Just a Bird’s-eye View

(Of My Old Kentucky Home)
A fox trot ballad from 1926
Words by Gus Kahn
Music by Walter Donaldson

The sheet music:

Just a Birds Eye View – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:

Just_A_Birds_Eye_View – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. I saw a lot of little birds today
    Getting set to fly away
    Fly away and stay away down south
    Wish I were a little birdie, too
    Just to have a little bird’s-eye view
    Of a place I knew away down south

Chorus:
What I’d do for a bird’s-eye view of a place I knew
Where the sunflowers grew
Just a bird’s-eye view of my old Kentucky home
What I’d do for a postal card
Or a picture card of the old backyard
And the golden rod in my old Kentucky home
Somewhere a voice is calling
And there’s where I’m gonna roam
In an birds are glad ‘cause they have some view
But I’ll be sad till I get one too
Just a bird’s-eye view
Of my old Kentucky home

  1. I’m gonna get myself an aeroplane
    Just so I can fly away
    Fly away and stay away down south
    Bring along my little Kodak, too
    Just to take some old time scenes I knew
    I will get some view away down south

Patter:
If my heart had wings I’d fly away
Fly away today
If my feet were wheels I’d roll away
Roll away to stay
But I’ve got no wings and my feet ain’t wheels
And my shoes ain’t all O.K.
Oh, I’ve got no ticket and the walkin’s wicked
But I’ve got to get back some way.
I know that

[After Patter]
Sorrow will fade tomorrow
‘Cause down where I’m gonna roam
In an aeroplane I would gladly go
In a parachute I would drop below
For a bird’s-eye view
Of my old Kentucky home

Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: