Peter Brooks
2009-10-09 16:07:12 UTC
There's a wonderful recording of it sung in a Music Hall in the '30s
by a man with a graveyard voice. I've not been able to find it
anywhere. My father had it on a collection of '30s hits that seems to
have disappeared for ever:
LIFE’S A FUNNY PROPOSITION AFTER ALL
Did you ever sit and ponder, sit and wonder, sit and think,
Why we’re here and what this life is all about?
It’s a problem that has driven many brainy men to drink,
It’s the weirdest thing they’ve tried to figure out;
About a thousand different theories, all the scientists can show,
But never yet have proved a reason why.
With all we’ve thought, and all we’ve taught, why all we seem to know
Is, we’re born and live awhile, and then we die.
Life’s a very funny proposition, after all;
Imagination, jealousy, hypocrisy and all;
Three meals a day, a whole lot to say;
When you haven’t got the coin, you’re always in the way.
Ev’rybody’s fighting, as we wend our way along,
Ev’ry fellow claims the other fellow’s wrong;
Hurried and worried, until we’re buried and there’s no curtain call;
Life’s a very funny proposition, after all.
When all things are coming easy, and when luck is with a man,
Why, then life to him is sunshine ev’rywhere;
Then the fates blow rather breezy and they quite upset a plan,
Then he’ll cry that life’s burden is hard to bear
Though today may be a day of smiles, tomorrow’s still in doubt
And, what brings me joy, may bring you care and woe.
We’re born to die, but don’t know why or what it’s all about
And the more we try to learn, the less we know.
Life’s a very funny proposition, you can bet,
And no one’s ever solved the problem properly, as yet;
Young for a day, then old and gray,
Like the rose that buds and blooms, and fades and falls away,
Losing health, to gain our wealth, as through this dream we tour;
Ev’rything a guess and nothings absolutely sure.
Battles exciting, and fates we’re fighting, until the curtain falls;
Life’s a very funny proposition, after all.
George M. Cohan
by a man with a graveyard voice. I've not been able to find it
anywhere. My father had it on a collection of '30s hits that seems to
have disappeared for ever:
LIFE’S A FUNNY PROPOSITION AFTER ALL
Did you ever sit and ponder, sit and wonder, sit and think,
Why we’re here and what this life is all about?
It’s a problem that has driven many brainy men to drink,
It’s the weirdest thing they’ve tried to figure out;
About a thousand different theories, all the scientists can show,
But never yet have proved a reason why.
With all we’ve thought, and all we’ve taught, why all we seem to know
Is, we’re born and live awhile, and then we die.
Life’s a very funny proposition, after all;
Imagination, jealousy, hypocrisy and all;
Three meals a day, a whole lot to say;
When you haven’t got the coin, you’re always in the way.
Ev’rybody’s fighting, as we wend our way along,
Ev’ry fellow claims the other fellow’s wrong;
Hurried and worried, until we’re buried and there’s no curtain call;
Life’s a very funny proposition, after all.
When all things are coming easy, and when luck is with a man,
Why, then life to him is sunshine ev’rywhere;
Then the fates blow rather breezy and they quite upset a plan,
Then he’ll cry that life’s burden is hard to bear
Though today may be a day of smiles, tomorrow’s still in doubt
And, what brings me joy, may bring you care and woe.
We’re born to die, but don’t know why or what it’s all about
And the more we try to learn, the less we know.
Life’s a very funny proposition, you can bet,
And no one’s ever solved the problem properly, as yet;
Young for a day, then old and gray,
Like the rose that buds and blooms, and fades and falls away,
Losing health, to gain our wealth, as through this dream we tour;
Ev’rything a guess and nothings absolutely sure.
Battles exciting, and fates we’re fighting, until the curtain falls;
Life’s a very funny proposition, after all.
George M. Cohan