A popular song from 1923
Words and music by Pete Wendling, Edgar Leslie and Max Kortlander
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- I have called up every jail
I’ve had blood-hounds on his trail
Every day, every night
Lookin’ for that man of mine
I’ve employed detectives, too
Still they can’t pick up a clue
Where he eats, where he sleeps
Who supplies him with moonshine
A lonesome mommer am I
I don’t mind telling you why
Chorus
He isn’t here, he isn’t here
I know I got the air from Papa blues
I need a fortune teller
To tell me why each feller I lose
I’m always stylish in my dress
But as a vamp I’m no success
You’re lookin’ at a do-right woman
That men abuse
He left me flat, and worse than that
He took his coat and hat and traveling shoes
There’s gonna be a scandal
When all the papers handle the news
When I went down to the crap game
Where he broke all his pals
They sharpened their razors
Cause he stole all their gals
He isn’t here, he isn’t here
I know I got the air from Papa blues
- There’s a jealous cat next door
She caused trouble once before
Seems to me maybe she
Knows about my rollin’ stone
To find out about that cat
I had men break in her flat
Then I spent my last cent
Putting in a Dictaphone
A jealous woman am I
There’s dynamite in my eye
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: