From the 1943 film “Bathing Beauty”.
Words by Ervin Drake.
Music by Zequinha Abreu.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Oh, tico-tico tick! Oh, tico-tico tock!
This Tico-tico he’s the cuckoo in my clock
And when he says: “Cuckoo!”
He means it’s time to woo
It’s “Tico time” for all the lovers in the block
I’ve got a heavy date, a tete-a-tete at eight
So speak, oh Tico, tell me is it getting late?
If I’m on time: “Cuckoo!” but if I’m late “Woo-woo”
The one my heart has gone to may not want to wait
For just a birdie, and a birdie who goes nowhere
He knows of every Lovers’ Lane and how to go there
For in affairs of the heart, my Tico’s terribly smart
He tells me: “Gently, sentimentally at the start”
Oh-oh, I hear my little Tico-Tico calling
Because the time is right and shades of night are falling
I love that not-so-cuckoo cuckoo in the clock
Tico-Tico-Tico-Tico-Tico tock