From the “Music Box Revue”, 1921
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Soon you’ll hear a tune
That’s gonna lift you out of your seat
It could be sweeter but then the meter
Was written especially for your feet
Fly away up high
Upon a syncopated balloon
A little ginger will never injure
Hear them tuning up, they’ll be playing soon
Chorus
Everybody step to the syncopated rhythm
Let’s be goin’ with ’em when they begin
You’ll be sayin’ Yes Sir the band is grand
He’s the best professor in all the land
Listen to the pep that emerges from the middle
Of the jazzy fiddle under his chin
Oh, what music
The clarineter could not be better
Hear that strain
I don’t know just what it is but it’s great
They simply ruin it
Look at ’em doin’ it
Come, come don’t hesitate
Everybody step if you want to see a glutton
When it comes to struttin’ over the ground
Wait’ll you see my little sweetie and me
Step, step, stepping around
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: