HE TOOK HER FOR A SLEIGH RIDE (IN THE GOOD OLD SUMMERTIME)
(Jerome S. Gottler)

Harry's Tavern Band (with Billy Murray) - 1941



Here's a story all about
An innocent young girl
It happened on the midway
In a carnival's gay whirl

Attracted by a manly voice
How could she sense the danger
She found herself enchanted
By a dashing, dapper stranger

Oh, he took her for a sleigh ride
In the good old summertime
This Coney Island barker
With a bankroll of a dime

His suave and silky manner
Made her heart go pitter-pat
Her mother should have told her
To beware of men like that

He charmed her so with words so sweet
What harm this guy was doing her
To make her woe and shame complete
He ended up tatooing her

He dragged her down and down and down
Was such an awful crime
Oh, he took her for a sleigh ride
In the good old summertime

Oh, he took her for a sleigh ride
In the middle of July
This city slicker
He'll put out the twinkle in her eye

He promised her a fortune
Said he'd put her name in lights
She wound up in the sideshow
Wearing purple, spangled tights

On Monday nights she'd be Suzette
The wild girl from Borneo
Tuesday nights she'd holler
"Get your peanuts and popcorneo"

She did it all because she thought
That wedding bells would chime
But he took her for a sleigh ride
In the good old summertime

(Instrumental)

Oh, this story has a moral
That the whole world ought to hear
So settle down and listen
And stop crying in your beer

Some of you have daughters
Or a sister you respect
So keep them from this maiden's fate
Before their lives are wrecked

She paid the price for her mistake
With grief I sadly speak of her
His heart was ice, the lowly stink
He went and made a freak of her

Now if you want to see her
You will have to pay a dime
Oh, he took her for a sleigh ride
In the good old summertime



(Transcribed by Monique Adriaansen & Mel Priddle - August 2006)