To Vene P. Armstrong Esq.
"Get Up and Shut the Door" (1873)
As Sung by Cal. Wagner
Words and Music by
William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907

[Source: 11975@LoC]

1.
At candel-light, John went to bed,
  In pleasant dreams he smiled;
The loving spouse that he had wed,
  Sat singing to his child.
It went to sleep, and so did she,
  But she woke up at four,
And found, as frightened as could be,
  She had not shut the door.

CHORUS
O John! O John! don't lie here and snore!
I forget, when I came to bed---
Get up and shut the door!

2.
The baby took the colic bad,
  And soon began to scream;
Though very jolly lungs it had,
  It ne'er disturbed John's dream.
His wife sat up, half scared to death,
  And shook him more and more,
Still shouting, "John!" at every breath,
"Get up and shut the door!"

(CHORUS)

3.
"It is not as it used to be,"
  She said, while she did weep;
"I've seen the time you'd die for me;
  But here you lie and sleep!"
The bed fell down, and they fell out;
  The babe did louder roar;
"Thieves!" "Thieves!" the wife began to shout
  "Get up and shut the door!"

(CHORUS)

4.
But John still slumbered on serene,
  And here's the moral true:
When husbands are first young and green,
  Dear wives, they'll wait on you;
But when a few years they have seen,
  And honey-moons are o'er,
You'll find out that the man wont e'en
  Get up and shut the door.

(CHORUS)