Historic Sheet Music Collection
Title
Document Type
Score
Publication Date
1907
Lyrics
VERSE 1
Some call this the best old world that nature could contrive,
One thing’s sure, that none of us get out of it alive.
Things go on, year after year, in much the same old style,
Makes you sometimes wonder whether anything’s worth while.
No one knows just where the world is going to so fast,
Life’s one great conundrum which we all give up at last.
All the dreaming, all the scheming, since the days of yore,
Seems to land us just precisely where we were before:
CHORUS 1
So what’s the use of all these cunning little babies growing up to homely men!
Oh! What’s the use of people growing old and dying,
If we must be born again!
Oh! What’s the use of lending anyone a five spot,
If next time he borrows ten?
All single folks, ‘tis said,
Will always wish that they were wed,
And those who are wish they were dead,
So what’s the use! So what’s the use!
VERSE 2
What’s the use of drinking if you’ve always got a thirst?
Twenty drinks will make you far more thirsty than the first.
Seems to me to take a bath is quite a hopeless case,
You’ll get dirty once again and wash the same ole face.
What’s the use of giving good advice to people now?
Wise men need it not, and fools don’t take it anyhow!
“Take the straight and narrow path” the parsons always say,
What’s the use of telling that to people on Broadway!
CHORUS 2
Oh! What’s the use of fellows having lots of “push” if someone else has got the
“pull?”
Oh! What’s the use of speculating all your cash?
If you’re a “bear” you make a “bull,”
Oh! What’s the use of people saying you’re a bear,
If then they fleece you for your wool!
It is the old “bull con”,
You’re just a lamb, and later on,
You are a “lobster” when it’s gone,
So what’s the use! So what’s the use!
Recommended Citation
Montagu, Edward, "So What's the Use" (1907). Historic Sheet Music Collection. 1686.
https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/sheetmusic/1686
The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author.
Comments
Words and music by Edward Montagu
Henry W. Savage presents Raymond Hitchcock in "The Yankee Tourist"
New York Francis Day and Hunter 1364 Broadway (Between 36th and 37th Sts)
Copyright MCMVII by Francis, Day & Hunter
“Some of these resources may contain offensive stereotypes. Such materials should be seen in the context of the time period and as a reflection of the attitudes of the time. The items are part of the historical record, and do not represent the views of the library or the institution.”