From the musical “Primrose”, 1924
Words by Desmond Carter
Music by George Gershwin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Keep your cities and keep your towns
I want nothing but these
The moors, the river, the rolling downs
The woods and the whispering trees
Hill and meadow and scented hay
Better them no-one can
Leave the women to go their way
I’ll have done with them from today
Oh, this is the place for a man
Oh, this is the place for a man
Keep your cities with all their pride
I want nothing of those
I’ll give my heart to the countryside
With every wind that blows
There was never a fairer thing
Since ever the world began
Love is folly when life can bring
A pipe to smoke and a song to sing
Oh, this is the life for a man
Oh, this is the life for a man
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: