ADD: They Were All Out of Step but Jim (I Berlin)

05 Aug 13 - 08:59 PM (#3545949)
Subject: Lyr Add: THEY WERE ALL OUT OF STEP BUT JIM (Berlin
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

THEY WERE ALL OUT OF STEP BUT JIM
(Irving Berlin, 1918)

Jimmy's mother went to see her son,
Marching along on parade;
In his uniform and with his gun,
What a lovely picture he made.
She came home that ev'ning
Filled up with delight;
And to all the neighbors
She would yell with all her might:

Chorus-
"Did you see my little Jimmy marching
With the soldiers up the avenue?
There was Jimmy just as stiff as starch
Like his Daddy on the seventeenth of March.
Did you notice all the lovely ladies
Casting their eyes at him?
*Away he went to live in a tent;
Over in France with his regiment.
Were you there, and tell me, did you notice?
They were all out of step but Jim."

That night little Jimmy's father stood
Buying drinks for the crowd;
You could tell that he was feeling good,
He was talking terribly loud.
Twenty times he treated,
My! but he was dry;
When his glass was empty,
He would treat again and cry:

Alternate lines in 2nd Chorus-

*It made me glad,
To gaze at the lad;
Lord help the Kaiser if he's like his Dad.

Sheet music at Mississippi State Digital Collections.
Waterson, Berlin and Snyder Co., NYC

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06 Aug 13 - 12:36 AM (#3546000)
Subject: RE: ADD: They Were All Out of Step but Jim (I Berlin)
From: Joe Offer

Here's a link to a YouTube Video (clickety). Instead of the word "daddy" in the chorus, it's an Irish-lilted "Father" - but The Complete Lyrics of Irving Berlin has lyrics identical to those posted by Q.

-Joe-

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04 Jul 14 - 10:52 PM (#3639185)
Subject: RE: ADD: They Were All Out of Step but Jim (I Berlin)
From: GUEST,Bob Bethke

Adirondack woods singer Ted Ashlaw sang this song for me in 1972 and '73, with only a couple of minor word changes here and there. He likely learned it from the 78 rpm record, or from the singing of "old Elmer Jones," either way probably in the early 1920s, when neighbor Jones acquired a Victrola.

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