The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #6100   Message #2394003
Posted By: Jim Dixon
21-Jul-08 - 06:50 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Music Hall songs
Subject: Lyr Add: UP IN A BALLOON
From the sheet music at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music.

There is also a broadside version, with nearly identical lyrics, at The National Library of Scotland.

UP IN A BALLOON.
George W. Hunt
Philadelphia : Lee & Walker, [1868]

1. One night I went up in a balloon,
On a voyage of discov'ry to visit the moon,
Where an old man dwells, so some people say,
"Through cutting of sticks on a Sunday."
Up went the balloon quickly, higher and higher,
Over house-top and chimney-pot, tower and spire.
I knock'd off the Monument's top very high,
And caught hold of the cross of St. Paul's going by.

CHORUS: Up in a balloon, up in a balloon,
All among the little stars, sailing round the moon;
Up in a balloon, up in a balloon—
It's something awful jolly to be up in a balloon.

2. Up, up I was borne with terrible pow'r,
At the rate of ten thousand five hundred an hour.
The air was cold. The wind blew loud.
I narrowly escap'd being chok'd by a cloud.
Still up I went, till surrounded by stars,
And such planets as Jupiter, Venus, and Mars.
The Big and the Little Bear loudly did growl,
And the Dog Star, on seeing me, set up a howl.

3. I met shooting stars who were bent upon sport,
But who "shot" in a very strange manner I thought,
And one thing beat all by chalks, I must say,
That was when I got into the Milky Way.
I counted the stars, till at last I thought
I had found out how much they were worth by the quart.
An unpolite "Aerolite" who ran 'gainst my ear,
Wouldn't give e'er a light to light my cigar!

4. Next a comet went by 'midst fire like hail.
To give me a lift, I seized hold of his tail.
To where he was going I didn't enquire.
We'd gone past the moon till we couldn't get higher.
Yes, we'd got to the furthermost! don't think I joke—
When somehow I felt a great shock—I awoke!
When instead of balloon, moon and planets, I saw
I'd tumbled from off of my bed to the floor!

LAST CHORUS: And there was no balloon, there was no balloon,
There were not any planets, and there wasn't any moon.
So never sup too heavy, or by jingo very soon
You're like to fancy you are going up in a balloon!


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