The Bowery
written by PERCY GAUNT
lyrics by CHARLES H. HOYT
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THE BOWERY
MUSICAL MEMORIES (COLOR CLASSICS) 1935
MUSICAL MEMORIES (COLOR CLASSICS) 1935
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The Bowery is a song from the popular 1891 Broadway musical A Trip To Chinatown. The show was a production of composer Percy Gaunt and writer Charles H. Hoyt, it toured the country for several years before it's record-breaking run on Broadway. Although the show is set in San Francisco, the musicals most popular number, The Bowery, is about the New York neighborhood that originally been the center of theatre life from 1960-1875. It was around 1850 that theatre life gradually began move to Broadway in midtown, and A Trip To Chinatown was Broadway's first long-run show - it held the record for number of performances for over 20 years. The Bowery's lyrics encourage theatre goers to forget about that former theatre district, proclaiming in the chorus "the Bowery, the Bowery, i'll never go there anymore." The Bowery is New York City's oldest thoroughfare - it's first residents settled there in the 1650's. By the 1880's the Bowery had turned into a dirty and morally degraded strip, and the first street gangs in American were forming there, such has The Bowery Boys. By 1890 the Bowery became the center of prostitution and the center for gay subculture in the city. There used to be a saying that was born out of the song The Bowery - if someone was down-and-out you would say that they are "on the Bowery." The Bowery is among a collection of turn-of-the-century classics featured in Fleischer's 1935 Color Classics short Musical Memories.
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1928
HURDY GURDY STREET ORGAN |
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19??
MUSICSCORE |
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1959
BING CROSBY |
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1963
MANTOVANI AND HIS ORCHESTRA |
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20??
SHEET MUSIC SINGER |
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20??
THE NEW YORK LIGHT OPERA |
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2006
THE RANDY SCOTT ORCHESTRA |
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2010
OLD TIME PIANO |
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2014
URI CAINE ENSEMBLE |
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2015
RICHARD PERRY |
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2020
BUDDY CRAZY |
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NYC NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY - THE BOWERY
THE BOWERY - 1890's and early 1900's
THE BOWERY - around 1900
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ON THE BOWERY - This 1956 film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary
THE BOWERY
Verse 1
Oh! the night that I struck New York,
I went out for a quiet walk;
Folks who are "on to" the city say,
Better by far that I took Broadway;
But I was out to enjoy the sights,
There was the Bow'ry ablaze with lights;
I had one of the devil's own nights!
I'll never go there anymore.
Refrain
The Bow'ry, the Bow'ry!
They say such things,
And they do strange things
On the Bow'ry! The Bow'ry!
I'll never go there anymore!
Verse 2
I had walk'd but a block or two,
When up came a fellow, and me he knew;
Then a policeman came walking by,
Chased him away, and I asked him why.
"Wasn't he pulling your leg?," said he.
Said I, "He never laid hands on me!"
"Get off the Bow'ry, you Yap!," said he.
I'll never go there anymore.
(Repeat RefrainVerse 3
I went into an auction store,
I never saw any thieves before;
First he sold me a pair of socks,
Then said he, "How much for the box?"
Someone said "Two dollars!" I said "Three!"
He emptied the box and gave it to me.
"I sold you the box not the sox," said he,
I'll never go there any more.
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 4
I went into a concert hall,
I didn't have a good time at all;
Just the minutes that I sat down
Girls began singing, "New Coon in Town,"
I got up mad and spoke out free,
"Somebody put that man out," said she;
A man called a bouncer attended to me,
I'll never go there anymore.
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 5
I went into a barbershop,
He talk'd till I thought that he'd never stop;
I: "Cut it short," he misunderstood,
Clipp'd down my hair just as close as he could.
He shaved with a razor that scratched like a pin,
Took off my whiskers and most of my chin;
That was the worst scrape I'd ever been in.
I'll never go there anymore.
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 6
I struck a place that they called a "dive,"
I was in luck to get out alive;
When the policeman heard of my woes,
Saw my black eye and my batter'd nose,
"You've been held up!" said the copper fly.
"No, sir! But I've been knock'd down," said I;
Then he laugh'd, tho' I could not see why!
I'll never go there anymore!
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 1
Oh! the night that I struck New York,
I went out for a quiet walk;
Folks who are "on to" the city say,
Better by far that I took Broadway;
But I was out to enjoy the sights,
There was the Bow'ry ablaze with lights;
I had one of the devil's own nights!
I'll never go there anymore.
Refrain
The Bow'ry, the Bow'ry!
They say such things,
And they do strange things
On the Bow'ry! The Bow'ry!
I'll never go there anymore!
Verse 2
I had walk'd but a block or two,
When up came a fellow, and me he knew;
Then a policeman came walking by,
Chased him away, and I asked him why.
"Wasn't he pulling your leg?," said he.
Said I, "He never laid hands on me!"
"Get off the Bow'ry, you Yap!," said he.
I'll never go there anymore.
(Repeat RefrainVerse 3
I went into an auction store,
I never saw any thieves before;
First he sold me a pair of socks,
Then said he, "How much for the box?"
Someone said "Two dollars!" I said "Three!"
He emptied the box and gave it to me.
"I sold you the box not the sox," said he,
I'll never go there any more.
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 4
I went into a concert hall,
I didn't have a good time at all;
Just the minutes that I sat down
Girls began singing, "New Coon in Town,"
I got up mad and spoke out free,
"Somebody put that man out," said she;
A man called a bouncer attended to me,
I'll never go there anymore.
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 5
I went into a barbershop,
He talk'd till I thought that he'd never stop;
I: "Cut it short," he misunderstood,
Clipp'd down my hair just as close as he could.
He shaved with a razor that scratched like a pin,
Took off my whiskers and most of my chin;
That was the worst scrape I'd ever been in.
I'll never go there anymore.
(Repeat Refrain)
Verse 6
I struck a place that they called a "dive,"
I was in luck to get out alive;
When the policeman heard of my woes,
Saw my black eye and my batter'd nose,
"You've been held up!" said the copper fly.
"No, sir! But I've been knock'd down," said I;
Then he laugh'd, tho' I could not see why!
I'll never go there anymore!
(Repeat Refrain)
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