Full title: "Opera Burlesque (on the Sextette from Lucia di

Lammermoor)".]



Let's sing

-Let us sing, let us sing

Some Ragtime Op'ra

-Ragtime Op'ra

Let's sing

-Let us sing, let us sing

Some op'ra grand

-We understand

About a man

-Let us sing about a man

Called Ephraham

-Ephraham, Ephraham

Who heard

-Who heard

The Sextette from Lucia, so beautiful

-Beautiful!

Ev'ry night you'd see him sitting in the gallery

-At the op'ra house, quiet as a mouse

He loved to hear Caruso sing his part so tenderly

-When he struck a high one, to the sky one

Ephraham would begin to holler

-"That note alone is worth a dollar!"

Take it!

-Take it!

Make it

-Make it!

Jump to the top of the house and shake it soon

-Very soon, very soon

This op'ra darkey

-Op'ra darkey

He bought

-Yes, he bought, yes, he bought

That score, you bet!

-That sweet sextette!

He hunted then

-He went out and hunted then

For colored men

-Colored men, colored men

Who could

-Who could

Sing that sextette he heard so beautiful

-Beautiful

Soon he found some coons who understood the harmony

-And they said: "We'll do it! Go right to it!"

So he gave them parts and said: "The hard one is for me!"

-Then they started tuning up their voices

Ephraham at the old piano

-Struck at a chord in a fancy manner

Swaying

-Swaying

Saying

-Saying

"Start in to sing, never mind my playing," so

-They began, they began

To sing the sextette

-Sing the sextette

And say

-Let us say, let us say

It was a bird

-When Ephr'am heard

He shouted, "Stop!"

-But the singers wouldn't stop

They'd rather drop

-Rather drop, rather drop

Than stop

-Than stop

That Sextette from Lucia, so beautiful

-Beautiful!

Ephraham cried out, "You all are singing out of tune!"

-But they kept on goin', blowin', showin'

How they could sing that Ragtime Op'ra

-Ephraham began to shout

"Stop!"

-"No!"

"Stop!"

-"No!"

"Stop!"

-"No!"

"Stop!"

-"Keep it up, keep it up! Hon'!"

"Where's my gun, where's my gun?"

-"We have only begun"

"Better run, better run"

-"Let us sing it for fun"

"You're off the key!"

-"Let it be, let it be"

"Try and sing it right for me

-"Let's sing that melody"

"Off the key, off the key!"

-"It's as sweet as can be, like pickin' cotton"

"Rotten!"

-"No!"

"Yes!"

-"No!"

"Yes!"

-"No!"

"Yes!"

-"No!"

"Yes, stop, I say!"

-"Let us sing, let us sing"

"I'd be willing to pay"

-"Let us sing, let us sing"

"If you stop right away"

-"Let us sing, let us sing"

"You'd better stop!"

-"Keep it up!"

"Please stop!"

-"Keep it up!"

"Please stop!"

-"Keep it up!"

"You'll stop! Don't you intend to ever stop? "

-"We don't intend to ever stop!"

"Please stop!"

-"Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up, keep it up