A Christmas song from 1924
Words and music by Charley Straight and Gus Kahn
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- The merry bells are ringing today
But they don’t mean nothing to me
I hear the children singing today
But I’m as blue as I can be
Old Santa Claus forgot my address
That’s one thing I can plainly see
It may be Christmas to some folks
It’s just December twenty-fifth to me
Chorus:
No money, no honey to buy a present for me
Nobody, no toddy to make things pleasant for me
Last night my stocking hung
Just like when I was young
But this morning there was vacancy
No mingling, no jingling of coin
No pickin’ on chicken or pork tenderloin
And soon I’ll hear the happy New Year chimes
That just means some more hard times
Bad luck, you’re hard to lose
I’ve got the Santa Claus blues
- Last night I dreamed I wandered away
To the land of cotton and corn
My mammy said, “He’s come home to stay
Upon this lovely Christmas morn
You should have seen the presents I got
From all the good friends of my youth
I went to sleep in Dixie land
But I woke up this morning in Duluth
Chorus:
No money, no honey to buy a present for me
Nobody, no toddy to make things pleasant for me
Last night my stocking hung
Just like when I was young
But this morning there was vacancy
No mingling, no jingling of coin
No pickin’ on chicken or pork tenderloin
It seems to me that every now and then
The poor house pages me again
Bad luck, you’re hard to lose
I’ve got the Santa Claus blues
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: