The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #139762 Message #3937759
Posted By: Jim Dixon
16-Jul-18 - 01:17 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Songs of The Happiness Boys/Jones & Hare
Subject: Lyr Add: SMILE A LITTLE BIT
My transcription from the recording at The Internet Archive:
SMILE A LITTLE BIT
Words by Moe Schenck; music by Bob Morton & Peggy Shelvin, ©1925.
As recorded by the Happiness Boys (Billy Jones & Ernest Hare)
VERSE 1: —Tell me: why are you feeling blue today, pal?
—Ev'rything I do just seems to go wrong.
Wish you do have something to make me gay, pal.
—Well, I do; just you keep on singing this song:
CHORUS 1: Smile away; don't be blue.
—Well, that's easier to say than do.
—Just smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
—Well, suppose you are blue.
Tell me, Ernie, just what you would do.
—I'd smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile. (Go ahead and smile.)
—I believe you're sincere when you try to make me smile.
—If a friend doesn't cheer, then he isn't worth your while.
—I've been wrong all the day.
—Greater men than you have been that way,
So smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
SPOKEN: Say, Bill, speaking of smiles, do you remember the other day when we were introduced to the president? Did you notice how he smiled at me?
—Yes, Ernest; when I first saw you, I pretty nearly went into hysterics.
VERSE 2: —Smiling is the best thing for blues and trouble.
—I've been told that smiles would chase them away.
—After rain, the sunshine is always brighter.
—Doctors say a smile makes the heart feel lighter.
CHORUS 2: —Smile away. —Smile away.
—Yes, and all your cares will fade away.
Just smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
You'll lose blues. —Troubles, too.
—Yes, and ev'rything I say is true.
Just smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
—If in doubt, you'll find out that a smile will pull you through.
—Well, you're down but not out; smile and be as good as new.
No delay! —I'll start today.
—Follow my advice and learn to say:
"Smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile."
CHORUS 3: Smile away like a duck(?).
If your wife is always at the cluck(?),
Just smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
—If she buys clothes from France
While you're wearing patches on your trousers,*
Smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
—If she phones all her friends to come up and have a spread,
And she hands your cigars out to Billy, Jack, and Fred,
And the next day you find you can't even buy a loaf of bread,
Just smile a little bit; smile a little bit; smile.
A catalog entry from a library that holds the sheet music gave these lines:
First Line of Song: Smiling is the best thing to do when lonesome.
First Line of Chorus: Smile away, ev'ry day, and you'll find your cares will fade away.
These lines don't occur in the Happiness Boys' recording, but they do fit the meter, so I assume they simply omitted or changed this verse and chorus.
* Trousers: a joking substitute for the expected word "pants" (rhymes with "France") suggesting "pants" would have been considered vulgar.