he’s leaving it up to you
And you and you and you
So, do what your dad has done
Fight for the right
Fight till the last battle is won
Yes, I knew your father, son