IT'S GREAT TO BE ALIVE
From the Broadway Show "Texas, L'il Darlin'" (1949)
(Johnny Mercer / Robert Emmett Dolan)
Jo Stafford & Johnny Mercer - 1949


MERCER: It's great 
STAFFORD: To be alive
MERCER: To work 
STAFFORD: From Nine to five
Mercer: To have 
BOTH: A piece of land to farm

M: It's great 
S: To be alive
M: To have 
S: A car to drive
M: And have 
B: Your baby on your arm

M: In spite of bills and other minor ills
S: Somehow we manage to survive

M: It's great 
S: To be in love
M: To have 
S: A roof above
M: And watch 
B: The little ones arrive

S: Your own descendants 
M: Deductable dependents
B: It's great to be alive

(Instrumental Break)

S: It's great to be alive
M: It's great to be here and kickin'
S: To work from nine to five
M: To hear an alarm clock tickin'
S: And have a piece of land to farm
M: It's really a kick to cultivate chickens
M: On a little ol' farm

S: It's great to be alive
M: It's up to work and strivin'
S: To have a car to drive
M: Then take your girl to a drive-in
S: And swing your baby on your arm
M: To know that at five you're really arrivin'
M: She'll be holding your arm

M: Even though the bills just pile up by the million
S: In spite of bills 
M: We manage to find the proper pills
S: And other minor ills
M: To lose the little ills
S: Somehow me manage to survive
M: Straight, that really is great

M: That girl to love you
S: It's great to be alive
M: That roof above you
S: To have a roof above
M: E-specially with the little ones arrivin'
S: To watch the little ones arrive
M: And all that jive

S: Your own descendants
M: Your dee-sen-dants
S: Deductable dependents
M: In attendance
B: It's great, it's great to be alive
B: We're livin', thanksgivin'
B: It's great to be alive


**After the break, Mercer and Stafford's alternating 
lines overlap throughout the remainder of the song.



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - August 2003)