Puttin’ on the Ritz Lyrics

[Verse 1]
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz
Different types who wear a day-coat
Pants with stripes and cutaway-coat, perfect fits
Puttin' on the Ritz

[Chorus]
Dressed up like a million-dollar trouper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (Super-duper)
Come, let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts
Puttin' on the Ritz

[Verse 2]
Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue?

On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air
High hats and Arrow collars
White spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime for a wonderful time

[Verse 3]
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz
Different types who wear a day-coat
Pants with stripes and cutaway-coat, perfect fits
Puttin' on the Ritz
[Chorus]
Dressed up like a million-dollar trouper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (Super-duper)
Come, let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts
Puttin' on the Ritz

[Chorus]
Dressed up like a million-dollar trouper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper (Super-duper)
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz
Puttin' on the Ritz
Puttin' on the Ritz
Puttin' on the Ritz


[Post-Chorus]
Downtown, uptown
Get your kicks at the Ritz

[Bridge]
Dine and wine, but not 'til nine
The time is right for us tonight
We can move, move to the rhythm
We can move, dance to the rhytm
Nice and easy, I want you to move
Put it on, puttin' it on, puttin' it on, puttin' it on
The R-I-T-Z, how about you and me says—
[Interlude]
Gotta dance
Gotta dance


[Outro]
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz
Puttin' on the Ritz
Puttin' on the Ritz

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About

Genius Annotation

“Puttin' On The Ritz” was written in the 1920s by songwriter Irving Berlin and first used in the 1930 Edward Sloman film named after it. Actor-dancer Fred Astaire made the song famous again in the 1940s with its inclusion in the film Blue Skies. It was then some of the lyrics were changed to what is included in this version by Taco Ockerse, recorded in 1982.

Taco’s 1982 version was a top 10 hit in several countries including a #1 peak in Switzerland and New Zealand. In fall 1983, it reached #4 in the US, where it remains his only charting single – earning him the label of one-hit wonder there.

To be “puttin' on the Ritz” means dressing in expensive wear then hit the town. Berlin originally wrote it about seeing wealthy whites visiting poor neighborhoods for a good time (original lyrics referenced Lenox Avenue in Harlem), but the revised lyrics refer to poor people dressing up for a night in the expensive areas of a city (the revised lyrics reference Park Avenue in Manhattan instead). ‘Ritz’ refers to a chain of upscale, expensive hotels owned by Ritz-Carlton.

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