A World War I song from 1918
Words by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young
Music by Bert Grant
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- In childhood day, we’d sing and play
A game we loved so well
‘I oh! the cheery oh!
The farmer in the dell’
But since the war, the words of yore
Have changed to fit the times
The melody is the same to me
But the kids have changed the rhymes
The Kaiser has the measles
The Crown Prince has the croup
And everyone of his other sons
Will soon be in the soup
Chorus
But the worst is yet to come
The worst is yet to come
You won’t know what it’s all about
Or where it’s coming from
You said you’d Plaster Paris
With your Hindenburg machine
But now it looks as if you’re
On the road to Paris Green
But the worst is yet to come
The worst is yet to come
You tried to put the whole world on the bum
Now you carzy Kaiser
You’ve gotta give up
You’ve gotta give up
You’ve gotta give up
But don’t let it worry you
The worst is yet to come
- Old Kaiser Bill, went up the hill
But soon came tumbling down
Oh! Chateau Thierry oh!
That’s where he lost his crown
He thought a bit, and tried to quit
Cause everything looked black
A not he sent to the President
And he got this answer back
Oh! Willie, Willie wild fellow
Growing up so high
You’d better order your coffin now
Because you’re gonna die
Extra choruses (from 78 records by Billy Murray and by the Peerless Quartet)
Chorus
But the worst is yet to come
The worst is yet to come.
You won’t know what it’s all about
Or where it’s coming from.
We were on our way to Limburg
The strongest town you own
And after we took Limburg
We we’re going to take Cologne.
But the worst is yet to come
The worst is yet to come
The Devil’s going to be your only chum,
You ran into Holland, but that’s not much
For the rest of your life you’ll be in Dutch,
But don’t let it worry you,
The worst is yet to come.
Chorus
But the worst is yet to come
The worst is yet to come,
How’d you like the Yankee songs
Played on the Gattling gun?
The Kaiser thought Napoleon
A sample of himself
But instead of the Isle of Elba
We will put him on the shelf.
But the worst is yet to come
The worst is yet to come
Your troops are back to where they started from.
Oh, hickory dickory dickory dock
You’ll have to put your throne in hock,
But don’t let it worry you
The worst is yet to come
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: