THE LITTLE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE
Words by Harold Adamson; music by Bernard Hanighen, 1939.
"Based on an original quatrain by Hughes Mearns."
As recorded by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, 1939.

[The singing is preceded by jazzy whistling.]

SPOKEN/RECITED:
—Hello there, Texas! What d'you say?
Are you whistlin' in the dark just to scare the ghosts away?
—I know there's somethin' followin' me that I can't see.
Someone sure laid an awful hex on me.

—A hex? Aw, Tex, that's pretty far-fetched.
Man, I think you're just a little bit tetched.
—If you'd 'a' got a load of what I saw last night,
You'd 'a' passed the Yankee Clipper on its maiden flight.

SUNG:
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away!

When I came home last night at three,
The man was waitin' there for me,
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all.

Go away; go away; don't you come back any more.
Go away; go away, and please don't slam the door.

Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away!


Other early recordings were made by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, Bob Crosby and His Orchestra, and Mildred Bailey and Her Orchestra.

There is also a recording by Jack Teagarden and His Orchestra that has this alternative spoken intro:

Now there's a thing that just keeps botherin' me,
'Cause I don't know what it's all about.
It's a crazy thing I happened to see.
Now maybe you can help me out.