The Greatest Song Ever Written? Hear Frank Sinatra Sing Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Soliloquy"

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Uploaded on December 27, 2010 by OlivaresPercey.

Soliloquy
Music by Richard Rodgers
Words by Oscar Hammerstein II

I wonder what he'll think of me,
I guess he'll call me the "old man,"
I guess he'll think I can lick
Every other feller's father,
Well, I can!

I bet that he'll turn out to be,
The spittin' image of his dad,
But he'll have more common sense,
Than his puddin-headed father ever had.

I'll teach him to wrassle,
And dive through a wave,
When we go in the mornins,
For our swim,

His mother can teach him,
The way to behave,
But she won't make a sissy out o' him,
Not him! Not my boy! Not Bill!

My boy Bill,
I will see that he's named after me, I will.
My boy, Bill, he'll be tall,
And as tough as a tree, will Bill!

Like a tree he'll grow,
With his head held high,
And his feet planted firm
On the ground,

And you won't see nobody dare to try
To boss him, or toss him around!
No pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully'll
Toss him around.

I don't give a damn what he does,
As long as he does what he likes!
He can sit on his tail,
Or work on a rail,
With a hammer, a hammerin' spikes!

He can ferry a boat on a river,
Or peddle a pack on his back,
Or work up and down,
The streets of a town,
With a whip and a horse and a hack.

He can haul a scow along a canal,
Run a cow around a corral,
Or maybe bark for a carousel,
Of course it takes talent to do that well.

He might be a champ of the heavyweights,
Or a feller that sells you glue,
Or President of the United States,
That'd be all right, too.

His mother would like that
But he wouldn't be President
Unless he wanted to be,
Not Bill!

My boy, Bill, he'll be tall
And as tough as a tree, will Bill,
Like a tree he'll grow,
With his head held high,
And his feet planted firm on the ground.

And you won't see nobody dare to try,
To boss him or toss him around!
No fat-bottomed, flabby-faced,
Pot-bellied, baggy-eyed bully,
Will boss him around.

And I am damned if he'll marry
His boss' daughter,
A skinny-lipped virgin
With blood like water.

Who'll give him a peck,
And call it a kiss,
And look in his eyes
Through a lorgnet.

Say, why am I taking on like this?
My kid ain't even been born, yet!

I can see him when he's seventeen or so,
And starting in to go with a girl,
I can give him lots of pointers, very sound,
On the way to get 'round any girl,
I can tell him...

Wait a minute!
Could it be?
What the hell!
What if he... is a girl?

You can have fun with a son,
But you've got to be a father
To a girl.

She mighn't be so bad at that,
A kid with ribbons in her hair!
A kind of neat and petite
Little tin-type of her mother!
What a pair!

My little girl, pink and white,
As peaches and cream is she,
My little girl, is half again
As bright, as girls are meant to be!

Dozens of boys pursue her,
Many a likely lad,
Does what he can to woo her,
From her faithful dad.

She has a few pink and white,
Young fellers of two and three,
But my little girl,
Gets hungry every night
And she come home to me!

I got to get ready before she comes!
I got to make certain that she
Won't be dragged up in slums,
With a lotta of bums like me.

She's got to be sheltered,
And fed and dressed,
In the best that money can buy!
I never knew how to get money,

But I'll try, by God! I'll try!
I'll go out, and make it, or steal it,
Or take it...
Or die!
 


 

[Previously, in this series:

“Frank Sinatra: My Shining Hour (Video, from Trilogy: Past Present Future)”;

“Hear Frank Sinatra Sing Arlen & Mercer’s Come Rain or Shine”;

“Hear Frank Sinatra Sing the Quintessential Version of Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer’s ‘One for My Baby (and One More, for the Road)’”;

“Hear Frank Sinatra Sing the Classic Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer Torch Song, ‘Blues in the Night’”;

“Frank Sinatra: Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s Stormy Weather (Video)”;

“Frank Sinatra Live! Medley of The Gal That Got Away and It Never Entered My Mind, Performed in 1980 at Carnegie Hall (Great Quality Video of a Grand Performance!)”;

“Frank Sinatra: Here's That Rainy Day (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke)”;

“Frank Sinatra’s Revelatory, 1962 Performance of Kern and Fields’ The Way You Look Tonight”; and

“Paul Robeson?! Hear Frank Sinatra Give the Definitive Interpretation of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s Ol’ Man River (1963).”