Henry's Songbook

Well, now, this can't be right, making one drink last all night
What can a poor fella do but watch the world passing by
Dressed to the nines in all this sparkle and shine
Spending half my week's wages in the wink of an eye

    You can't take it with you when you go
    No, you can't take it with you when you go
    Give me half a chance, I'll get up there and dance
    But you can't take it with you when you go

They've got more money than sense who tell me, Damn the expense
Keep a card up your sleeve and get your cash from the wall
Time marches on, you'll find your time's overdrawn
You'll be called to account, my friend, in no time at all

    And you can't take it with you when you go
    You can't take it with you when you go
    The last shirt you wear has no pockets to spare
    And you can't take it with you when you go

Some people live wall-to-wall with stuff that's no use at all
China cups they don't drink from and the fanciest clothes
Why not the best with plaster ducks flying west
Blackpool Tower in a bubble - when you shake it it snows

    You can't take it with you when you go
    You can't take it with you when you go
    So grab what you can before the shit hits the fan
    You can't take it with you when you go

Now if I had the brass I'd give you all you could ask
It all seems to go before the spending can start
Behind closed doors you know what's mine could be yours
I've not much to give you but it comes from the heart

    And you can't take it with you when you go
    You can't take it with you when you go
    One piece of the pie no money can buy
    You can't take it with you when you go

(as sung by Iain MacKintosh)

[1993:] Last year the final concert of my American tour was in Wilmington, Delaware. A lady who is a doctor bought me for her husband's birthday - bought my concert for her husband's birthday. He's a surgeon, and these people really have a lot of money! It was a house concert, and they had invited eighty of their friends. The house was so big I needed a P.A. And they had valet parking - a guy in a uniform takes your car away and parks it for you, and brings it back when you're going away again. This is what they had at a folk concert! Once I was inside I discovered more than twenty of the people there were millionaires. I must have had some kind of death wish because this was the song I started the evening with! (Intro Iain MacKintosh)

[1995:] What you haven't got - or rather what you're not going to get to keep - is, of course, the theme of [this song]. Iain once sang this song to an audience of millionaires. Funnily enough, it's one of the few stages that never invited him back ... (Notes Iain MacKintosh & Brian McNeill, 'Stage By Stage')