A song from 1910 based on a real-life safe cracker.
Words by Edward Madden.
Music by Gus Edwards.
A vaudeville song based on a true story that was also written into a book and made into a film. Introduced in the song revue Look Out For Jimmy Valentine. The music has a prowling, sneaking, creepy feeling. It is imaginative for children.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- When the stars above are blinking
And the house is dark and still
And a sound comes clink, clink, clinking
From the nearby window sill
If you see a figure crouching
In the ghostly pale moonshine
And the bullseye gleams, thro’ your startled dreams
Then it’s Jimmy Valentine
Chorus
Look out, look out, look out for Jimmy Valentine
For he’s a pal of mine, a sentimental crook
With a touch that lingers, in his sand-papered fingers
He can find the combination of your pocketbook
Look out, look out, for when you see his lantern shine
That’s the time to jump right up and shout “HELP!”
He’d steal a horse and cart
He’d even steal a girlie’s heart
When Jimmy Valentine gets out
- Through a mask two eyes gleam brightly
As they rove in search of loot
While a voice remarks politely
“If you move an inch I’ll shoot
I’m a souvenir collector
So you have no cause for fright”
Then he bows away with your last week’s pay
And he wishes you “Good night”
Sung here by Fred Feild to player piano roll #5592