"Oh, By Jingo (Oh By Gee, You're the Only Girl for Me)"

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"All the By-Goshes, with hearts down to their galoshes!"

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I found this song while working late one night. Maybe it was my mood at the time, but I was hooked! I purchased an mp3 and was singing and humming this for a week, dancing along while doing housework.

Performed by Danny Kaye and an unknown "Male Quartet," circa 1948:
(Be ready with "boom chik-a, boom chik-a" if you want to sing along.)

I love how you can actually hear Danny Kaye smiling as he sings the end of the first chorus.

The cleaned-up version which I downloaded from Amazon.com is incredible; it sounds like you are standing right there with the singers at the microphone. I highly recommend it.

Scroll down for lyrics and more renditions from "Jeeves and Wooster," Spike Jones, etc.

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"Oh, By Jingo (Oh, By Gee, You're the Only Girl for Me)"

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1919 Original by Lew Brown / Al Von Tilzer
These lyrics [and improvisations in brackets] are transcribed from the 1949 Brunswick recording by Danny Kaye and Male Quartet, Directed by Vic Schoen.

The second verse is a substitution from the 1919 original and not found in recordings by others. (It sounds like the work of Sylvia Fine, but that is just a surmise on my part.)

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In the land of San Domingo
Lived a girl called Oh-By-Jingo.
[Hoh - bow - do-oh-du-lee-dee-oh-bow--wow]
[boom chik-a, boom chik-a, boom chik-a, boom chik]
From the fields and from the marshes
Came the old and young By-Goshes
[Oh - la - ha- luka-taka-saka-maki--laka ma ]
[boom chik-a, boom chik-a, boom chik-a, boom chik]
Though they spoke a different lingo.
They all loved Oh-By-Jingo
And every night They sang in the pale moon light:

"Oh by Gee, by Gosh, by Gum, by Jove!
[Kitchy-koo, Kitchy-koo, Kitchy-koo.]
Oh By Jingo, won't you hear our love?
[Kitchy-koo, Kitchy-koo, Kitchy-koo.]
We will build for you a hut.
You will be our favorite nut.
We'll have a lot of little Oh-By-Gollies,
Then we'll put them all in the Follies.
[-] By-Jingo said by Gosh, by Gee,
[Kitchy-koo, Kitchy-koo, Kitchy-koo.]
[oh] By Jiminy please don't bother me. [Don't bother me.]
So they all went away singing oh by Gee,
By Gosh, by Gum, by Jove, by Jingo,
Oh, By-Jiminy you're the girl for me!" {original: "By Gee, You're the only girl for me.}

Home they went with spirits wilted
On account of they were jilted
[All the By-Goshes, with hearts down to their galoshes!]
All winter long they brooded-- That is, all but very few did.
[They left to join a fan club for Lana Toyn-a.] [1]
The rest wrote to Beatrice Fairfax [2]
Got the how-to-make-him-care facts
So came the spring
They sailed once more to sing:

"Oh by Gee, by Gosh, by Gum, by Jove!
Oh by Jiminy you're the one we love!
We will build for you a hut.
You will be our favorite nut.
Then we'll have a bunch of Oh-By-Gollies
And we'll put them all in the Follies
[Oh] By Gee, by Gosh, by . . .
[improv segment]

By Jiminy you're the one for me!"

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[1] Lana Turner
[2] Beatrice Fairfax was the "Dear Abby" of New York papers at the turn of the 1900's and at least from 1929 until 1945.

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For you "Jeeves and Wooster" fans, their rendition:

Spike Jones and his Band have a surprisingly nice rendition, provided here courtesy of Archive.org. Play it on the ribbon player below, or download the mp3 here:

Below is a ragtime piano version, with Tom Brier & Adam Swanson jamming late night at The Annual Blind Boone Ragtime & Early Jazz Festival (date unknown):

Let me know if you find any of these fun!