Art Is Calling For Me (I Want To Be A Prima Donna)
Composer(s): Victor Herbert - Harry B. Smith
Performer(s): Louise Bliss
and multiple other artists



Mama is a queen and papa is a king
So I am a princess and I know it
But court etiquette is a dull dreary thing
I just hate it all, and I know it
To sing on the stage that's the one life for me
My figure's just like Tetrazzini
I know I'd win fame if I sang in "Boheme"
That op'ra by Signor Puccini
I've roulades and the trills
that would send the cold chills
down the backs of all hearers of my vocal frills

I long to be a prima donna donna donna
I long to shine upon the stage
I have the embonpoint to become a queen of song
and my figure would look pretty as a page
I want to be a screechy peachy cantatrice
like other plump girls that I see
I hate society, I hate propriety -Art is calling for me

I'm in the elite, and men sigh at my feet
Still I do not fancy my position
I have not much use for the men that I meet
I quite burn with lyric ambition
Those tenors so sweet, if they made love to me
I'd be a success that I do know
and Melba I'd oust, if I once sang in "Faust"
That op'ra so charming by Gounod
Girls would be on the brink of hysterics, I think,
even strong men would have to go out for a drink.

I long to be a prima donna donna donna
I long to shine upon the stage
With my avoirdupois and my tra-la-la-la-la
I would be the chief sensation of the age
I long to hear them shouting "Viva to the diva"
O very lovely that must be
That's what I'm sighing for
That's what I'm dying for - Art is calling for me!