I’ve Got a Sweet Tooth Bothering Me

(Pull it out, pull it out, pull it out)
From the show “Step This Way”, 1916
Words and music by Irving Berlin


The sheet music:


Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:


Lyrics

  1. “Take me to the dentist right away”
    Shouted little Johnny Jones one day
    I’ve got a tooth that’s hurting me
    And I simply can’t delay
    In about an hour he was there
    Standing right beside the dentist’s chair
    And when they sat him inside
    To the dentist, Johnny cried

Chorus
I’ve got a sweet tooth bothering me
Pull it out! Pull it out! Pull it out!
It isn’t candy or molasses
It isn’t honey, jam or cake
But when a sweet young lady passes
My tooth begins to ache
Like the dickens
I don’t use sugar at all in my coffee or my tea
But when I meet Rosie, Flo or May
My wisdom tooth says, “Keep away!”
But my sweet tooth starts bothering me

  1. Johnny hollered out, “There’s no one home
    In the second story of my dome
    Except a thousand ladies fair
    And it’s like a honeycomb
    Ev’ry night when I sit down to eat
    First I have my oysters, soup and meat
    And then my fav’rite dessert
    Is the rustle of a skirt

Extra Chorus from 1916 78rpm record by M.J. O’Connell (probably Billy Murray)

I’ve got a sweet tooth bothering me.
Pull it out, pull it out, pull it out!
It isn’t ice cream, cake or Huyler’s. *
I’ve not been eating sugar cane.
But every time I look at “chickens”,
Why, my tooth begins to pain–like the Dickens.
I don’t use sugar at all in my coffee or my tea.
But whenever I go near the beach,
My eye tooth says, “oh there’s a peach”.
But my sweet tooth starts bothering me.

  • Huyler’s was a New York candy and restaurant chain that operated from 1874-1964.

Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: