Berlin Irving
Miscellaneous
Opera Burlesque (24 Feb 1912)
[Full title: "Opera Burlesque (on the Sextette from Lucia di
Lammermoor)".]

Let's sing
-Let us sing, let us sing
Some Ragtime Op'ra
-Ragtime Op'ra
Let's sing
-Let us sing, let us sing
Some op'ra grand
-We understand
About a man
-Let us sing about a man
Called Ephraham
-Ephraham, Ephraham
Who heard
-Who heard
The Sextette from Lucia, so beautiful
-Beautiful!
Ev'ry night you'd see him sitting in the gallery
-At the op'ra house, quiet as a mouse
He loved to hear Caruso sing his part so tenderly
-When he struck a high one, to the sky one
Ephraham would begin to holler
-"That note alone is worth a dollar!"
Take it!
-Take it!
Make it
-Make it!
Jump to the top of the house and shake it soon
-Very soon, very soon
This op'ra darkey
-Op'ra darkey
He bought
-Yes, he bought, yes, he bought
That score, you bet!
-That sweet sextette!
He hunted then
-He went out and hunted then
For colored men
-Colored men, colored men
Who could
-Who could
Sing that sextette he heard so beautiful
-Beautiful
Soon he found some coons who understood the harmony
-And they said: "We'll do it! Go right to it!"
So he gave them parts and said: "The hard one is for me!"
-Then they started tuning up their voices
Ephraham at the old piano
-Struck at a chord in a fancy manner
Swaying
-Swaying
Saying
-Saying
"Start in to sing, never mind my playing," so
-They began, they began
To sing the sextette
-Sing the sextette
And say
-Let us say, let us say
It was a bird
-When Ephr'am heard
He shouted, "Stop!"
-But the singers wouldn't stop
They'd rather drop
-Rather drop, rather drop
Than stop
-Than stop
That Sextette from Lucia, so beautiful
-Beautiful!
Ephraham cried out, "You all are singing out of tune!"
-But they kept on goin', blowin', showin'
How they could sing that Ragtime Op'ra
-Ephraham began to shout
"Stop!"
-"No!"
"Stop!"
-"No!"
"Stop!"
-"No!"
"Stop!"
-"Keep it up, keep it up! Hon'!"
"Where's my gun, where's my gun?"
-"We have only begun"
"Better run, better run"
-"Let us sing it for fun"
"You're off the key!"
-"Let it be, let it be"
"Try and sing it right for me
-"Let's sing that melody"
"Off the key, off the key!"
-"It's as sweet as can be, like pickin' cotton"
"Rotten!"
-"No!"
"Yes!"
-"No!"
"Yes!"
-"No!"
"Yes!"
-"No!"
"Yes, stop, I say!"
-"Let us sing, let us sing"
"I'd be willing to pay"
-"Let us sing, let us sing"
"If you stop right away"
-"Let us sing, let us sing"
"You'd better stop!"
-"Keep it up!"
"Please stop!"
-"Keep it up!"
"Please stop!"
-"Keep it up!"
"You'll stop! Don't you intend to ever stop? "
-"We don't intend to ever stop!"
"Please stop!"
-"Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up, keep it up!"

burlesque