The Real American Folk Song [Is a Rag] lyrics

Near Barcelona the peasant crooned

The old traditional Spanish tunes

The Neapolitan street song sighs

You think of Italian skies

Each nation has a creative vein

Originating a native strain

With folk songs plaintive and others gay

In their own peculiar way

American folk songs, I feel

Have a much stronger appeal

The real American folksong is a rag

A mental jag

A rhythmic tonic for the chronic blues

The critics called it a "joke song, " but now

They've changed their tune, and they like it, somehow

For it's inoculated with a syncopated sort of meter, sweeter

Than a classic strain; boy, you can't remain still or quiet, for it's a riot

The real American folksong

Is like a fountain of youth

You taste, and it elates you and then invigorates you

The real American folksong, the masses coaxed on, is a rag

The real American folksong is a rag

A mental jag

A rhythmic tonic for the chronic blues

The critics called it a "joke song" but now

They've changed their tune, and they like it, somehow

For it's inoculated with a syncopated sort of meter, sweeter

Than a classic strain; boy, you can't remain still or quiet, for it's a riot

The real American folksong

Is like a fountain of youth

You taste, and it elates you and then invigorates you

The real American folksong is a rag

Источник: LyricFind

Авторы: George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin

• Artist:Ella Fitzgerald