The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #74125   Message #1294004
Posted By: Jim Dixon
10-Oct-04 - 06:46 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Since Henry Ford Apologized To Me
Subject: Lyr Add: SINCE HENRY FORD APOLOGIZED TO ME
Here's my transcription from the sound file (Click to play.)

The performance slides so easily from ordinary speech, to rhythmic recitation (matching the rhythm of the piano accompaniment), to singing, that it is difficult to mark the transition points, so I didn't bother! Also, I didn't bother representing the dialect, except at one point where the rhyme depends on it. I labeled the two voices A and B, not knowing which was Jones and which was Hare.

SINCE HENRY FORD APOLOGIZED TO ME
(Stamper-Rose-MacDonald)
Recorded by The Happiness Boys (Billy Jones and Ernest Hare), 24 August, 1927

A: Oy! Oy! Gevalt! Gevalt!
B: What's the matter, Abram?
A: Did you see the Yiddishe Journal this morning, ...?
B: No. What did it say?
A: Well, I don't mind telling you, that I'm so happy I could cry.
B: You're looking simply great. Why don't you celebrate?
A: I bought myself a ... a collar with a tie.
B: Well, if I see you making whoopee, what's your alibi?

A: I was sad and I was blue,
But now I'm just as good as you,
Since Henry Ford apologized to me.
B: That's why you threw away
Your little Chevrolet
And bought yourself a Ford coupé.
A: I told the sup'rintendent
That the Dearborn Independent
Doesn't have to hang up where it used to be.
B: You're happy now because he settled up the case.
A: I'm sorry I cut off my nose to spite my race.
B: Are you glad he changed his point of view?
A: Yes, I like even Edsel too,
A+B: Since Henry Ford apologized to me.

A: Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay!
B: When you heard he would be in town, did you write him in advance?
A: Sure! I asked him please to drop around to see my shop.
B: Did you say you were a tailor? A: Sure! I offered him a chance
To get a suit of clothes at cost. B: Including extra pants?

A: Certainly! For even after what he did,
I bought a tractor for my kid,
Since Henry Ford apologized to me.
B: The mama said she'd feed him if he calls
Gefilte fish and matzo balls.
A: Yeah! Yeah! And a bottle of beer. And even if he runs for President,
I wouldn't charge a single cent.
I'll cast my ballot absolutely free, maybe.
B: He's got an aviator for his new machine.
A: Instead of Charlie Lindbergh's, he's got Charles Levine.
B: You've got a cold. Now does it hoit?
A: Yeah, but I don't suffer in Detroit,
A+B: Since Henry Ford apologized to me.

I put the family jewels in hock
And bought myself a share of stock,
Since Henry Ford apologized to me.
I hear you had a baby yesterday,
And named it Henry right away.
For what I thought about that guy,
My wife was telling me that I
Should send him also my apology.
B: You got some whiskers and tied it on your Ford somehow,
A: And ev'rybody thinks I've got a Lincoln now.
B: I saw the brand-new cars he makes.
A: Instead of Lizzies, they'll be Jakes,
A+B: Since Henry Ford apologized to me.

[Here's a review of a book about Henry Ford's anti-Semitism.]