Historic Sheet Music Collection

Authors

G. W. Hunt

Document Type

Score

Publication Date

1869

Comments

The Vocalist
Up in a Balloon
Music, piano.

New York. Published by Fisher & Denison, 128 Nassau St.

Some of the resources may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes. Such materials should be seen in the context of the time period and as a reflection of attitudes of the time. The items are part of the historical record, and do not represent the views of the libraries or the institution.

Lyrics

1st verse:
One night I went up in a balloon,
On a voyage of discov'ry to visit the moon,
Where an old man dwells, so some people say,
"Through cutting of sticks on a Sunday."
Up went the balloon quickly, higher and higher,
Over housetop and chimney pot, tower and spire;
I knock'd off the Monument's top, very nigh,
And caught hold of the cross of St. Paul's, going by.

Chorus:
Up in a balloon, up in a balloon,
All among the little stars,
Sailing round the moon: Up in a balloon,
Up in a balloon, it's something awful jolly to be up in a balloon.

2nd verse:
Up, up I was borne with terrible pow'r
At the rate of ten thousand five hundred an hour,
The air was cold, the wind blew loud,
I narrowly escap'd being chok'd by a cloud;
Still up I went till surrounded by stars,
And such Planets as Jupiter, Venus and Mars,
The Big and the Little Bear loudly did growl,
And the Dog-Star, on seeing me, set up a howl.

3rd verse:
I met shooting stars who were bent upon sport,
But who "shot: in a very strange manner I thought,
And one thing beat all by chalks, I must say,
That was when I got into the Milky Way;
I counted the stars, till at last I thought,
I'd found out how much they were worth by the quart;
An unpolite "Aerolite" who ran 'gainst my car,
Wouldn't give "e'er a light", to light my cigar.

4th verse:
Next a comet went by 'midst fire like hail,
To give me a lift, I seized hold of his tail,
To where he was going I didn't enquire,
We'd gone past the moon, till we couldn't get higher,
Yes, gone past the moon, till we couldn't get higher,
Yes, we'd got to the furthermost! don't think I joke -
When somehow I felt a great shock - I awoke!
When instead of balloon, moon and planets, I saw,
I'd tumbled from off of my bed to the floor.
And there was no balloon, there was no balloon,
There were not any planets, and there wasn't any moon,
So never sup too heavy or by jingo very soon,
You're like to fancy you are going up in a balloon.

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