Rodgers and Hart’s first hit, 1925.
words by Lorenz Hart
music by Richard Rodgers
Suggested by Stacy, who grew up in New York City.
Sheet music found in the book “America’s Greatest Hit Songs”:
Piano is from a player piano roll:
Lyrics
Summer journeys to Niag’ra and to other places
Aggravate all our cares, we’ll save our fares
I’ve a cozy little flat in what is known as old Manhattan
We’ll settle down right here in town
We’ll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, too
It’s lovely going through the zoo
It’s very fancy on old Delancey Street, you know
The subway charms us so when balmy breezes blow to and fro
And tell me what street compares with Mott Street in July
Sweet pushcarts gently gliding by
The great big city’s a wondrous toy just made for a girl and boy
We’ll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.
We’ll go to Greenwich, where modern men itch to be free
And Bowling Green you’ll see with me
We’ll bathe at Brighton the fish you’ll frighten when you’re in
Your bathing suit so thin will make the shellfish grin, fin to fin
I’d like to take a sail on Jamaica Bay with you
And fair Canarsie’s lake we’ll view
The city’s bustle cannot destroy the dreams of a girl and boy
We’ll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy
We’ll go to Yonkers where true love conquers in the wilds
And starve together, dear, in Childs’
We’ll go to Coney and eat baloney on a roll
In Central Park we’ll stroll, where our first kiss we stole, soul to soul
Our future babies we’ll take to “Abie’s Irish Rose”
I hope they’ll live to see it close
The city’s clamor can never spoil the dreams of a boy and goil
We’ll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy
We’ll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island, too
We’ll try to cross’Fifth Avenue
As black as onyx we’ll find the Bronnix Park Express
Our Flatbush flat, I guess, will be a great success, more or less
A short vacation on Inspiration Point we’ll spend
And in the station house we’ll end
But Civic Virtue cannot destroy the dreams of a girl and boy
We’ll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy
Sung here by Fred Feild: