Susquehanna Hat Company Lyrics

Lyric discussion by RogerRyan 

Cover art for Susquehanna Hat Company lyrics by Too Much Joy

What does the title of the song have to do with the lyrics?

Well, "Susquehanna Hat Company" is the name of an old vaudeville routine where a comedian asks a man for directions to the hat company only to have the man go berserk because of a tragedy that occurred to a relative at the company. Every person the comedian asks has had a terrible experience with the hat company and, inevitably, the comedian is beaten up simply for mentioning the name.

Here's a clip of Abbott & Costello performing the routine from their film IN SOCIETY (1944): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THZV5g1CNZM

The Three Stooges did a variation of this routine in which the words "Niagra Falls" are substituted for the hat company which provoke the memorable phrase "Slowly I turn...step by step..."