A popular song from 1911
Words and music by Elsie Janis
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. I’m feeling blue, discouraged, too
You don’t mind if I should tell my woes to you?
I had a beau, I loved him so
Now he’s gone away, but where I do not know
All day I sigh and almost cry
Though there are a lot of fellows right near by
Some declare they love me and ask me for my hand
When I try to tell them, they don’t understand
So I say to them in sweetest tones
Refrain:
I would rather love what I cannot have
Than have what I can not love
I would rather be ‘just a friend of his’
Than any other fellow’s ‘turtle dove
I would rather have him abuse me
than another call me ‘angel from above’
I would rather love what I cannot have
Than have what I cannot love
2. I greatly fear, I’m rather queer
I don’t want any other man to call me ‘dear’
The boys all say, though he’s away
That is no excuse for me to pine all day
They say he’s met another pet
And if I will try that I can soon forget
I tell them I’m contented and do not care to try
Then if they persist, I simply tell them why
I shall be an old maid when I die