SWISS MISS
From the Broadway show "Lady Be Good" (1924)
(George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin)

Fred & Adele Astaire (London Stage Production) - 1926


(Yay-dee-lay-eee-ooh)
(Yay-dee-lay-eee-ooh)
(Yay-dee-lay-eeeee-ee-ee-ooh)

Up on the top of a snow-covered mountain
There lived an Alpine miss
And oh, what a sweet little miss was this
We mean this little Swiss miss

While down in the valley below (Ho-ho)
Lived a boy who loved her so (Ho-ho)
He loved her with all his might
He loved her day and night

And every night just to see this miss
He used to risk his scalp
For the house where she lived was away up high
And the poor guy didn't know how to fly
So he jumped from alp to alp
What a chump (What a chump)
To jump (To jump)
From alp to alp

And then beneath her balcony
He used to stand around and try to make a hit with her
And he would yodel, "O-lay-eee-tee"
That's the Swiss idea of a melody
And oh, what a yodeling fool was he
He shook a wicked yodel

And one night as he stood there
The lights were very dim
While leaning out too far across her balcony
She fell for him
He sat with his arms around her
Until the night was gone
And here's the way they carried on

He said, "Dear I think you're just as sweet as you can be
You're like a cake of sweet Swiss chocolate to me"
She said, "Oh, my loving one, your talk I can't resist
I hope you're as steady as the Swiss watch ticking on your wrist"
He said, "How I yearn for you, I burn for you, I do! I do!
Oh, lady, oh, I swear it on my knees
My love for you is just as strong as a piece of Sweitzer cheese"


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - December 2005)