Way down upon the Swanee River
They had a special kind of song
To help them push the work along
They'd hum it to the rhythm
of the old die-sel
And don't you know that
something happened
When they'd sing it to the snappin'
Of a Chattanooga shoe-shine boy!
They're givin' a down-blast of rhythm
They'd blow the rhythm
That was the birth of the blu-ues!
Charleston! Charleston!
Just look what the wonder's done:
Jazzy! Snazzy!
Swingin to the singer in a blue bar band
"I dream of Jeannie with the
light bro-own hair"
And there's no-o-o place
like ho..ome
"I mean I've been wanderin'
high and low to find a good old record!
A good gold record I could dig to hear!"
"But it's clear that these days
they just don't make 'em!
Some folks break 'em just to spite me!"
"You know that they've taken
my memory lane and made it a
six-lane freeway,"
Telling me:
Baby, it's the way to fly! high!
We-ell, I know when I'm beat
Lawd, I don't get much
"sle..e..e..eep.."
I'm going where I'm better known..
I need those..
Old songs, o-old songs
"I hop and bop far;
I wander near and far, for.."
Old songs, solid go-o-old songs
"They take me back way..
Into my young days,
Those o-old songs"
(Oo.. oo. ..)
"You and I are older now
and very far apart"
(Very far apa..a..art..)
"Still it's true, the thought of you
Does strange things to my heart"
(Strange things to my hea..a..art..)
"All the songs are made today
With fewer loves than mine..
But, baby, just as long as I can hear
The songs of yesteryear
I get along just fine!
I wanna hear those:"
Old songs, o-old songs
I need a melody
That wakes memories
Like those all songs
"Now, brother, you cant try and
tell me you like new songs
better than tried-and-true songs??!
I know that I never, I never had one of
them yet put a smile on my face
I know that I never had one of them yet
that would give me a case of the
low-down urges!"
The blue of the night
meets the cold of the day
Now they're the songs that really say
the things I wanna to say
They mean
a lot to me,
They really
got to me,
when I was younger!
We used to sit down long ago,
And hum a melody so soft and low
I still can hear the songs we
used to sing,
And all this rock and roll, you know:
It doesn't mean a thing to me!
All the world is sad,
And blue without you, baby
"But, baby,
(I love you)
just as long as I can hear the
songs of yesteryear,
(and I feel blue!)
I'm ju-ust fine!
I wanna hear those old songs"
I hear an old-time song,
It makes me hum along
It makes me think of happy days!
An' all in every way's are now
a happenin' song;
I cannot go on without you!
And o-o-o-old songs,
Solid go-o-o-old songs!
I need a melody:
Nothing means as much to me!