JOSEPHINE
Words by Gus Kahn, Music by Wayne King and Burke Bivens - 1936

VERSE: Oh, the love bug bit and bit me good.
I'm doing things I never should
Since I met my Josephine,
Cutest gal I've ever seen.
She can be so bad or be so nice,
Can be so warm or cold as ice,
But my life won't be serene
Till I get my Josephine.

CHORUS: There never was a gal I could love like I love my Josephine.
She's a flirt. She's a scamp. She's the vampiest vamp I've ever seen.
It seems to me she's always flirting with the fellows passing by,
But when I say she winks, then she tells me she thinks there's a cinder in her eye.
I believe it would be better if I'd leave her and forget.
Ev'rybody says it would be wise;
But each time that I go out to dance with somebody else,
I find myself dancing with tears in my eyes;
For there's nobody quite so nice who can be quite so mean
As my gal. What a gal, Josephine.

[Recorded by Mose Allison, Chet Atkins, The Bill Black Combo, Ray Charles, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Wayne King, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Lawrence Welk, and several others.

[You can hear a recording of this song performed by The Adrian Rollini Quintette, made in 1936, at The Red Hot Jazz Archive. Only the chorus is sung, not the verse.]