THE TATTOOED LADY
(O’Keefe)
Billy Cotton & his Band
V. Alan Breeze
I just heard a story that rings in my ears
It’s one of the saddest a soul ever hears
To think of it makes me break out into tears
It deals with a man and his mate
Mother Eve in the Garden of Eden
Heard the serpent the same as the lass
And this girl might have turned from temptation
Except for a terrible snake in the grass
Oh, shame on the man who pursued her
The villain who viciously wooed her
She fell in a faint, so he pulled out his paint
And the first thing she knew, he’d tattooed her
Her downfall began as an innocent thing
Her husband went off to go fishing one spring
So she joined her girl friends to go on a fling
They all went to bathe on the beach
Then this artist came up with his paint pot
And his needle to toy mit her calf
She allowed him to tinker, he painted a fiend
Who was sawing a woman in half
Oh, shame on the man who pursued her
The villain who viciously wooed her
She fell in a faint, so he pulled out his paint
And the first thing she knew, he’d tattooed her
The girl wasn’t bright, and the fellow was smart
And now that he’d made such a favourable start
He made her believe she was helping his art
They met every day after that
(Musical Break)
Never once did she think that he loved her
Nor did she think that he’d do her harm
Till the day that he tattooed in red, white and blue
And he wrote “I love you” on her arm
Oh, shame on the man who pursued her
The villain who viciously wooed her
She fell in a faint, so he pulled out his paint
And the first thing she knew, he’d tattooed her
Her husband come home and they instantly kissed
His eyes read the writing from elbow to wrist
He foamed at the mouth and eventually hissed
His rage drove him blinkin’ well barmy
She was hurt by his attitude deeply
And hysterically started to laugh
So she pulled down her stocking and showed him the beast
Who was sawing a woman in half
Oh, shame on the man who pursued her
The villain what viciously wooed her
She fell in a faint, so he pulled out his paint
And the first thing she knew, he’d tattooed her
(Yodelling break)
No chance did she have to explain things, for then
He yelled, “Never dampen my bath-mat again”
So now she gets tattooed whenever she can
She works in a circus for pay
And her soft epidermis is painted
With the pictures of sailors and such
And if you have a needle you too can tattoo
On the skin that they all love to touch
Oh, shame on the man who pursued her
The villain who viciously wooed her
She fell in a faint, so he pulled out his paint
And the first thing she knew, he’d tattooed her
