Please Don't Monkey With Broadway - Cole Porter

Due to landscape gardeners gifted

Knickerbocker spaces are being lifted

So much

That you hardly know it as such

All the streets are being dressed up

So before they ruin Broadway, I suggest that

You go

To the city fathers and say, «Whoa!»

Glorify Sixth Avenue

And put bathrooms in the zoo

But please don’t monkey with Broadway

Put big floodlights in the park

And put Harlem in the dark

But please don’t monkey with Broadway

Though it’s tawdry and plain

It’s a lovely old lane

Full of landmarks galore and memories gay

So move Grant’s Tomb to Union Square

And put Brooklyn anywhere

But please, please, I beg on my knees don’t monkey with old Broadway

Plant trees in the Polo Grounds

And put Yorkville out of bounds

But please don’t monkey with Broadway

Close the Village honkytonks

And suppress cheering in the Bronx

But please don’t monkey with Broadway

Think what names used to dance

On this road of romance

Think what stars used to stroll along it all day

Make City Hall a skating rink

And push Wall Street in the drink

But please, please, I beg on my knees don’t monkey with old Broadway