The Sidewalks of New York

Lyrics

(Charles B. Lawlor, 1894)

Down in front of Casey’s old brown wooden stoop
On a summer’s evening we formed a merry group
Boys and girls together we would sing and waltz
While Jay played the organ on the sidewalks of New York

Refrain
East Side, West Side, all around the town
The tots sang “ring around rosie,” “London Bridge is falling down.”
Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O’Rourke
Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York

That’s where Johnny Casey, little Jimmy Crowe
Jakey Krause, the baker, who always had the dough
Pretty Nellie Shannon with a dude as light as cork
She first picked up the waltz step on the sidewalks of New York. Refrain

Things have changed since those times, some are up in “G”
Others they are wand’rers but they all feel just like me
They’d part with all they’ve got, could they once more walk
With their best girl and have a twirl on the sidewalks of New York. Refrain

See also

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  • PDF of song with chords + Lesson ideas
  • MIDI file
  • Listen to the song

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2 thoughts on “The Sidewalks of New York”

  1. Thanks for posting the lyrics in their entirety. From my Bronx childhood in the 1940s and 1950s i recall only the first stanza. What does “G” refer to in the last stanza? Also, fyi if you don’t know, in the 1940s and 1950s the Bronx Zoo had a small trolly that provided mobile tours for some visitors. The trolly had a horn that produced six tones, a musical riff covering a phrase in this song, the phrase “boys and girls together.”

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