ONLY FOR AMERICANS
From the Broadway Musical "Miss Liberty" (1949)
(Irving Berlin)

Ethel Griffies & Eddie Albert (Broadway Production) - 1949
Ray McKinley & His Orch. - 1949
The Andrews Sisters - 1949




As performed by ETHEL GRIFFIES (as The Countess)
and EDDIE ALBERT (as Horace) in the Broadway Musical "Miss Liberty":



HORACE: Countess, you're my pal. Hey, we gotta celebrate!
COUNTESS: What?
HORACE: Yeah, first to Montmartre!
Then the Moulin Rouge! The Folies Bergere!
COUNTESS: Not at all
Horace, you need somebody to guide you
To guard you here in Paris
HORACE: Uh, not Montmartre?
COUNTESS: No
HORACE: Not the Moulin Rouge?
COUNTESS: No
HORACE: Not the Folies Bergere?
COUNTESS: No, no, no, no, no, no

They are only for Americans
The midnight life in gay Paree
The Frenchman he would never see
That's only for Americans

The prices in the smart café
The Frenchman he would never pay
The price that's more is only for
Americans from the U.S.A.

A Montmartre lady drops her hanky
And slyly winks her eye
That's only for the Yankee
The Frenchman wouldn't buy

Only for Americans
The Frenchmen on the boulevards
Don't buy those dirty postal cards
They're only for Americans

The little holes for peeping through
To see what naughty people do
The French would bore, they're only for
Americans from the U.S.A.

Only for Americans
The shops with many real antiques
Antiques as old as seven weeks
Are only for Americans

The bed on which a king made love
Which there are several dozens of
The French pooh pooh, we sell them to
Americans from the U.S.A.

We buy your worn out mink and sables
And fix them up like new
Then simply change the labels
And sell them back to you

Only for Americans
A Frenchman wouldn't be impressed
To see a show with girls undressed
That's only for Americans

The French don't go to naked shows
They've seen what's underneath the clothes
And each encore is only for
Americans from the U.S.A.

(Only for Americans)
A Frenchman's food is very plain
Those fancy sauces with ptomaine
(Are only for Americans)

A Frenchman seldom eats the snails
With little ulcers on their tails
And all that cheese was made to please
(Americans from the U.S.A.)

While the American carouses
Where crimson shadows creep
The French avoid those houses
They go to bed to sleep

(Only for Americans)
The season starts, they come to town
They turn the city upside down
We use their Yankee Doodle dough
To clean up Paris when they go

(But we can't do without them)
(We're simply mad about them)
(The Americans)
(The Americans)
(The Americans from the U.S.A.)


********************


ALTERNATE VERSES:


Those old Napoleon brandy labels
That recently were made
They're not for Frenchmen's tables
They're for the Yankee trade

Only for Americans
The Frenchman gets his kisses free
But those for which there is a fee
Are only for Americans

You'll find two prices on a dress
One that is extremely less
The price that's more is only for
Americans from the U.S.A.

Only for Americans
The Frenchmen don't keep company
With South of France society
That's only for Americans

The Frenchman hasn't large amounts
To pay for Barons, Dukes and Counts
That you adore, they're only for
Americans from the U.S.A.

We like to keep the good relations
That nothing must upset
We give you decorations
That Frenchmen seldom get

Only for Americans
Our finest art is in the Louvre
The ones the experts don't approve
Are only for Americans

We keep an artist by the gate
To sign the paintings while you wait
Before they're dry, they're purchased by
Americans from the U.S.A.


********************


As recorded by THE ANDREWS SISTERS:


Here we are in gay Paree just to see what we can see
Or to buy what we can buy, or to try what we can try
On the Champs Elysee or the Rue De La Paix
Here is what the French will say

It's only for Americans
The midnight life in gay Paree
The Frenchman he would never see
It's only for Americans

The prices in a smart café
The Frenchman he would never pay
The price that's more is only for
Americans from the USA

Those old Napoleon Brandy labels
That recently were made
They're not for Frenchmen's tables
They're for the Yankee trade

Only for Americans
The shops with many real antiques
Antiques as old as seven weeks
They're only for Americans

A bed on which a king made love
Which there are several dozens of
The French pooh-pooh, we sell them to
Americans from the USA

There's the Rue De La Paix and the Champs Elysee
There are sidewalk cafés, head waiters with trays
There's paté de frois gras and sauces and dishes
Mon petit manger and all sorts of fishes

There's the Eiffel Tower and the Luc de Bessine
For us all these things are just peachy kean
But here is what the native French will say

It's only for Americans
The Frenchmans' food is very plain
The fancy sauces with ptomaine
Are only for Americans

A Frenchman seldom eats the snails
With little ulcers on their tails
And all that cheese was made to please
Americans from the USA

We like to keep the good relations
That nothing must upset
We give you decorations
The Frenchmen seldom get

Only for Americans
Our finest art is in the Louvre
The ones the experts don't approve
Are only for Americans

We keep an artist at the gate
To sign the paintings while you wait
Before they're dry they're purchased by
Americans from the USA

Mon cher, mon ami
Qu'est-ce que sais je vous dis
Americans from the USA


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - May 2019)