Second Fiddle Rag

©1973 Music: Doug Bowes Lyrics: Marie-Lynn Hammond

my man
plays in a barroom band
he’s got one pair of lightning hands
well he sits in the middle
and he plays jazz fiddle
right beside the big trombone
oh it’s dark when he goes out to work
and light when he gets home

I asked my man
to show me how to play
he said “Forget it, sugar
that’ll be the day!
you know this may be 1931
but a woman belongs at home,
baking pies and making eyes
at the man she calls her own”

so I bought me a fiddle on the sly
and a crank-up gramophone
I can’t go wrong I’m playing along
with Stephane Grappelli
he turns me to jelly
I’m learning tricks and real swell licks
while my man is snoring away
goodbye Yehudi
hello Venuti
my how that kid can play…

well did you hear the news
my man has done left town
he ran off with that old Marjorie Brown
oh I cried for a little
then I grabbed my fiddle
and I went down to the bar
I said “Hey boss listen, you’re missin’ a musician
but you don’t have to look too far

“Because here I am
better grab me while you can
or I’ll be struttin’ my stuff in
ol’ Ina Ray Hutton’s
all girl band!”