"By Strauss" is a song featured in the 1951 film An American in Paris with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Originally written by the brothers to entertain guests at parties, this self-deprecating song eventually debuted publicly in the 1936 Broadway musical revue The Show Is On.
Lyrics[]
Away with the music of Broadway!
Be off with your Irving Berlin
Oh, I'd give no quarter
To Kern or Cole Porter
And Gershwin keeps pounding on tin
How can one be civil
When hearing such drivel?
It's all just for nightclubbing souses
Oh, give me the free and easy
Waltz that is Viennese-y
And
Go tell the band
If they want a hand
The waltz must be Strauss'
Ja, ja, ja
Give me oom-pah-pah
When I want a melody
Lilting through the house
Then I want a melody
By Strauss
It laughs! It sings! The world is in rhyme
Swinging in three-quarter time
Let the Danube flow along
And Die Fledermaus
Keep the wine and give me song
By Strauss
By jo, by jing!
By Strauss is the thing!
So I say to ha-cha-cha
Heraus!
Just give me an oom-pah-pah
By Strauss!
