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Walt Whitman's Niece Lyrics
Last night or the night before that,
I won't say which night
A seaman friend of mine,
I'll not say which seaman,
Walked up to a big old building,
I won't say which building,
And would have not walked up the stairs,
not to say which stairs,
If there had not been two girls,
leaving out the names of those two girls.
I recall a door, a big long room,
I'll not tell which room,
I remember a deep blue rug,
But I can't say which rug,
A girl took down a book of poems,
not to say which book of poems,
And as she read, I lay my head,
and I can't tell which head,
Down in her lap, and I can mention which lap
My seaman buddy and girl moved off
after a couple of pages and there I was,
All night long, laying and listening
and forgetting the poems.
And as well as I could recall
or my seaman buddy could recollect,
My girl had told us that she was a niece,
of Walt Whitman, but not which niece,
And it takes a night and a girl
and a book of this kind
A long long time to find its way back
I won't say which night
A seaman friend of mine,
I'll not say which seaman,
Walked up to a big old building,
I won't say which building,
And would have not walked up the stairs,
not to say which stairs,
If there had not been two girls,
leaving out the names of those two girls.
I'll not tell which room,
I remember a deep blue rug,
But I can't say which rug,
A girl took down a book of poems,
not to say which book of poems,
And as she read, I lay my head,
and I can't tell which head,
Down in her lap, and I can mention which lap
after a couple of pages and there I was,
All night long, laying and listening
and forgetting the poems.
And as well as I could recall
or my seaman buddy could recollect,
My girl had told us that she was a niece,
of Walt Whitman, but not which niece,
And it takes a night and a girl
and a book of this kind
A long long time to find its way back
Song Info
Submitted by
pro-voice On Dec 15, 2005
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What a fun, irreverent song.
Seeing as how it was written fifty years ago, I wonder if it's factual at all. Admittedly, though, I doubt it.
it's funny to me that this song makes me think of arlo's "alice's resteraunt" but it's impossible to say whether woody's writing more influenced "alice" or whether "alice" influenced this recording of woody's lyrics...probably both, hard to ever know really
My first thought about this song was that he was making fun of a girl he was hanging out with who apparently said she was Walt Whitmans neice, "but not which neice", hence the theme of the song not remembering which night, seaman, building, stairs and so on.
It's about going to a brothel