A 1919 popular song from the end of WWI.
Words and music by Nelson Jackson.
Song suggested by Ross Boyle.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- We’ve lots to make us glad and gay
We’ve lots to cheer us ev’ry day
The War is done, the fight is won
There’s nothing but the bill to pay
And ev’ry one will get rewards
The sort his Majesty accords
The O. B. E. so fine and free
And profiteers will all be Lords
Refrain
So cheer up, cheero, and let yourself go
It’s a long time you’ll be dead
We’ve lots to make us smile, you bet
We’ve Winston in the cabinet
To live we must contrive
Not underground to dive
We live in a land that is great and free
We’ve elected some funny old freaks M. P.
And a quid is worth just about nine and three
So, it’s good to be alive
- We’ve lots to give our mirth a shape
With grins to set our jaws agape
For week by week the Whitehall clique
Lay in fresh stocks of new red-tape
We’ve got controllers here and there
In face, we’ve got them everywhere
With typists fair, large bow in hair
The sort official men prefer
Refrain
So cheer up, cheero, and let yourself go
It’s a long time you’ll be dead
We’ve lots to keep us out of bed
We’ve F. E. Smith – Lord Birkenhead
To live we should contrive
Not underground to dive
They’re taxing us now from the toes and shins
Right up to the neck and above the chins
And that’s how we’ll pay for the German sins
So it’s good to be alive
- We’ve lots to make us shout “hooray”
New dances from the U.S.A.
They are the sort our Grandmas thought
Not “comme il faut” as Frenchmen say
We’ve foxy trots, and twinkletoes
The joyful “Jazz” that’s worse than those
We’ve clutches, clips, and slides and slips
And fervent grips for bells and beaux
Refrain
So cheer up, cheero, and let yourself go
It’s a long time you’ll be dead
We’ve funds of mirth on which to draw
We’ve Bottomley, and Bonar Law
To live we should contrive
Not underground to dive
Lloyd George is a wizard from Wales, we know
And he certainly gives a surprising show
For he vanishes millions a week, and so
It’s good to be alive
- We’ve lots to make us shout with glee
We’ve votes for women, – oh, dear me
We are so free you will agree
That no one now need married be
The usual results, of course
The courts are choked up with divorce
Through chanting the nisi decree
The judge’s voice is faint, and hoarse
Refrain
So cheer up, cheero, and let yourself go
It’s a long time you’ll be dead
We’ve lots to make us shout with glee
We’ve Asquith left to “wait and see”
To live we should contrive
Not underground to dive
What’s going to happen no one can tell
The whisky’s a wash-out, the beer’s a sell
And the funeral prices are up as well
So, it’s good to be alive
Sung here by Vancha March: