"'Deed I Has to Laugh" (1877)
(Pantation [Cottage] Scene.)
Composed Expressly for
Griffin and Rice,
of
Carncross & Dixey's Minstrels,
by
J[ohn]. P[hilip]. Sousa, [1854-1932]
Author of
"Song of the Sea," "Only a Dream," "Ah Me!" "Magic Glass,"
"Revival March," etc., etc.

Philadelphia: J. M. STODDART & CO., 723 Chestnus St.
[Source: 073/024@Levy]

[Ingomar. Solo.]
My pretty, pretty gal lives there;
She’s the sunlight of my life.
I’m a gwine to pop today,
And I wonder what she’ll say
When I ask her to be my little wife?
She is just as pretty as a peach;
Her eyes are black as jet;
Her hair it curls so tight
That she cannot sleep at night,
My pretty, pretty gal, my pet!
She’s so sweet and so neat,
And she¦s gotten up complete!
She’s the apple of my eye,
And I’m gwine to tell you why
I want her for my little wife.
My pretty, pretty gal lives there;
She’s the sunlight of my life.
I’m a gwine to pop today,
And I wonder what she’ll say
When I ask her to be my little wife?
She is just as pretty as a peach;
Her eyes are black as jet;
Her hair it curls so tight
That she cannot sleep at night,
My pretty, pretty gal, my pet!
She’s so sweet and so neat,
And she¦s gotten up complete!
She’s the apple of my eye,
And I’m gwine to tell you why
I want her for my little wife.

DIALOGUE.

	SHE.—Hallo, Ingomar!
	HE.—Hallo, Rose!  ’Spect you didn’t think I whar gwine to come down to-day?
	SHE.—’Spect I didn’t.  Whar you been, and what have you been doing wid yourself de last three days?  Sit down dar in de ash-
barrel and tell me all about it.
	HE.—Wall, you see, I have been a-kinder broke up.  Great trouble on de brain.  De busting of de banks kinder flattened me out.
I isn’t connected wid de bank any more, ’cause de president does de sweeping hisself now.  I’ve lost de sum of untold millions by
de bust.
	SHE.—Who’s bust?
	HE.—Why, de bank’s bust, and I can’t go on any more busts, but I got nearly bursted de other day.
	SHE.—How was dat?
	HE.—Wall, you know copper-colored Pete?  He kinder insulted me.  He said you had freckles, and I kinder told him, quiet like,
dat he was as a scurrilous, copper-colored, slobbering idiot.
	SHE.—What did he do?
	HE.—He kinder concurred—at least, the concussion found me sitting on de rim of my ear hunting for a soft spot on de curbstone.
	SHE.—Well, what did you do den?
	HE.—I! me!  Why, I reiterated my former statement, and expostulated wid him for his ungentlemanly conduct.
	SHE.—And what did he say den?
	HE.—I can’t ’xactly remember de words; but when dey picked me up dey said I wouldn’t be as handsome as I was, but I would be
a great deal more knowing.  Say, Rose, guess what?  I’se done and gone and jined de Spiritualizers, and I knows all about de
spirits now—what dey eat and drink; and golly, gal! up to de meeting t’other night one of de live Spiritualizers axed one of de
dead Spiritualizers if dey were eber sick, and de dead Spiritualizers said dat dey were only troubled wid de cholera in fantum
(phantom).  But, Rose, me earliest lub, I has a question to ax you: won’t you hab me?
	SHE.—No, Ingomar, but——
	HE.—But what?——
	SHE.—You may hab me.
		(Join arm in arm and walk around stage to symphony.)

VERSE 1. [Both Rose and Ingomar]
I lubs dat (boy) such heaps and heaps,
I dream so much I nebber sleeps:
I wonder what de folks will say
To hear a weddin’s on de way!
O my! O my! ’deed I has to laugh.
O my! O my! I’se happy as a calf.
Like an eagle in de sky,
O clip my wings or else I’ll fly.
I’ll nebber, nebber get my fill;
O tie me up, I can’t keep still.

VERSE 2. [Both Rose and Ingomar]
Oh, I’se so happy all day long,
To let it out I sing a song;
But if my thoughts will run astray,
Dey’re with dat black (gal) far away.
O my! O my! ’deed I has to laugh.
O my! O my! I’se happy as a calf.
(She’ll) be mine in just a week.
O dear, I feel as if a streak
Of lightning shot right thro’ and thro’,
From tufted head to cowhide shoe.