The Vatican Rag

A funny song from 1965.
Words and music by Tom Lehrer.

The sheet music:

The-Vatican-Rag – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:

The_Vatican_Rag – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. First you get down on your knees
    Fiddle with your rosaries
    Bow your head with great respect
    And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect
    Do whatever steps you want if
    You have cleared them with the Pontiff
    Everybody say his own Kyrie eleison
    Doin’ the Vatican Rag

Interlude
Get in line in that processional
Step into that small confessional
There the guy who’s got religion’ll
Tell you if your sin’s original
If it is, try playin’ it safer
Drink the wine and chew the wafer
Two, four, six, eight
Time to transubstantiate!

  1. So get down upon your knees
    Fiddle with your rosaries
    Bow your head with great respect
    And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect
    Make a cross on your abdomen
    When in Rome do like a Roman
    Ave Maria, Gee, it’s good to see ya
    Gettin’ ecstatic an’ sorta dramatic an’
    Doin’ the Vatican Rag!

Sung here by Vancha March: