Poor Papa

(He’s got nothin’ at all)
A popular song from 1926
Words by Billy Rose
Music by Harry Woods

The sheet music:

Poor-Papa – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by Denese Coulbeck:

Poor_Papa – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. Don’t get married, don’t get married
    Said my friend McBride
    If you take a wife
    You’re out of luck for life
    He had all his little sons
    And daughters by his side
    Like Happy Hooligan’s sixteen kids
    They all lined up and cried

Chorus
Mama’s got shoes, mama’s got clothes
Mama’s got these and mama’s got those
But poor papa, poor papa
He’s got nothin’ at all
Mama goes here, mama goes there
Mama goes out to every affair
But poor papa, poor papa
He waits out in the hall
Christmas comes and mama get
the most expensive frocks
Papa gets a necktie
And a pair of ten cent socks
Everyone cheers when mama appears
She’s got diamonds stuck in her ears
But poor papa, poor papa
He’s got nothin’ at all

  1. Then Mac cried, “Oh what a life
    I’ve got no chance at all
    Once a girl gets you
    You’ll look like I do, too
    Then he lined his children up
    The short ones and the tall
    And as they marched down the avenue
    You should have heard them bawl

Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: