"What Is Love?" (1895)
(No. 7 Duet (Kibosh and Cleopatra)
of Act 1 from the Comic Opera
"The Wizard of the Nile")
Words by Harry B. Smith
Music by Victor August Herbert, 1859-1924

1.
[Cleopatra]
Tell me, tell me prithee tell me
You who are so old and wise,
What this article may be,
that ev'ry body seems to prize.
I'm so innocent, I'm so innocent
That I cannot e'en surmise
What is love? (Here's a go)
What is love? (she don't know)
ah! what is love?

[Kibosh]
'Tis the chief of earthly blisses
and the source of many ills --
It is made of flow'rs and moonlight
rapture ecstacy and thrills.
'Tis two people in one armchair
and a saving of gassbills
That is love?

(Duet.)
That is love? (that is love?
that is love? (Ah! that is love?)

REFRAIN
Love is nature's song
is spring so the poets say --
Love is what the robins sing
all the live long day --
Love is rapture and despair
Love is woe and bliss --
Love is mingled joy and care
and its sign a kiss.

2.
[Cleopatra]
Ev'ry novel of my reading
of this love has much to say,
And it seems to be the theme
of many poems grave and gay.
'Tis a mystery, 'Tis a mystery
That I wish you'd tell me pray
What is love? (I can't tell)
What is love? (very well)
ah! what is love?

[Kibosh]
Love is lot's of cash for candy
Love is liv'ry bills unpaid --
Love is smuggling in a hammock
at a hundred in the shade.
'Tis two people with two straws,
and just one lonely le moud-de,
That is love?

(Duet.)
That is love? (that is love?
that is love? (Ah! that is love?)

(REFRAIN)

3.
[Cleopatra]
That I am so innocent I very,
very much regret
'Cause I am obliged to ask you
in defiance of etiquette.
To elucidate, To elucidate
This problem that doth make me fret
What is love? (What is love)
What is love? (what is love)
ah! what is love?

[Kibosh]
It is dodging icecream foundries
when your roaming in the gloam --
It is making e'vn-ing calls last
till the milk man 'gins to roam.
It is midnight yells downstairs
Maria send that young man home,
That is love?

(Duet.)
That is love? (that is love?
that is love? (Ah! that is love?)

(REFRAIN)