Oh, Bess, Oh Wheres My Bess?
Porgy
I ain axin yo opinion.
Oh, bess, oh wheres my bess,
Wont somebody tell me where?
I ain care what she say,
I ain care what she done,
Wont somebody tell me wheres my bess?
Bess, oh, lawd,
My bess! I want her now,
Widout her I cant go on.
I counted de days dat I was gone
Till I got home to see her face.
Wont somebody tell me wheres my bess?
I want her so, my gal, my bess,
Where is she?
Oh gawd, in yo big heavn
Please show me where I mus go,
Oh give me de strength, show me de way!
Tell me de truth, where is she, where is my gal,
Where is my bess!
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Related quotes
Porgy I Is Your Woman Now
Porgy:
Bess, you is my woman now,
you is, you is!
An' you mus' laugh an' sing an' dance
for two instead of one.
Want no wrinkle on yo' brow,
Nohow,
Because de sorrow of de past is all done done
Oh, Bess, my Bess!
Bess:
Porgy, I's yo' woman now,
I is, I is!
An' I ain't never goin' nowhere 'less you shares de fun.
Dere's no wrinkle on my brow,
Nohow,
But I ain't goin'! You hear me sayin',
If you ain' goin', wid you I'm stayin'!
Porgy, I's yo' woman now!
I's yours forever -
Mornin' time an' evenin' time an'
summer time an' winter time.
Porgy:
Mornin' time an' evenin' time an'
summer time an' winter time.
Bess, you got yo' man.
Bess, you is my woman now and forever.*
Dis life is jes' begun,
Bess, we two is one
Now an' forever.
Oh, bess, don't min' dose women.
You got yo' Porgy.
I knows you means it,
I seen it in yo' eyes, Bess.
We'll go swingin'
Through de years a-singin'.
Bess:
Mornin' time an' evenin' time an'
summer time an' winter time.
Porgy:
Mornin' time an' evenin' time an'
summer time an' winter time.
Bess:
Oh, my Porgy, my man, Porgy.
Porgy: [simultaneously] My bess, my Bess.
Bess: From dis minute I'm tellin' you, I keep dis vow: Porgy, I's yo'
woman now.
Porgy: [simultaneously]
From dis minute I'm tellin' you, I keep dis vow:
Oh, my Bessie, we's happy now. We is one now.
*Sung as Bess repeats her part from 'Porgy, I's yo' woman now...'
through 'I's yours forever -'
song performed by by Nina Simone
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bess, You Is My Woman Now
Porgy:
Bess, you is my woman now,
You is, you is!
An you mus laugh an sing an dance
For two instead of one.
Want no wrinkle on yo brow,
Nohow,
Because de sorrow of de past is all done done
Oh, bess, my bess!
Bess:
Porgy, is yo woman now,
I is, I is!
An I aint never goin nowhere less you shares de fun.
Deres no wrinkle on my brow,
Nohow,
But I aint goin! you hear me sayin,
If you ain goin, wid you Im stayin!
Porgy, is yo woman now!
Is yours forever -
Mornin time an evenin time an
Summer time an winter time.
Porgy:
Mornin time an evenin time an
Summer time an winter time.
Bess, you got yo man.
Bess, you is my woman now and forever.*
Dis life is jes begun,
Bess, we two is one
Now an forever.
Oh, bess, dont min dose women.
You got yo porgy.
I knows you means it,
I seen it in yo eyes, bess.
Well go swingin
Through de years a-singin.
Bess:
Mornin time an evenin time an
Summer time an winter time.
Porgy:
Mornin time an evenin time an
Summer time an winter time.
Bess:
Oh, my porgy, my man, porgy.
Porgy: [simultaneously] my bess, my bess.
Bess: from dis minute Im tellin you, I keep dis vow: porgy, is yo
Woman now.
Porgy: [simultaneously]
From dis minute Im tellin you, I keep dis vow:
Oh, my bessie, wes happy now. we is one now.
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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What You Want Wid Bess?
Bess
Oh... what you want wid bess?
Shes gettin ole now;
Take a fine young gal
For to satisfy crown.
Look at this chest
An look at these arms you got.
You know how it always been with me,
These five years I been yo woman,
You could kick me in the street,
Then when you wanted me back,
You could whistle, an there I was
Back again, lickin yo hand.
Theres plenty better lookin gal than bess.
Can you see, Im with porgy,
Now and forever
I am his woman, he would die without me.
Oh, crown, wont you let me go to my man, to my man.
He is a cripple an needs my love, all my love.
What you want wid bess? oh, let me go to my man. . .
Crown
What I wants wid other woman,
I gots a woman, yes,
An dat is you, yes, dat is you, yes,
I need you now an youre mine jus as long as I want you.
No cripple goin take my woman from me.
You got a man tonight an that is crown, yes, crown, yes
Crown.
Youre my woman, bess, Im tellin you, now Im your man.
(pressing her very close)
Bess
What you want with bess?
(boat whistles)
Lemme go, crown dat boat, its goin wiout me!
Crown
You aint goin nowhere!
Bess
(weakening)
Take yo hands off me, I say, yo hands, yo hands, yo hands.
(crown kisses her passionately)
Crown
I knows you ain change - wid you and me it always be the
Same. git in dat thicket.
(bess backs into woods; crown follows.)
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Girl who never said Yes (Double Limerick)
The girl of his dreams was sweet Bess,
For Bess was ahead of the rest
She may have been older,
He could cry on her shoulder
But Bess was the girl who never said Yes.
He had searched the world East to West
The girl of his dreams was still Bess.
One day he grew bolder
And tried to enfold her
But Bess was the girl who never said Yes.
poem by Joyce Hemsley
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I Wants To Stay Here
Bess
I wants to stay here,
But I aint worthy.
You is too decent to understan.
For when I see him he hypnotize me.
When he take hold of me with his hot hand.
Someday I know hes coming back to call me.
Hes goin to handle me an hold me so.
Its goin to be like dyin, porgy, deep inside me -
But when he calls, I know I have to go.
Porgy
If dere warnt no crown, bess, if dere was only jus you an
Porgy, what den?
Bess
I loves you, porgy,
Don let him take me,
Don let him handle me an drive me mad.
If you kin keep me,
I wants to stay here wid you forever,
An Id be glad.
Porgy
There, there, bess, you don need to be afraid no mo,
Yous picked up happiness and laid yo worries down.
You goin to live easy, you goin to live high.
You goin to outshine every woman in dis town.
An remember, when crown come thats my business, bess!
Bess
I loves you, porgy,
Don let him take me
Don let him handle me
With his hot han
If you kin keep me
I wants to stay here wid you forever.
I got my man.
Porgy
What you think I is, anyway,
To let dat dirty houn dog steal my woman?
If you wants to stay wid porgy, you goin stay.
You got a home now, honey, an you got love.
So no mo cryin, cant you understan?
You goin to go about yo business, singin cause
You got porgy, you got a man.
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bess
A dress that speaks of life,
The frayed edges hang like bar codes
Spelling out her past.
Bess was content.
Her flowing auburn hair a distant memory,
Now replaced by black and white,
The colours of her age.
Bess was content.
Half way down her nose her glasses sat,
With flour coated fingerprint etched lenses
Betraying this morning's cooking
Bess was still content
Soft slippers now where once heels were worn,
Her stoop a testament to such fashion
The hips a little broader now,
Bess was still content.
Here she was, all that she could be,
A wife, a mother, a nurse, a listener, a lover
But all the time that dress said more than that
Bess was still content
Then in the background voices came to life,
Such laughter only youngsters make,
The door flies open 'Mum we are home! '
Bess just smiled that smile... so content.
poem by Dave James
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Brown Bess
The Army Musket--1700-1815
In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes and brocade
Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise--
An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,
With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes--
At Blenheim and Ramillies fops would confess
They were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess.
Though her sight was not long and her weight was not small,
Yet her actions were winning, her language was clear;
And everyone bowed as she opened the ball
On the arm of some high-gaitered, grim grenadier.
Half Europe admitted the striking success
Of the dances and routs that were given by Brown Bess.
When ruffles were turned into stiff leather stocks,
And people wore pigtails instead of perukes,
Brown Bess never altered her iron-grey locks.
She knew she was valued for more than her looks.
'Oh, powder and patches was always my dress,
And I think am killing enough,' said Brown Bess.
So she followed her red-coats, whatever they did,
From the heights of Quebec to the plains of Assaye,
From Gibraltar to Acre, Cape Town and Madrid,
And nothing about her was changed on the way;
(But most of the Empire which now we possess
Was won through those years by old-fashioned Brown Bess.)
In stubborn retreat or in stately advance,
From the Portugal coast to the cork-woods of Spain,
She had puzzled some excellent Marshals of France
Till none of them wanted to meet her again:
But later, near Brussels, Napoleon--no less--
Arranged for a Waterloo ball with Brown Bess.
She had danced till the dawn of that terrible day--
She danced till the dusk of more terrible night,
And before her linked squares his battalions gave way,
And her long fierce quadrilles put his lancers to flight:
And when his gilt carriage drove off in the press,
'I have danced my last dance for the world!' said Brown Bess.
If you go to Museums--there's one in Whitehall--
Where old weapons are shown with their names writ beneath,
You will find her, upstanding, her back to the wall,
As stiff as a ramrod, the flint in her teeth.
And if ever we English had reason to bless
Any arm save our mothers', that arm is Brown Bess!
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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Soccer
Soccer
Have you ever been on a soccer field?
Well if you haven't it’s the m amazing thing
It’s like being in heaven but on grass
When the grass is just cut and the potato bugs are jumping in the air it gives you energy to have fun
And if you have been on a field then you know how the freshly cut grass
stings your nose and enlightens your heart to give you extra strength to
play soccer harder than you ever have in your life. That is what it’s like being on a soccer field!
By: Isaiah Bess
poem by Isaiah Bess
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The House of Peers
When Britain really ruled the waves -
(In good Queen Bess's time)
The House of Peers made no pretence
To intellectual eminence,
Or scholarship sublime;
Yet Britain won her proudest bays
In good Queen Bess's glorious days!
When Wellington thrashed Bonaparte,
As every child can tell,
The House of Peers, throughout the war,
Did nothing in particular,
And did it very well;
Yet Britain set the world ablaze
In good King George's glorious days!
And while the House of Peers withholds
Its legislative hand,
And noble statesmen do not itch
To interfere with matters which
They do not understand,
As bright will shine Great Britain's rays,
As in King George's glorious days!
poem by William Schwenck Gilbert
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It's nice to win.
quote by Bess Truman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It looks like you're going to have to put up with us for another four years.
quote by Bess Truman
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I have a strong tennis arm.
quote by Bess Truman
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I'm no different from anybody else. If I don't have a card, I can't check out these books.
quote by Bess Truman
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I've liked lots of people 'til I went on a picnic jaunt with them.
quote by Bess Truman
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The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.
quote by Bess Myerson
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A woman's place in public is to sit beside her husband, be silent, and be sure her hat is on straight.
quote by Bess Truman
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Understanding Women
Grassfly didn’t understand women;
Never quite grasped their fundamental
Psychology; never quite knew the trick
To get them on his side. His mother was
A matriarch who ruled the home with a
Big stick and a tongue like a viper’s spit.
Got to understand women, son, she’d say,
Else your limp life’ll be worth shit. He loved
To play piano; it gave him an outlet playing
His Schubert or Chopin pieces against the
Backdropp of his mother’s tongue. His woman
Friend, Big Bess, who wore outlandish clothes
And an XXL dress, was a mystery to him, like
Some character from Finnegan’s Wake, who
Loved to dance and say, Look Boy, see my big
Ass shake. Grassfly thought women an enigma;
God’s afterthought; the proverbial eater of
Apples, the talker with snakes. He played his
Piano pieces, watched with dulled disinterest,
Big Bess’s breasts and broad ass shake.
poem by Terry Collett
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Now about those ghosts. I'm sure they're here and I'm not half so alarmed at meeting up with any of them as I am at having to meet the live nuts I have to see every day.
quote by Bess Truman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Theres A Boat Dats Leavin Soon For New York
Sporting life
Thats the thing, ain it? an membuh theres.
Where that come from. listen: theres a boat dats
Leavin soon for new york. come wid me, dats where
We belong, sister.
You an me kin live dat high life in new york.
Come wid me, dere you cant go wrong, sister.
Ill buy you de swellest mansion
Up on upper fith avenue
An through harlem well go struttin,
Well go astruttin,
An derell be nuttin
Too good for you.
Ill dress you in silks and satins
In de latest paris styles.
And de blues youll be forgettin,
Youll be forgettin,
Therell be no frettin
Jes nothin but smiles.
Come along wid me, hey dats de place,
Dont be a fool, come along, come along.
Theres a boat dats leavin soon for new york
Come wid me, dats where we belong, sister,
Dats where we belong! come on, bess!
Bess
You low, crawlin hound! get away from my door, I tells
You, leave it, you rattlesnake. dats what you is,
A rattlesnake!
song performed by by Ella Fitzgerald
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I won't lock my doors or bar them either if any of the old coots in the pictures out in the hall want to come out of their frames for a friendly chat.
quote by Bess Truman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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