Early in the 20th century, they figured out the wildly addictive nature of cocaine and morphine and the government yanked it from legality without any meaningful support for addicts (ya know, like we do). This song would have been performed in vaudeville shows and would have been mockingly sung in a major key. It’s much better arranged in minor key and quite easy to play on ukulele. Grab an ensemble and see what you can make of this.
Lyrics:
- Cocaine Bill and Morphine Sue were skipping down Fifth Avenue.
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- {Chorus (make a sniff sound on the (x)}:
- Singing “Honey have a (x) have a (x) (x) on me. Honey have a (x) on me. me.
- Danced down Broadway, trudged down main a-look’n to buy some more cocaine.
- Up the East Side full of hope, but ev’ry sign read, “No more dope.”
- In a drug store painted green, cried “We ain’t got no more morphine.”
- Leaped from a bridge side by side, oh they committed suicide.
- In a graveyard on the hill lies the body of Cocaine Bill.
- In a coffin by his side lies the corpse of his morphine bride.
- Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. If the coke don’t gitcha the morphine must.