American Old Time Song Lyrics: 12 The Man That Couldn't Get Warm

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 12

The Man That Couldn't Get Warm.
Tune- " King of the Cannibal Islands."

You that are fond, in spite of price,
Of pastry, cream and jellies nice,
Be careful how you take an ice
Whenever you are warm.
A merchant once from India came,
Shivery Shakey was his name;
A pastry-cook did him entice
To take a cooling luscious ice;
The weather, hot enough to kill,
Kept tempting him to eat, until
It gave his corpus such a chill,
fie never again got warm.

Chorus.
Shivery Shakey, oh, dear!
Oh, crimini jimini! isn't it cold?
Shivery Shakey, oh, dear!
Oh, the man that couldn't get warm-

Close to a blazing fire he got,
And took to drinking brandy hot;
He sent for doctors, such a lot,
The man that couldn't get warm;
They recommended chamois leather,
Flannel shoes and India-rubber,
Mustard Chillies and cayenne,
But nothing seemed to warm the man;
And when the doctors took their fees,
It chilled their blood near twelve degrees,
It even made their fingers freeze-
The man that couldn't get warm.-Chorus.

The room was hot enough to bake.
And yet this man with cold did ache,
It made the servants shiver and shake-
The man that couldn't get warm.
The nursery maids, the scullion, the cook,
Even John, the coachman, shook.
And all kept crying, night and morning:
We really must give master warning;
What's worse, his wife began to pout,
And left the house quite chilled, no doubt,
For he even froze the gardener out,
The man that couldn't get warm.-Chorus.

Then he with grief filled to the brim,
Resolved to go abroad by steam,
But not a ship would move with him,
The man that couldn't get warm.
He went to the engine room, I am told,
And gave to the stoker sudden cold,
Condensed the steam and stopped the wheels,
And gave the passengers the chills;
The vessel ice-bound, even so,
The captain shaking from top to toe,
Declared on shore again must go,
The man that couldn't get warm.-Chorus.

Next morning this poor man was drowned,
In a hot bath he was found,
The water frozen all around
The man that couldn't get warm.
The jury proved it in a thrice,
He died from indigested ice;

And then the foreman, Patrick Price,
The verdict gave, with this advice:
Och! ate ice creams whene'er you will,
But only take them when you're ill;
And first of all, take off the chill,
And swallow your ices warm.-Chorus.