That Society Bear

A popular song from 1912
Words and music by Irving Berlin


The sheet music:


Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:


Lyrics

  1. Millionaires, so the papers tell
    Learned a dance that we all know well
    Papers say that an extra swell affair
    Was given by a millionaire
    The rich four hundred, one and all
    Had gathered there
    Strange to say some reporter-men
    Happened there with a pad and pen
    They wrote down what they saw
    And when the news
    Was printed in the papers
    People were reading everywhere

Chorus:
Doing that Society Bear
Hetty Green and Rockefeller
Threw their shoulders up in the air
Rocking like a big propeller
Someone cried, “Cuddle up to your Vanderbilt
Wrap me up in a beautiful di’mond quilt”
Mister Schwab was on the job
In a high-toned manner, playing the piano
Morgan cried, “I don’t give a care
Let me spend another dollar”
Throwing up his hands in the air
Mister Gould began to holler
“Stocks are going up, going up, going up
Stocks are going up, going up, going up”
So, come on, let’s kill that Society Bear
It’s a bear, it’s a bear

  1. Papers say, everybody there
    Laughed out loud when an heiress fair
    Kissed John D. where he has no hair at all
    Then cunningly began to call
    His head her lovin’ billiard ball, around the hall
    Carnegie did the Turkey Trot
    For an hour with a chicken that
    Egged him on ’til he ‘most forgot to care
    A snap about his libr’ry
    Doing that rich Society Bear

Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: