From the musical “Mr. President”, 1962
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
I might have been a teacher
A job that I’d adore
I might have been a housewife
A wife and nothing more.
I might have been an actress
Who might have played Broadway
But my husband had to be president
And what am I today?
Chorus
I’m the first lady of the land
The first lady of the land
Standing on the receiving line
Winding up with an aching spine
Calluses on my receiving hand
As the first lady of the land
For every week a different hairdo
Which means another dress
Those meetings with committees
And sparring with the press
Those dreary formal dinners
When I stay up till dawn
Counting all the silver
When the guests have gone
When they march out in single file
And I must smile, smile, smile
I’d rather be the second
Or the third or the fourth
Or the fifth or the sixth
Or the seventh instead of
The first lady of the land
Chorus
I’m the first lady of the land
The first lady of the land
Entertaining at lunch or tea
Do-do-gooders who call on me
Telling of the noble deeds they’ve planned
For the first lady of the land
And oh, the presents that they send me
An awful lot of junk
An unhousebroken poodle
A dehydrated skunk
A turkey for Thanksgiving
Potatoes in a sack
But when they send a diamond
I must send it back
When the whole cabinet arrives,
And bring their wives, wives, wives
I’d rather be the second
Or the third or the fourth
Or the fifth or the sixth
Or the seventh instead of
The first lady of the land