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Cole Porter Lyrics

I get many letters requesting lyrics to individual songs. I do NOT have a list of where to get sheet music for individual songs. Due to copyright reasons, I will not post or email lyrics. Please do not write to me and ask me to send you lyrics, as it will just make us both sad.

There are web sites that contain lyrics to a small number of songs, but many get shut down soon because they are violating copyrights. You could get lists of such sites by checking Yahoo, but the only sites I ever found that had more than 10 songs would get shut down fast. If you're looking for a specific song, try browsing the Yahoo link above or borrow or buy a Cole Porter lyrics book.

If you want to look for a certain song in a web search engine, use the extra word "+lyrics" to identify that you want lyrics to the song. For instance, go to Yahoo and enter "night and day +lyrics" to look for lyrics to "Night and Day".

For those interested in multiple songs, I highly recommend you find at a library or bookstore the following book: The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter. It is an excellent collection available in mainstream bookstores, including Amazon.com. Alternatively, you could check out the sheet music at your local music store.

Sample Cole Porter Lyrics

For the uninitiated, here are some Lyrics that only Cole could write...

"How happy we shall be
When once a perfect unit.
Like lovers of the moyen age are we
Singing silly persiflage are we!"
-- from Oh, What a Pretty Pair of Lovers

"What a glimpse of paradise,
Someone who's naughty
Showed to someone who's nice."
-- from I'm in Love Again

"Back once more where he started from
He said, 'I haven't a single qualm,
'For I've had a taste of the world, you see,
And a great Princess has had a taste of me.'
Wise little Scampi."
-- from The Scampi

"Old sloths who hang down from twigs do it,
Though the effort is great,
Sweet guinea-pigs do it,
Buy a couple and wait."
--from Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)

"Your fetching physique is hardly unique,
You're mentally not so hot;
You'll never win laurels because of your morals,
But I'll tell you what you've got:"
-- from You've Got that Thing.

"I don't mean the kind that belongs to a club,
But the kind that has a club that belongs to him."
-- from Find Me a Primitive Man

"If the dear little rabbits weren't so bourgeois in their habits
Tell me where would you get your coat?"
-- from Where Would You Get Your Coat?

"He said my epidermis was darling,
And found my blood as blue as could be,
He went through wild ecstatics,
When I showed him my lymphatics,
But he never said he loved me."
-- from The Physician

"Since only dames with their names on
their cheques appeal
To modern men, instead of sex, I now
have ex-appeal."
-- from The Cocotte

"Give up arranging affairs of the state
And stay in the hay like Kate the Great."
-- Russian history from Kate the Great

"You're a boon,
You're the dam at Boulder,
You're the moon...over Mae West's shoulder.
I'm a nominee of the G.O.P
or GOP,
But if, Baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!"
-- a little known verse from the long ditty You're the Top

"By the old sea-side.
For when once we get the proper settin'
We begin a-pettin' and go on a-pettin'
Till we end by gettin' such an awful wettin'
...from the tide."
-- from Me and Marie

"Time marches on and soon it's plain
You've won my heart and I've lost my brain,
It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely."
-- from It's De-lovely

"I used to fall
In love with all
Those boys who maul
Refind ladies.
But now I tell
Each young gazelle
To go to hell...
I mean, hades."
-- from My Heart Belongs to Daddy

"As Madam Sappho in some sonnet said
'A slap and a tickle
Is all that the fickle
Male
Ever has in his head."
-- from Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love

"It's friendship, friendship,
Just a perfect blendship,
When other friendships have ceased to jell
Ours will still be swell."
-- from Friendship

"Are you fond of swimming dear?
Kindly tell me, if so.
Yes, I'm found of swimming, dear,
But in the morning, no.
Can you do the crawl, my dear?
Kindly tell me, if so.
I can do the crawl, my dear,
But in the morning, no.
When the sun through the blind
Starts to burn my poor behind
That's the time when I am in low.
Do you use the breast stroke, dear?
Kindly tell me, if so.
Yes, I use the breast stroke, dear,
But in the morning, no, no--no, no,
No, no, no, no, no!"
-- from In the Morning, No.

"Let's delve into astronomy, political economy,
Or if you're feeling biblical, the book of Deuteronomy,
But let's not talk about love."
-- from Let's Not Talk About Love

"Though you may call it 'love,' the doctors call it
'rheumatism.'"
-- from I Hate Men

"Mister Harris, plutocrat,
Wants to give my cheek a pat,
If the Harris pat,
Means a Paris hat, bébé!"
-- from Always True to You in My Fashion

"If she says your behavior is heinous
Kick her right in the 'Coriolanus,'
Brush up your Shakespeare
And they'll all kowtow."
-- from Brush Up Your Shakespeare

"While Isis chases Osiris,
And Pluto, Proserpine,
My doc is chasing my virus,
But nobody's chasing me."
-- from Nobody's Chasing Me

"They say that spring
Means just one thing
To little love birds,
We're not above birds,
Let's misbehave."
-- from Let's Misbehave