About the Operas

Show Boat (1927)

by Jerome Kern

TIL GOOD LUCK COMES MY WAY

RAVENAL

The man who ventures with chance

Is the man who’s adding the salt, romance to a world

That otherwise is dark and drear

The sane conservative lot

Have their fate secure in a guarded plot of the world.

They’re welcome to their drab career

If I am losing today

I will take my loss and I’ll pay for I know

That in time my luck will turn.

It’s bound to turn

Till Good Luck comes my way

I’ll play along

While there’s a game on the highway

I’ll stray along

With just the turn of a wheel or the flip of a card as my guide

I’ll let fate decide

If I walk or ride

Why sit alone with your sorrow

And kill the day

There may be sunshine tomorrow

To fill the day

While I’ve a heart and a brain

And my ebony cane

I can borrow

Until the day when good luck comes my way

Never venture never gain

Men of caution it is plain

Live in vain

So I will wait till Good luck will come my way

BILL

JULIE

I used to dream that I would discover

The perfect lover

Some day

I knew I’d recognize him

If ever he came round

My way

I always used to fancy then

He’d be one of those God like kind of men

With a giant brain

And a noble head

Like the heroes bold

In the books I’ve read

But along came Bill

Who’s not the type at all

You’d meet him on the street and never notice him

His form and face

His manly grace

Are not the kind that you

Would find in a statue

Oh I can’t explain

It’s surely not his brain

That makes me thrill.

I love him

Because he’s wonderful

Because he’s just my Bill

He can’t play golf or tennis or polo

Or sing a solo

Or row

He isn’t half as handsome

As dozens of men

That I know know

He isn’t tall or straight or slim

And he dresses far worse than Ted or Jim

Oh I can’t explain why he should be

Just the one ONE man in the world for me

He’s just my Bill,

An ordinary guy

He hasn’t got a thing that I can brag about

And yet to be

Upon his knee

So comfy and roomy

Seems natural to me

Oh I can’t explain

It’s surely not his brain

That makes me thrill