PACK UP YOUR SINS AND GO TO THE DEVIL
(Irving Berlin) (1922)

Recorded by:

Irving Berlin; Ella Fitzgerald; Mary Cleere Haran;
Dorothy Loudon; Ethel Merman; Joan Morris; 
Original Piano Trio; Ann Tofflemire.



Oh, I got a message from below,
'Twas from a man I used to know,
About a year or so ago, before he departed
He is just as happy as can be,

I'll tell you what he said to me,
He said, "If ever you get heavy hearted,"
Pack up your sins and go to the devil in hades,
You'll meet the finest of gentlemen and the finest of ladies,
They'd rather be down below than up above,

Hades is full of thousands of Joneses and Browns,
O'Hoolihans, Cohens and Bradys,
You'll hear a heavenly tune that went to the devil,
Because the jazz bands, They started pickin' it,
then put a trick in it, a jazzy kick in it,

They've got a couple of old reformers in heaven,
Making them go to bed at eleven,
Pack up your sins and go to the devil,
And you'll never have to go to bed at all.

If you care to dwell, where the weather is hot,
H-E-double-L is a wonderful spot,
If you need a rest and you're all out of sorts,
Hades is the best of the winter resorts,

Paradise doesn't compare All the nice people are there,
They come there from ev'rywhere,
Just to revel with Mister Devil,
Nothing on his mind but a couple of horns,

Satan is waitin' with his jazz band,
And his band Came from Alabam', with a melody hot.
No one gives a damn if it's music or not,
Satan's melody makes you want to dance for ever,
And you never have to go to bed at all.