I WAS BORN IN VIRGINIA
aka "Virginia"
aka "Ethel Levey's Virginia Song"
From the George M. Cohan Broadway show "George Washington Jr." (1906)

Ethel Levey (Broadway Production) - 1906
James Cagney, Walter Huston, Jeanne Cagney & Rosemary DeCamp
(feat. in the film "Yankee Doodle Dandy") - 1942



I was born in a Southern state
Where all nature's sublime
In a city where the gals are pretty
And the sun shines nearly all the time
Hospitality there you'll find
Bright smiles ev'rywhere
When I look 'roun' and see some other town
I'm mighty glad I come from there

I was born in Virginia
That's the state that will win yer
If you've got a soul in yer
Ain't no Southern frown
In the city of Norfolk
Home of beauties and war talk
Reckon you'll like it, if you should strike it
That doggarn town

Something nice about Southerners
You don't find ev'rywhere
Never con yer, but they smile upon yer
And they make you happy while you're there
Old Kentucky and Tennessee
They can certainly go some
Travel far and wide, still I'm satisfied
To settle in the state I'm from

I was born in Virginia
That's the state that will win yer
If you've got a soul in yer
Ain't no Southern frown
In the city of Norfolk
Home of beauties and war talk
Reckon you'll like it, if you should strike it
That doggarn town


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As performed in the 1942 film "Yankee Doodle Dandy"


I was born in Virgin-ya
That's the state that will win-ya
If you got a soul in-ya
Ain't no Southern Frown

In the city of Norfolk
Home of beauties and war talk
Reckon you'll like, if you should strike it
That doggone town

(Dance Routine)

Reckon you'll like it, if you should strike it
That doggone town


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