(I Had To Come Home In the Dark)
A popular song from 1918.
Words and music by Charles R. McCarron.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- A married man was Pat McCann
Who loved to stay out late
And with a stout good “bawlin’ out”
For him his wife would wait
No more would she accept his plea
Of being at the “lodge”
And so last night he came home tight
And pulled this camouflage
Chorus
Dear, keep cool, the country’s saving fuel
And I had to come home in the dark
Wife of mine, I started home at nine
But the streets were all so foggy
I walked ’round ’till I got groggy
In the gloaming, I was roaming
All the lights were out, what could I do
I knew that you would sit up
So, darlin’ I got lit up
To find my way back home to you
- The only lights these light-less nights
That I have ever seen
Are on a sign marked “Precenct Nine”
And both of them are green
I know that you are mad clean through
But, be a Patriot
When tempers rise, economize
And never get too hot
Chorus
Dear, keep cool, the country’s saving fuel
And I had to come home in the dark
I was blind, my way I couldn’t find
I can swear by ten religions
All I did was look for pigeons
You know why, dear, home they fly, dear
In the dark a pigeon’s aim is true
So, when it got too hazy
I grabbed a squab named Daisy
To find my way back home to you
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: