The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #147528 Message #3419743
Posted By: Mick Pearce (MCP)
14-Oct-12 - 02:36 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Oo'er, What a Death to Die!
Subject: Lyr Add: OO'ER, WHAT A DEATH TO DIE! (Constanduros
Here are the words from My Song Is My Own, which are modified from the original 1951 sheet music.
The original sheet music is available here for £11: Oo-er What A Death To Die - Sheet Music Warehouse
and The British Library holds a copy of the sheet music:
Title: Oo-er! What a Death to die!.
Author: Gwen Lewis
Publication Details: c1951.
Language: English
Identifier: System number 005222867
Physical Description: 1 score.
Holdings Notes: Music VOC/1951/LEWIS Awaiting full cataloguing
Shelfmark(s): Music Collections VOC/1951/LEWIS
UIN: BLL01005222867
I was unable to check youtube for versions - I'm getting a Service Unavailable message at the moment.
The notes in My Song Is My Own say: "From the variety tradition. Originally written in 1951 - words my Mabel Constanduros, music by Gwen Lewis - this version has one new verse and a reworked tune from Sandra Kerr.
Mick
OO'ER, WHAT A DEATH TO DIE!
(Words: Mabel Constanduros, Music: Gwen Lewis; one new verse added and tune adapted by by Sandra Kerr)
Why are the men I meet so dull?
There's nothing could be duller,
I like those blokes you see on films
In glorious technicolor.
Why are the men who fancy me
All undersized and spotty?
Where can I ifnd those gay young sparks
Who kiss so hard they leave red marks
And drive you nearly dotty?
Oo-er, to be loved by a movie star
And crushed in his cruel embrace,
Who'd bite my neck till I felt a wreck
As I gazed on his handsome face.
To stand there and gasp in his passionate clasp
With the moon looking down from the sky -
But at that time of night I should give up the fight,
Oo-er, what a death to die!
I want a man who's six feet tall
To satisfy my craving,
With eyes of steel and iron jaws,
Who's use a flint for shaving.
I want a high-born haughty spark
With something wild about him,
A man who'd treat me just like dirt
Who'd kill me if I tried to flirt
And club me if I flout him.
Oo-er, to be loved by a boxing man
Who'd fill me with awe and dread,
Who'd knock me sick with a well-placed kick
And shove me aside for dead.
I'd cling to his base while he trod on my face
Look up at him yearning and sigh,
A-gasping for breath while he choked me to death
Oo-er, what a death to die!
I want a strong and silent man,
I'm sure he'd never bore me,
Who'd use me for his carnal lust,
Then totally ignore me.
I want a playboy millionaire
With just a trace of coarseness,
I'd throw myself down on the floor
And swear I'd never come before
His booze, his cars or horses.
Oo-er, to be loved by a gangster man
Who'd make me his gangster moll,
I'd hold his gun while he had his fun
As still as a rubber doll.
To go to his rooms in my hat with the plumes
And sneer when his passion runs high,
And be shot in the spleen in my new crepe de chine,
Oo-er, what a death to die!
Source: My Song Is My Own - 100 Women's Songs ed Kathy Henderson with Frankie Armstrong and Sandra Kerr