MY COUSIN IN MILWAUKEE

fr "Pardon My English" 1932 musical New York
George Gershwin (m) Ira Gershwin (l)  1932

as rec by Ella Fitzgerald w Nelson Riddle & his Orch  July 17th 1959 Hollywood


Once I visited my cousin in Milwaukee USA.
She got boyfriends by the dozen when she sang in a lowdown way!
She was a positive sensation,
The sounds that she sang would never miss;
My cousin was my inspiration,
That's how I got like this!

I got a cousin in Milwaukee,
She's got a voice so squawky!
And though she's tall and kind of gawky,
Oh, how she gets the men!

Her singing isn't operatic,
It's got a lot of static,
But makes your heart get acrobatic
Nine times out of ten!

When she sings hot you can't be solemn,
It sends shivers up and down your spinal column!
When she sings blues the men shout "What stuff!
That baby is hot stuff!

So if you like the way I sing songs,
If you think that I'm a wow,
You can thank my squawky cousin from Milwaukee,
Because she taught me how!

When she sings hot you can't be solemn,
It sends shivers up and down your spinal column!
When she sings blues the men shout "What stuff!
That baby is hot stuff!

So if you like the way I sing songs,
If you think that I'm a wow,
You can thank my squawky cousin from Milwaukee,
Because she taught me how!




(Transcribed by Peter Akers - March 2012)