From “The Barkleys of Broadway”, 1948
Words by Ira Gershwin
Music by Harry Warren
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
Though we’re called a people of serious mind
‘Tis often we dance and ’tis often we sing
And bein’ as human as all humankind
We aren’t superior to havin’ a fling
I’m taking the fling of a lifetime
The fling of a husband-and-wife-time
Refrain
When I went romancin’
I gied no thought to any weddin’ ring
Every bonnie lassie was my highland fling
No chance was I chancin’
I’m not the mon you dangle on a string
I was canny, waitin’ for the real, real thing
Though I danced each girl
In the twist and twirl
Na’ one would do
An’ I went a-my way till the fatal day
In the fling I was flung with you
Oh! now my heart is prancin’
Gay as a Lord and happy as a king
The years I’ll weather
In the hame or on the heather
With my one and only highland fling
Refrain
When I went a-dancin’
No special lad I was encouraging
Every likely laddie was my highland fling
No glance I was glancin’.
Well, nothin’ really worth the mentioning
Hopin’, watchin’, waitin’ for the real, real thing
Though they spoke me soft in the moonlit oft’
Na’ one would do
Till it came to pass to this lucky lass
In the fling I was flung with you
Oh! now my heart is prancin’
Nothin’ about ya I’d be altering
The years I’ll weather
In the hame or on the heather
With my one and only highland fling