I CAIN'T SAY NO
From the Broadway Musical "Oklahoma" (1943)
(Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II)

Celeste Holm (Broadway Production) - 1943
Dorothea MacFarland (London Production) - 1947
Gloria Grahame (Film Soundtrack) - 1955
Kaye Ballard - 1956
Eydie Gorme - 1958
Fay DeWitt - 1960
Carol Burnett - 1963
Phyllis Newman - 1964
Christine Ebersole (Broadway Revival) - 1979
Jillian Mack (London Revival) - 1980
Poe (feat. in the film "Welcome To Woop Woop") - 1997
Vicki Simon (London Revival) - 1998
Caroline O'Connor - 1998
Sally Mayes - 2001
Jessica Molaskey - 2004

Also recorded by:
Susan Johnson; Eilen Mager: ........ and many others.


It ain't so much a question of not knowin' whut to do
I knowed what's right an' wrong since I've been teen.
I heared a lot of stories an' I reckon they're true
About how girls are put upon by men.
I know I mustn't fall into the pit
But when I'm with a feller
I fergit!

I'm just a girl who cain't say 'no'
I'm in a terrible fix!
I always say 'Come on, let's go' just when I aughta say 'Nix.'
When a person tries to kiss a girl
I know she oughta give his face a smack!
But as soon as someone kisses me
I somehow sorta want to kiss him back!
I'm just a fool when lights are low
I cain't be prissy an' quaint
I ain't the type that can faint
How can I be what I ain't?
I cain't say 'no!'

Whatcha gonna do when a feller gets flirty
An' starts to talk purty
Whatcha gonna do?
S'pposin' that he says
That your lips are like cherrys,
Or roses, or berries
Whatcha gonna do?
S'pposin' that he says
That yer sweeter than cream
and he's gotta have cream or die?
Whatcha gonna do when he talks that way?
Spit in his eye?

I'm jist a girl who cain't say no,
Cain't seem to say it at all
I hate to disserpoint a beau
When he is payin' a call!
Fer a while I ack refined and cool,
A settin on the velveteen setee
Nen I think of thet ol' golden rule,
And do fer him what he would do fer me!
I cain't resist a Romeo
In a sombrero and chaps
Soon as I sit on their laps
Somethin' inside of me snaps
I cain't say no!

[Additional Verse]
I'm jist a girl who cain't say 'no'
Kissin's my favorite food!
With or without the mistletoe
I'm in a holiday mood!
Other girls are coy an' hard to catch
But other girls ain't havin' any fun!
Ev'ry time I lose a wrastlin' match
I have a funny feelin' that I won!
Though I can feel the undertoe
I never make a complaint
'Till it's too late for restraint
Then when I want to I cain't
I cain't say 'no!'