My Best Girl's a Corker

A Song From Burlesque

In the closing years of the 19th century, John "Honey" Stromberg (1853-1902) gained fame as the composer for the Weber and Fields shows, staged at New York's Music Hall Theater. As a lad, he had taken music lessons with private tutors, and as a young man, he served as an arranger for Isidor Witmark's publishing house.

In 1895, when John was 42, Weber and Fields heard his song "My Best Girl's a New Yorker" or "My Best Girl's a Corker", (his own lyric). They engaged Stromberg to compose and direct for upcoming burlesques they were intending to produce in their own theater. Stromberg wrote the complete scores, and Edgar Smith was the principal lyricist.

My Best Gal's a Corker was popularized in vaudeville by Lottie Gilson, who insisted that it was with this number, and with her act, that the stooge invaded variety entertainment. She explained that at Hyde and Behman's Brooklyn Theatre in Adams Street, a boy in the balcony was so taken with her rendition of this number that during the reprise he started to sing along with her. His performance brought down the house. Lottie Gilson then decided to include this balcony-singing in her act - with a new boy performer, since the original one could not get his parents' consent to join the Gilson act." (From American Popular Songs by David Ewen)

The Music
My Best Girl's a Corker
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The Song
The song in this book which is sung to the tune of
"My Best Girl's a Corker"

1. My Girl's a Vegetable

My Best Girl's a Corker

My girl's a corker, she's a New Yorker
I buy her everything to keep her in style
She's got a pair of legs, just like two whiskey kegs
Hey boys, that's where my money goes-oes-oes

That's where my money goes, to buy my baby clothes
I buys her everything to keep her in style
She's worth her weight in gold, my coal black baby
Hey boys, that's where my money goes ...

When we go walkin', she does the talkin'
And when my arm's round her, how time does fly
She does the teasin', I do the sqeezin'
Hey boys,...

She's got a pair of eyes, just like two custard pies
And when she looks at me, I sure get a thrill
She's got a pair of lips, just like potato chips ...

She's got a pair of legs, just like two whiskey kegs
And when they knock together, oh what a sound
She's got a pair of hips, just like two battle ships

She's got a bulbous nose, just like a big red rose
And when the lights go out, it really does shine
She wears silk underwear, I wear my latest pair ...