Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway
Composer(s): George M. Cohan
Performer(s): James Cagney; William Bolcom



The west so they say
Is the home of the jay
And Missouri's the state 
That can grind them

This may all be
But just take it from me
You don't have to go out west to find them

If you want to see the real jay delegation 
The place where the real rubens dwell
Just hop on a train at the grand central station
Get off when they shout "new Rochelle!" 

Only forty-five minutes from Broadway
Think of the changes it brings
For the short time it takes
What a diff'rence it makes 
In the ways of the people and things

Oh! what a fine bunch of rubens
Oh! what a jay atmosphere 
They have whiskers like hay
And imagine Broadway 
Only forty-five minutes from here

When bunco men hear that their game is so near
They'll be swarming here thicker than bees are 
In barnum's best days
Why he never saw jays
That were easier to get to than these are

You tell them old jokes
And they laugh till they sicken
There's giggles and grins here to let
I told them that one about "why does a chicken?"
The rubens are all laughing yet! 

Only forty-five minutes from Broadway
Not a cafe in the town
Oh! the place is a bird
No one here ever heard
Of Delmonico, rector or browne

With a ten dollar bill you're a spendthrift
If you open a bottle of beer
You're a sport
So they say
And imagine Broadway
Only forty-five minutes from here