HOME JAMES AND DON’T SPARE THE HORSES
(Frank Hillebrand)

Ambrose & his Orchestra
V. Elsie Carlisle
Recorded 11 December 1934



It was in the gay nineties 
One night at a swell affair
She was dressed in her best Sunday bustle
And wore a rat in her hair
Her lover was not tall or handsome
But he was a terrible flirt
He spent the entire evening 
Making up to every skirt
Angrily she reproached him
He heeded not at all
So she in her best Sunday bustle
Went flouncing out of the hall
She swept down the steps so majestic
To her footman standing below
And in accents loud and clear
She told him where to go

(Oooooooooh)
Home James and don’t spare the horses
This night has been ruined for me
Home James and don’t spare the horses
I’m ruined as ruined can be

(Oooooooooh)
(Home James and don’t spare the horses)
This night has been ruined for me
(Home James and don’t spare the horses)
I’m ruined as ruined can be

We’re still in the gay nineties
It is the very next day
Our hero’s forlorn ‘cos his girl’s gone
And don’t know just what to say
He thinks that he’s better do something
To win her again for his own
‘cos she was his very best sweetheart
She was always good for a loan
He goes straight to her mansion
And says, “forgive me, dear”
And as he tried to embrace her
She gave him a boot in the reat
He swept down the steps so majestic
And her footman booted him too
And as they threw him in the road
He said, “Hmmm, to you”

(Oooooooooh)
Home James and don’t spare the horses
Ride right through the main part of town
Home James and don’t spare the horses
He’ll stand up ‘cos he can’t sit down

(Oooooooooh)
Home James and don’t spare the horses
My lover is just a bit tight
Home James and don’t spare the horses
He shall sleep in the stable tonight

Transcribed from John Wright’s 78 RPM Record Collection




(Transcribed by Bill Huntley - January 2013)