The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #14803 Message #1274446
Posted By: John M.
17-Sep-04 - 05:00 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Let's Do It (Cole Porter)
Subject: Lyr Add: THEY ALL DO IT.
I was scrounging around the Mudcat archives and came across this thread. Well it looks like Cole Porter didn't write his version but adapted a folksong. Here is a poem/song from a 5th Feb 1907 dated manuscript from upstate New York:
THEY ALL DO IT!
Fight against it all you can, though sad the thought, - ALL DO IT.
Yes - the pheasants and the fen do it; The robins and the wrens do it; The roosters and the hens do it; The wild Comanche braves do it, The Esquamaux in caves do it. And kings and queens are slaves to it. Temptation all will bring to it, Parsons doff their pantaloons to it; Goats in fall and spring do it; And boars bend their necks and swoon to it; Moths and mites in cheese do it; And butterflies and bees do it; And frogs settle down and freeze to it; Cold earth worms cone up in swarms to it; And underneath the trees do it; Well-- I'm but a lonely woman, With every pulse and feeling human, But I'm not the folks called "common". And I'll never do it! The deed is rash, and I would rue it, I'd scorn the act, and well you know it, But - Well -- I'll lay still, and let YOU do it.
A PDF of the manuscript is available on my website. If you know any bawdy songs, toasts or recitations, I would like to correspond with you. You can email me at JOHN (at)) Mehlberg.com.
Sincerely,
John Mehlberg ~ My bawdy songs, toasts and recitations website: www.immortalia.com