From the musical “South Pacific”, 1949.
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II.
Music by Richard Rodgers.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
We got sunlight on the sand
We got moonlight on the sea
We got mangoes and bananas
We can pick right off a tree
We got volley ball and ping-pong
And a lot of dandy games
What ain’t we got? We ain’t got dames
We get packages from home
We get movies, we get shows
We get speeches from our skipper
And advice from Tokyo Rose
We get letters doused with perfume
We get dizzy from the smell
What don’t we get? You know damn well
We got nothin’ to put on a clean white suit for
What we need is what there ain’t no substitute for
There is nothin’ like a dame
Nothin’ in the world
There is nothin’ you can name
That is anything like a dame
We feel lonely and we long
For the fair and gentle sex
We would like to feel the feeling
Of some arms around our necks
We feel hungry as the wolf felt
When he met Red Riding Hood
What don’t we feel? We don’t feel good
Lots of things in life are beautiful, but brother
There is one particular thing that is nothing
Whatsoever in any way, shape, or form like any other
There is nothin’ like a dame
Nothin’ in the world
There is nothin’ you can name
That is anything like a dame
There are no books like a dame
And nothin’ looks like a dame
There are no drinks like a dame
And nothin’ thinks like a dame
Nothin’ acts like a dame
Or attracts like a dame
There ain’t a thing that’s wrong with any man here
That can’t be cured by putting him near
A girly, womanly, female, feminine dame
Sung by Laurence Rubenstein
Guitar by Steve Rubenstein: