Old Folks Songtext
von Mildred Bailey

Everyone knows him as Old Folks
Like the seasons he′ll come and he'll go
Just as free as a bird and as good as his word
That′s why everybody loves him so
Always leaving his spoon in his coffee
Puts his napkin up under his chin
And that yellow copper pipe
It's so mellow it's ripe
But you needn′t be ashamed of him

In the evening after supper
What stories he would tell
How he held a speech at Gettysburg
For Lincoln that day
I know that one so well


Don′t quite understand about Old Folks
Did he fight for the blue or the gray?
For he's so diplomatic and so democratic
We always let him have his way

Then he meets the late train at the station
Sits and whittles when it′s overdue
While they're sorting the mail
Every night without fail
He′s sneaking a little nip or two

Every Friday he'll go fishing
Way down on Buzzard′s Lake
But he only hooked a perch or two
A whale got away
So we warm up the steak

Oh, someday there'll be no more Old Folks
What a lonely old town this will be
Children's voices at play
Will be stilled for a day
The day that they take Old Folks away