From the “Music Box Revue”, 1923
Words and music by Irving Berlin
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- Butterfly, without a single care
You flit from here to there
Your heart is ev’rywhere
Fluttering about from boy to boy
Filling your heart with joy
Playing with each new toy
Chorus
Butterfly, little butterfly
Flitting ’round from flow’r to flower
Each time you change your mind
You leave a lonely heart behind
You play your part with a new sweetheart
‘Til you have him in your power
And then you flutter away
To leave him crying all day
Come back, little butterfly
- Butterfly, take warning while you may
Youth only lasts a day
Blossoms and fades away
There will come a morning when you’ll cry
Poor little butterfly
You know the reason why
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: