At the Music Hall: They Didn't Believe Me, 1914

[Boy]
Got the cutest little way,
Like to watch you all the day.
And it certainly seems fine,
Just to think that you'll be mine.
When I see your pretty smile,
Makes the living worth the while.
So I've got to run around,
Telling people what I've found.

Refrain

[Boy]
And when I told them how beautiful you are,
They didn't believe me. They didn't believe me!
Your lips, your eyes, your cheeks, your hair,
Are in a class beyond compare,
You're the loviest girl that one could see!
And when I tell them,
And I cert'nly am goin' to tell them,
That I'm the man whose wife one day you'll be.
They'll never believe me. They'll never believe me.
That from this great big world you've chosen me!

[Girl]
Don't know how it happened quite,
May have been the summer night.
May have been, well, who can say.
Things just happen any way,
All I know is I said "yes!"
Hesitating more or less,
And you kissed me where I stood,
Just like any fellow would.

Refrain

[Girl]
And when I told them how wonderful you are,
They didn't believe me. They didn't believe me!
Your lips, your eyes, your curly hair,
Are in a class beyond compare,
You're the lovliest thing that one could see!
And when I tell them,
And I cert'nly am goin' to tell them,
That I'm the girl whose boy one day you'll be.
They'll never believe me. They'll never believe me.
That from this great big world you've chosen me!


"They Didn't Believe Me" featured music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds. The popular song debuted in 1914 with the musical “The Girl from Utah” at the Knickerbocker Theatre. The American version of the show, based on a British original, added five songs by Kern and Reynolds. The musical was a hit and marked Kern’s first great success.

The song is unique in that it was one of the first to eschew the usual florid language of love songs in favor of modern musical ideals. Still sentimental, however, the song was a fitting favorite during the First World War and remains a popular standard to this day.