Lyr Req: Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the ...

Subject: Lyr Req: '...having a wonderful time.'
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jan 09 - 12:27 PM

I'm passing on this request from a friend:

Sometime between sleep and waking this morning, my fevered brain came up with this remembered lyric from many years ago:

"Sneaking out the back door / climbing through the window / Having a wonderful time!"

It is a vaudeville or music hall tune, with a jaunty melody, and those words are in the chorus, I'm sure. The gist of the song is about a lover trying to sneak into his girlfriend's house to see her when he's not supposed to be there. I heard it on some PBS show, probably about twenty years ago, a British import (can't remember if it was a period drama, mystery, or comedy, but it was a 1920s setting, I think).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: '...having a wonderful time.'
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jan 09 - 12:33 PM

Here are the results of my research (which is inconclusive):

The following songs might be relevant, but I have no lyrics to confirm this:

A WONDERFUL TIME recorded by
Deal Family, 1927

WE'RE HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME
Written by Irving Bibo and Don George
Sung by Jack Oakie, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan in the film "The Merry Monahans" (1944)

HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME (WISH YOU WERE HERE), written by William Livingstone, and recorded by -
Tommy Dorsey & Clambake 7 in 1937
Dinah Shore – date unknown but probably around 1947 or 48
Benny Goodman & His Orchestra in 1949

HAVING WONDERFUL TIME recorded by
Jolly Coburn & His Orchestra, 1937
--which might be related to the film "Having Wonderful Time" (1938) starring Ginger Rogers & Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
(However, IMDb.com lists 4 songs in the soundtrack of this film, and none of them has this title.)

I think we can eliminate the following songs. Although they contain the phrase "having a wonderful time," they do not contain anything like the other lines quoted above:

Title: OOH LA, LA (I'M HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME)
First line of verse: I just got a note that my brother wrote
First line of chorus: Ooh, la, la, when I start kissing
Creators: Green, Bud [lyricist]: Nelson, Ed. [composer]
Publisher: New York: A. J. Stasny Music Co.
Date: 1918
Sheet music viewable at The Archive of Popular Music.

Title: NOW AND THEN BUT NOT ALL THE TIME
From the musical production: "Oh, My Dear!"
First line of verse: I've been having a wonderful time you know
First line of chorus: Now and then we must have jolly time, now and then we all take a little wine
Creators: Bryan, Alfred [lyricist]: Schwartz, Jean [composer]
Publisher: New York: Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Date: 1919
Sheet music viewable at The Archive of Popular Music.

Title: I'M GOING 'WAY BACK HOME AND HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME
Composer: Schwartz, Jean
Lyricist: Jerome, William, 1856-1932
Performer: Marino Sisters
Publisher: Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co.
Place of publication: New York
Date of publication: 1916
First Line: Call a taxi, please, me for shady trees, I've got that hometown
Chorus First Line: I'm going 'way back home and have a wonderful time,
Artist: Barbelle
Sheet music viewable at the Indiana University Sheet Music Collections.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: '...having a wonderful time.'
From: Artful Codger
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 04:08 AM

There's also "Livin' in the sunlight" (Livin' in the sunlight, lovin' in the moonlight, having a wonderful time!), though this isn't the song sought. Terrific song, nonetheless.

Subject: Lyr Add: LIVIN' IN THE SUNLIGHT, LOVIN' IN THE ...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Jan 09 - 09:35 AM

Artful Codger, I think you might have cracked it. I think what my friend heard could have been a parody, or takeoff, of this song, concocted to be a bit more explicitly bawdy than the original. And it certainly is a jaunty tune.


LIVIN' IN THE SUNLIGHT, LOVIN' IN THE MOONLIGHT
Al Lewis, Richard M. Sherman
From the film "The Big Pond" (1930)

VERSE: I'm so happy, happy-go-lucky me.
I just go my way, living ev'ry day.
I don't worry. Worrying don't agree.
Winter, fall, and spring, I just smile and sing:

CHORUS 1. Things that bother you never bother me. I think ev'rything's fine,
Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a glorious time.
Haven't got a lot. I don't need a lot. Coffee's only a dime,
Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a marvelous time.
Just take it from me: I'm just as free as any dove.
I do what I like, just when I like, and how I love it!
I don't give a hoot, give my cares the boot. All the world is in rhyme,
Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a wonderful time.

CHORUS 2: I go swimming with pretty women and I find life is divine,
Swimming in the sunlight, swimming in the moonlight, having a glorious time.
When I'm stepping out with my runabout, how we step is a crime,
Starting in the moonlight, ending in the sunlight, having a marvelous time.
I bet what I like, get what I like, once in a while,
But if she says no, I let her go, and keep on smiling.
I'm right here to stay. When I'm old and gray, I'll be right in my prime,
Chasing in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a wonderful time.

CODA: I'm right here to stay. When I'm old and gray, I'll be right in my prime,
Chasing in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a wonderful time.


[Recorded by Maurice Chevalier (Film Soundtrack) – 1930. Click for YouTube "video"
Paul Whiteman & His Orch. (vocal: Bing Crosby) – 1930. Click for the Real-Audio recording from RedHotJazz.com
Bernie Cummins & His Hotel New Yorker Orch. – 1930. Click for YouTube "video"
Ben Bernie & His Orch. – 1930.
Ed Lloyd's Orch. (T. Wallace) – 1930.
Hotel Pennsylvania Music – 1930.
Tiny Tim – 1968. Click for YouTube video
Geoff Muldaur – 1975.]
Nick Langdon, Orch. & Choir – 1999.]