From the musical “The Sun Dodgers”, 1912
Words and music by Irving Berlin and Ed. Ray Goetz
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- Ev’ry nation, ev’ry land
They own a band they think is grand
And they all adore the hand
That leads the band around
But of all the hurdy gurdy bands I’ve heard
I’ll say a word of a certain funny bird
Of a certain band I found
Chorus
You ought to hear the music queer
That comes from Hiram’s band
The notes of blue, so blue that you
Could never understand
It’s worth a half a dollar
To hear old Hiram holler
One, two, three, go
You ought to be around
And see the faces that they made
Each ruben’s face all out of place
With ev’ry note they take
When they hear them passing by
The ladies sigh, the babies cry
Cats and dogs lay down and die
When they hear old Hiram’s band
- Talk about your Creatores
Who get encores with opera scores
Hiram plays them all outdoors
And makes them all look sick
Sick enough sometimes to die
You can’t deny and if you try
Any time you’re passing by
He can show you gosh darn quick
Chorus
You ought to hear the music queer
That comes from Hiram’s band
The notes of blue, so blue
That you could never understand
He makes Philip Suser
Look like a march-abuser
One, two, three, go
You’d laugh I swear, if you were there
And heard the way we cheered
When Hiram’s thin old violin
Got tangled in his beard
Any time the band appears
Each neighbor clears away in tears
Ma wears earmuffs on her ears
After hearing Hiram’s band
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: