Manhattan

Manhattan

music by Richard Rodgers (left)

lyric by Lorenz Hart (right)

Summer journeys to Niag'ra and to other places aggravate all our cares.
We'll save our fares!
I've a cozy little flat in what is known as old Manhattan,
We'll settle down right here in town!

We'll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island too.
It's lovely going through the zoo.
It's very fancy on old Delancey Street, you know.
The subway charms us so when balmy breezes blow to and fro.

And tell me what street compares with Mott Street in July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gliding by.
The great big city's a wondrous toy just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.

We'll go to Greenwich, where modern men itch to be free;
And Bowling Green you'll see with me.
We'll bathe at Brighton; the fish you'll frighten when you're in.
Your bathing suit so thin will make the shellfish grin fin to fin.

I'd like to take a sail on Jamaica Bay with you.
And fair Canarsie's lake we'll view.
The city's bustle cannot destroy the dreams of a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.

We'll go to Yonkers where true love conquers in the wilds.
And starve together, dear, in Child's.
We'll go to Coney and eat baloney on a roll.
In Central Park we'll stroll, where our first kiss we stole, soul to soul.

Our future babies we'll take to Abie's Irish Rose.
I hope they live to see it close.
(And My Fair Lady is a terrific show they say, we both may see it close some day.)
The city's clamor can never spoil the dreams of a boy and goil.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy.

We'll have Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island too.
We'll try to cross Fifth Avenue.
As black as onyx we'll find the Bronnix Park Express.
Our Flatbush flat, I guess, will be a great success, more or less.

A short vacation on Inspiration Point we'll spend.
And in the station house we'll end.
But Civic Virtue cannot destroy the dreams of a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan into an isle of joy...