Sing You Sinners 
Composer(s): W. Franke Harling; Sam Coslow
First performance/First recording by: Lillian Roth; The Harlem Hot Chocolates - 1930/1929
Covered by multiple other artists



Once a mockingbird - he was overheard
singing out a word - to a cattle herd
'All you bovine creatures - dig what I'm layin' down!

All you sinners drop everything
Everything
Let the melody and the harmony ring
Let it ring
Lift arms up to Heaven and sing
Ring-a-ding
Sing you sinners, won't you sway & swing
What a thing

Start with clapping' y'hands all about
All about
Don't be silent - Let the Lord hear y'shout
Shout it out
And just let the music come out
Of yer snout
Sing you sinners, wontcha' sway & swing
Check it out
Dig the drift of what I mean

In a world where there's no music - Old Scratch
Satan gets his kicks - He's up to his tricks
He'll be laughing up & down the banks - He, He, He!
Of that River Styx

You're so wicked, baby, and you're depraved
You can rave
It's apparent that you have mis-behaved
To your grave
But if you should want to be saved
Jus' behave
Take a listen now to the bird . . . 

Stop all that chewin' yer cud - and all that standin' in the mud there
Swing, people! Swing every chortle from yer mortal portal
I dig that everyone believes that cattle prodigies are like a sneeze
hard blowin', missin one lick of blowin' talent to show
If you sing, you gotta swing

Just remember that the day will come when you will just be steak on a plate
Folk, you know it's fate!
So dig the music of the swing-o-sphere - before yer swing arrives too late

That's a little too dark
Still, it is true, we've got breath for such a limited time
What are ya', stupid? You cows - you'd think to sing was a crime

In defence now, hence now, here comes Adele McCluck

Mrs. Mockingbird, I must say, you haven't heard the friendly bellowing swing
of our friends the cows as they shed their way from Teagarden to Fuller
Instead of spendin' every day just sneakin' around to lift another lick -
These cats work on their cow-tone so when they get up to blow a fatter bone-tone into the ozone
And, furthermore

You tweety birds are always singin' away - never givin' up a thought of what you say
We cows do - shedding takes up most of our day
So when we start & settle in to play we can say
A moo is an array of what cows have always known as the best and only way to play

What we mean to say is
Before the band will let you sing
Sing with Fletcher Henderson
You'd better get yourself to swing
Like the Bean or Satch
So your horn can blow a single note or two of deeper thinking
That's the way to swing
So set your mind upon a tone
When you're sheddin' all alone
And you will have a cornerstone
Like the bass trombone 
Blow your horn and take a bow
So that you're swingin' like the cows
Pythagoras would be so proud of us