A popular song from 1913
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- Down in Turkey-urkey, Abie Cohen
Was selling fancy clothes to anyone who’d wear ’em
When the Turks were called away to war
A Turk asked Abie if he wouldn’t watch his harem
Abie said, “With pleasure, I will cover ev’ry track
I’ll take care of ev’rything, so don’t you hurry back”
Abie then sat down and wrote a note
To all his friends at home and this is what he wrote
Chorus
In my Harem, my Harem
There’s Rosie, Josie, Posie
And there never was a minute
King Solomon was in it
Wives for breakfast, wives for dinner
Wives for supper time
Lots of fancy dancing
And it doesn’t cost a dime
In my Harem, my Harem
There’s Fannie, Annie, Jenny
And the dance they do
Would make you wish that you
Were in a Harem with Abie Cohen
- Abie said, “I’ve got a thousand wives
And ev’ry one of them has got a perfect figure
Small ones, tall ones, big as they could be
There’s some as big as that, and some are even bigger
That young Turk ain’t coming back until the war is won
I don’t wish him hard luck, but I hope they steal his gun
I am living many happy lives
How can a man get lonesome with a thousand wives”
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: