Tunesmith Tuesday - "You Went The Wrong Way Old King Louis" by Allan Sherman

My Son, The Nut by Allan Sherman was an album I LOVED as a kid. It contained gems like "Automation" (sung to the tune of Fascination) and I See Bones (C'est si bon), along with Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (which was to the tune of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours) - which made it to Number 2 in Billboard's Hot 100 for three weeks in 1964.

THIS song, though, was one of my favorites. This one uses not one, but THREE different tunes: La Marseillaise (the National Anthem of France), the Peter Gunn Theme, and You Came a Long Way From St. Louis. I've sung this song so many times that I will never, EVER forget that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded in 1789.

Louis the Sixteenth was the King of France in 1789.

He was worse than Louis the Fifteenth.

He was worse than Louis the Fourteenth.

He was worse than Louis the Thirteenth.

He was the worst since Louis the First.

King Louis was living like a king, but the people were living rotten.

So the people, they started an uprising which they called the French Revolution, and of course you remember their battle cry, which will never be forgotten:

You went the wrong way, Old King Louie.

You made the population cry.

'Cause all you did was sit and pet

With Marie Antoinette

In your place at Versailles.

And now the country's gone kablooie.

So we are giving you the air.

That oughta teach you not to

Spend all your time fooling 'round

At the Folies Bergere.

If you had been a nicer king,

We wouldn't do a thing,

But you were bad, you must admit.

We're gonna take you and the Queen

Down to the guillotine,

And shorten you a little bit.

You came the wrong way, Old King Louie.

And now you ain't got far to go.

Too bad you won't be here to see

That great big Eiffel Tower,

Or Brigitte Bardot.

To you King Louie we say phooey.

You disappointed all of France.

But then what else could we expect

From a king in silk stockings

And pink satin pants.

You filled your stomach with chop suey.

And also crepe suzettes and steak.

And when they told your wife Marie

That nobody had bread, she said

"Let 'em eat cake."

We're gonna take you and the Queen

Down to the guillotine,

It's somewhere in the heart of town.

And when that fella's through

With what he's gonna do,

You'll have no place to hang your crown.

You came the wrong way Old King Louie.

Now we must put you on the shelf.

That's why the people are revolting, 'cause Louie,

You're pretty revolting yourself!