Lyr Req: Undecided - 'First you say you do ...'

Subject: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:53 AM

I'm trying to reconstruct a song that I heard on the radio when I was a little kid. It seems to me that there was a male vocal group, and they sang:

First you say you do, and then you don't.
Next you say you will, but then you won't.
tumty tumty tum tee tumty tum
So what am I s'posed to do?

I googled this, and found that strangely enough, the first line is famous enough to be included in a lot of psychology threads, but the song itself seems to have been forgotten.

The song came in handy in my kitchen the other day as a way to end an argument on a humorous note.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: Wolfgang
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:56 AM

click

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: Wolfgang
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:57 AM

I googled your line and added the word "lyrics".

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: cobra
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:58 AM

Had not heard the Ella Fitzgerald version before.

But I do recognise it as the opening lines to a Beatles song: "Honey Don't"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: GUEST,what, what, what
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 12:02 PM

another version with chords

Subject: Lyr Add: HONEY DON'T (Carl Perkins)
From: cobra
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 12:03 PM

Here are the lyrics (song written by Carl Perkins) from this site:

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_beatles/honey_dont.html


Well how come you say you will when you won't
Say you do, baby, when you don't?
Let me know honey how you feel
Tell the truth now, is love real?
But ah ah well honey don't, well honey don't
Honey don't, honey don't, honey don't
I say you will when you won't, ah ah, honey, don't

Well I love you, baby, and you ought to know
I like the way you wear your clothes
Everything about you is so doggone sweet
You got that sand all over your feet
But ah ah well honey don't, honey don't
Honey don't, honey don't, honey don't
I say you will when you won't, ah ah, honey, don't

[Ah, rock on George, one time for me.

I feel fine.
I said.]

Well sometimes I love you on a Saturday night
Sunday morning you don't look right
You've been out painting the town
Ah ah baby, been stepping around
But ah ah well honey don't, I said honey don't
Honey don't, honey don't, honey don't
I say you will when you won't, ah ah, honey, don't

[Ah, rock on George, for Ringo one time.]
Well honey don't, well honey don't
I say you will when you won't, ah ah, honey, don't

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: clueless don
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 12:04 PM

I associate this song ("Undecided", not "Honey Don't") with the Mills Brothers.

Don

Subject: Lyr Add: PLEASE DON'T TEASE (from Cliff Richard)
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 12:14 PM

Could it be Cliff Richard,

'Please Don't Tease'?

You tell me that you love me baby
Then you say you don't
You tell me that you'll come on over
Then you say you won't
You love me like a hurricane
Then you start to freeze
I'll give it to you straight right now
Please don't tease

You come right out and tell me
You're out with someone new
You play it oh, so doggone cool
I don't know what to do
You never seem to answer me
You just don't here my plea
I'll give it to you one more time
Please don't tease

Oh, please don't tease me
You know it hurts so much
Come on and squeeze me
You know I need your tender touch

(But)You tell me that you love me baby
Then you say you don't
You tell me that you'll come on over
Then you say you won't
You love me like a hurricane
Then you start to freeze
I'll give it to you straight right now
Please don't tease

(Instr. Break)

Oh, please don't tease me
You know it hurts so much
Come on and squeeze me
You know I need your tender touch

(But)You tell me that you love me baby
Then you say you don't
You tell me that you'll come on over
Then you say you won't
You love me like a hurricane
Then you start to freeze
I'll give it to you straight right now
Please don't tease.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 06:04 PM

Thanks, everybody. Wolfgang hit it right on the head. what what what's link says it was sung by the Ames Brothers in 1951.

I don't know where I got the heart-rending line "so what am I S'POSED ta do?" but it's a good line to sing while you grab your sweetie round the waist.

This is hard to express, but I remember noticing the song as a little kid because it is a good song to teach language. It takes an idea, then shows how to negate it, doing so while while bouncing rhythmically along. Perfect!

Subject: Lyric Add: Undecided ('First you say you do ...)
From: Genie
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 08:49 PM

"Undecided" (w. Sid Robin, m. Charlie Shavers, ©1938)

UNDECIDED

First you say you do and then you don't.
Then you say you will annd then you won't,
You're Undecided now, so what are you gonna do?

Now you want to play and then it's no
And when you say you'll stay, that's when you go.
You're Undecided now, so what are you gonna do?

I've been sitting on the fence
And it doesn't make much sense,
'cause you keep me in suspense
And you know it,
When you promise to return
And you don't, I really burn!
Guess I'll never learn,
And I show it!

If you've got a heart and if you're kind
Don't keep us apart, make up your mindl
You're Undecided now, so what are you gonna do?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'First you say you do, and then you'
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 08:36 PM

Allmusic.com lists 480 recordings of UNDECIDED. Some notable ones are by The Ames Brothers, Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Roy Eldridge & His Little Jazz, Ella Fitzgerald, The Erroll Garner Trio, Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, Coleman Hawkins, Tito Puente, Fats Waller, and dozens of lesser-known people.

Genie: what you've got there are (as I figure) 3 choruses and a bridge. There's also a verse:

Lyrics copied from Jim Bottorff's Banjo Page:

VERSE: It seems that you keep slowly driving me crazy.
I can't make head or tail out of you.
My mind's gone bad. I feel that ev'rything's hazy.
Don't know exactly just what to do.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: First you say you do, and then you don't
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 07:39 PM

Ah, yes, I remember it well, Genie. "Undecided" is it. Can hear it in my head now. Nothing like a good guy group for interesting harmonies.   Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: First you say you do, and then you do
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 07:54 PM

Thread Drift alert---Has Natalie Cole ever had a song that wasn't one of her daddy's, or a faux duet with her daddy. There has to be someting Freudian there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: First you say you do, and then you don't
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 07:57 PM

One group that recorded this song was the multiracial group War .

I believe that "Undecided" was included in their 1972 best selling album "The World Is A Ghetto". But it might have been on their 1971 album "All Day Music" instead.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: First you say you do, and then you don't
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Dec 06 - 08:04 PM

John on the Sunset Coast, you asked "Has Natalie Cole ever had a song that wasn't one of her daddy's, or a faux duet with her daddy". The answer to your question is Yes.

Read this if you are interested in learning more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Cole