A popular song from 1918.
Words by Will Stanley.
Music by Jack Glogau.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- We all try hard to gather fame and riches
We’re anxious that the world should hear our name
Sometimes we sell our soul for gold or power
And think that we are winners in the game
But you don’t have to win
To make the world remember you
If you want to be remembered
This is all you have to do
Chorus
Leave the world a little better than you found it
Try to spread a little sunshine here and there
Try to live the Golden Rule
That you used to learn at school
Try to treat the other fellow on the square
You don’t have to be the leader of a nation
It doesn’t matter much where you were born
Just leave the world a little better than you found it
And you won’t be forgotten when your gone
- You’ll find men who have gathered gold and power
Each worship at his own peculiar shrine
But if they leave no aching hearts behind them
They’re beggars when they leave this world behind
When they have to go
They find that no one sheds a tear
For they should have learned the lesson
But they didn’t want to hear
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: