The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #141123   Message #3323959
Posted By: Jon Corelis
16-Mar-12 - 09:58 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Keep Away From Bad Companions
Subject: Lyr Add: FATAL GLASS OF BEER (W. C. Fields)
I know this may be getting a little off topic (and heavens we can't have that on mudcat now can we), but I can't resist quoting W. C. Fields's parody that skewers forever this whole genre of songs, "The Fatal Glass of Beer", from the film of the same name (quoted from IMDB).

THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER

There once was a poor boy and he left his country home,
And he came to the city to look for work.

He promised his Ma and Pa he would lead a sinless life,
And always shun the fatal curse of drink.

Once in the city, he got a situation in a quarry,
And there he made the acquaintance of some college students.

He little thought they were demons, for they wore the best of clothes,
But the clothes do not always make the gentleman.

Oh they tempted him to drink, and they said he was a coward,
'Til at last he took the fatal glass of beer.

When he saw what he'd done, he threw the glass upon the floor,
And he staggered through the door with delirium tremens.

Once upon the sidewalk he met a Salvation Army girl,
And wickedly he broke her tambourine.

Oh, she said "What Heaven - Heaven bless you," and placed a mark upon his brow,
With a kick she'd learned before she had been saved.

Now as a moral to young men who come down to the city,
Don't go around breaking people's tambourines.

Jon Corelis
Euripides' Hippolytos: A performance version with music


Fatal Glass of Beer thread