a2_stud

Tripping the light fantastic...

The Sidewalks of New York

Down in front of Casey's
Old brown wooden stoop,
On a summer's evening,
We formed a merry group;
Boys and girls together,
We would sing and waltz,
While the "ginnie" played the organ
On the Sidewalks of New York.
East side, west side,
All around the town,
The tots sang "Ring-a-Rosie,"
"London Bridge is Falling Down."
Boys and girls together,
Me and Mamie O'Rourke,
Tripped the light fantastic,
On the sidewalks of New York.

That's where Johnny Casey
And little Jimmy Crowe,
With Jakey Krause the baker,
Who always had the dough;
Pretty Nellie Shannon,
With a dude as light as cork,
First picked up the waltzstep
On the Sidewalks of New York.
East side, west side,
All around the town,
The tots sang "Ring-a-Rosie,"
"London Bridge is Falling Down."
Boys and girls together,
Me and Mamie O'Rourke,
Tripped the light fantastic,
On the sidewalks of New York.

Things have changed since those times,
Some are up in "G,"
Others, they are wand'rers,
But they all feel just like me;
They'd part with all they've got,
Could they but once more walk,
With their best girl and have a twirl
On the Sidewalks of New York.
East side, west side,
All around the town,
The tots sang "Ring-a-Rosie,"
"London Bridge is Falling Down."
Boys and girls together,
Me and Mamie O'Rourke,
Tripped the light fantastic,
On the sidewalks of New York.

--Chas. B. Lawlor and James W. Blake, 1894

Midi of the music and two other versions of the lyrics from the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/sidewalk.htm

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