Down at an oriental show
I saw a dancer there;
Her name was Princess "Oy-vay-is-meer"
And she was from the east somewhere.
When she removed all of her veils,
I recognized her face,
This Hindoo lady was a Yiddish baby.
And she came from a certain place--
She was
CHORUS
Becky from Babylon
(I know her mother, I know her brother)
Becky from Babylon,
(She's got it over Madam Pavlowa)
She learned her oriental ways
As a waitress lifting trays,
She got her famous pose
From washing her mother's clothes.
Becky, She fools with snakes
(Oh what a twister, you can't resist her)
She's full of tricks and fakes, Oh,
She's no daughter of the Pyramids,
Her right name is Becky Bifkowitz,
Ev'ry one thinks
That she is a Sphinx,
But she's Becky from Babylon (Long Island).
I knew this oriental queen
When Becky was her name;
I knew her when she wore plenty clothes
And when dish washing was her game.
Now she's disguised from head to toes,
Dressed up in veils of youth,
The other quinces take her for a Princess,
But if they only knew the truth! She was
CHORUS:
Becky from Babylon
(Oh what a terror, Like Theda Bara)
Becky from Babylon
(She's full of motion, Just like the ocean)
Cold show'r baths she used to take,
That's how she first learned to shake,
She dances on her [all] fours,
She learned it scrubbing floors,
Becky, no clothes she needs,
She's all dressed up in beads.
Oh, What a figure
It would make you dizzy,
She's got lines, but the lines are always busy,
All the wise ginks
Think she is a Sphinx,
But she's Becky from Babylon.
alt. chorus written in ink on the NYPL/Lincoln Center copy:
[Becky from Babylon
(I know her mother, I know her brother)
Becky from Babylon,
(She's got it over Madam Pavlowa)]
She got her oriental squirms
Imitating wooly fishing worms,
Her style can't be beat,
Her dad owns [three syllables missing in text, never written].
[Becky, She fools with snakes
(Oh what a twister, you can't resist her)
She's full of tricks and fakes, Oh,]
She's so fine it almost makes you dizzy,
[She's got lines,] but all of them are busy,
[Ev'ry one thinks
That she is a Sphynx,
But she's Becky from Babylon (Long Island).]