Oh By Jingo!

See also: By Jingo.

Sheet music cover with picture of Charlotte Greenwood (1919)

"Oh By Jingo!" (also "Oh By Jingo! Oh By Gee You're The Only Girl For Me)", is a 1919 novelty song by Albert Von Tilzer with lyrics by Lew Brown. The song was featured in the Broadway show "Linger Longer Letty", and became one of the biggest Tin Pan Alley hits of the post-World War I era.

While the song lyrics say it is set in "the land of San Domingo", no geographic nor anthropological accuracy is found nor intended in the silly lyrics, set in a generic "exotic" and "primitive" location. The song was much imitated over the next decade.

In the era of its initial popularity, phonograph records of the number were recorded by such popular artists of the era as The All Star Trio, The American Quartet, Nora Bayes, Frank Crumit, Billy Murray, The Premier Quartette, Esther Walker, and Margaret Young.

Later recorded revivals of the number include those by Chet Atkins, Bo Grumpus (the San Francisco band of the 1990s), Eddie Condon, Stéphane Grappelli, Clancy Hayes, Keith Ingham, Spike Jones, Danny Kaye, Jeannie Carson, Lu Watters, and The Reverend Horton Heat.

The song was performed by Betty Hutton in the film Incendiary Blonde (1945); sung in the I Love Lucy TV show (episode #102, Season 4, ep. 2, "Mertz and Kurtz", October 11, 1954); and sung by Hugh Laurie in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster.

Lyrics

Verse 1

In the land of San Domingo,

Lived a girl called Oh! by Jingo,

Ja da Ja da da da da da, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a,

From the fields and from the marshes,

Came the old and young by Goshes,

Ja da Ja da da da da da da, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a,

They all spoke with a diff’rent lingo,

But they all loved Oh by Jingo,

And ev’ry night they sang in the pale moonlight.

Chorus 1

Oh! by Gee! by Gosh, by Gum, by Jove

Oh by Jingo, won’t you hear our love

We will build for you a hut

You will be our fav’rite nut

We’ll have a lot of little Oh by Gollies,

Then we’ll put them in the Follies

By Jingo said, By Gosh, By Gee

By Jiminy please don’t bother me

So they all went away singing

Oh by Gee, by Gosh by Gum, by Jove by Jingo,

by Gee, you’re the only girl for me.

Verse 2

Oh by Jingo had a lover,

He was always undercover,

Ta da da da da da da da, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a,

Ev’ry night she used to meet him,

Oh how nice she used to treat him,

Ta da da da da da da da, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a, ump-a,

They eloped but they both were collared,

And the gang stood there and hollered,

Don’t raise a fuss, you’ve got to take one of us.^[1]

Chorus 2

Oh! by Gee! by Gosh, by Gum, by Jove

Oh by Jingo, won't you hear our love

We will live out in a tent

Cheat the landlord of his rent

We'll have a lot of little Jiminy Crickets,

We can use them for meal tickets

By Jingo said, Now boys don't rave

I have put four husbands in the grave

So they all went away singing

Oh by Gee, by Gosh by Gum, by Jove, by Jingo,

By Gee, you're the only girl for me. ^{[2] [3]}

Verse 3

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.)

The rest wrote to Beatrice Fairfax

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! ^[4]

References

• Who Wrote that Song? Dick Jacobs & Harriet Jacobs, published by Writer's Digest Books, 1993