OH! HOW I HATE TO GET UP IN THE MORNING
(Irving Berlin 1918)

as recorded by Arthur Fields
1918


The other day I chanced to meet a soldier friend of mine,
He'd been in camp for several weeks and he was looking fine.
His muscles had developed and his cheeks were rosy red;
I asked him how he liked the life, and this is what he said.

Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning,
Oh! How I'd love to remain in bed,
For the hardest blow of all
Is to hear the bugler call,
"You've gotta get up, you've gotta get up, 
you've gotta get up this morning!"
Some day I'm going to murder the bugler,
Some day they're going to find him dead!
I'll amputate his reveille
And step upon it heavily,
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

A bugler in the army is the luckiest of men,
He wakes the boys at five and then goes back to bed again!
He doesn't have to blow again until the afternoon;
If everything goes well with me I'll be a bugler soon!

Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning,
Oh! How I'd love to remain in bed,
For the hardest blow of all
Is to hear the bugler call,
"You've gotta get up, you've gotta get up, 
you've gotta get up this morning!"
Some day I'm going to murder the bugler,
Some day they're going to find him dead!
I'll amputate his reveille
And step upon it heavily,
And spend the rest of my life in bed!

Oh! How I hate to get up in the morning,
Oh! How I'd love to remain in bed,
For the hardest blow of all
Is to hear the bugler call,
"You've gotta get up, you've gotta get up, 
you've gotta get up this morning!"
Oh boy, the minute the battle is over,
Oh boy, the minute the foe is dead,
We'll put my uniform away
And move to Philadelphiay,
And spend the rest of my life in bed!




(Transcribed by Peter Akers - November 2019)