I Used to Work in Chicago
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"I Used to Work in Chicago" is a humorous traditional drinking song. The earliest printed date for the song is March 1945 in the underground mimeographed songbook 'Songs of the Century'. Many of the lyrics are considered humorous because of the oblique sexual references.
After World War 2, there were various versions of this song commercially recorded.
Song Lyrics
As with all traditional songs, there are variations in the lyrics. Here is one example from 1945:
- :I USED TO WORK IN CHICAGO
- :Oh, I used to work in Chicago
- :In a Department Store
- :I used to work in Chicago -
- :I did but I don't anymore.
- :A lady came in and asked for a hat
- :I asked her what kind she'd adore
- :Felt she said, so felter I did
- :I did but I don't anymore.
Replace the words in bold with other items and actions for other verses:
- : Socks / Hose
- : Cake / Layer
- : Dog / Cocker
- : Coat / Jumper
- : 'Plane / Fokker
- : Shoes / Pumps
- : Blouse / Jacket
- : Gloves / Rubber
- : Tool / Crank
- : Beef / Corned
- : Nails / Spikes
- : Meat / Ram
- : Floppy Disk / Hard Drive
References
- Ed Cray, The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs (University of Illinois, 1992).
- Richard A. Reuss, An Annotated Field Collection of Songs From the American College Student Oral Tradition (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Masters Thesis, 1965).
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