From the musical “Very Good Eddie”, 1915
Words by Schuyler Greene
Music by Jerome Kern
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- I’m a peaceful little person,
But peace is sometimes worse’n
All the wars combined that histories recall,
I’ve been pushed around and kicked at,
Stepped upon, abused, and picked at
Till I wonder that I’m anything at all.
Even little flies that flutter
From the sugar to the butter
Command respect because they carry germs:
Their importance seems to teach us,
In this world of all sized creatures,
Half are robins and the other half are worms. - When we walk, my wife just kind ‘a drags me
By the hand behind her,
Like a captive minnow on a dangling hook,
And the passersby that spy me,
Stop and pitifully eye me,
With that sympathetic “Oh-the-poor-thing” look.
Every dog that I meet that’s muzzled
Looks at me with such a puzzled
Air of injured pride and insolent disdain,
That I seem to gaze through leather
Straps securely sewed together
And I feel Georgina tugging at the chain