Original Broadway Cast of My Fair Lady
I’m an Ordinary Man
[HIGGINS, spoken]
I find that the moment a woman wants to become friends with me she becomes jealous, exacting, suspicious, and a damn right nuisance. I find the moment that I become friends with a woman I become selfish and tyrannical, So here I am, a confirmed bachelor and likely to remain so. After all, Pickering, I'm an ordinary man
(sung)
Who desires nothing more than an ordinary chance
To live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants
An average man am I, of no eccentric whim
Who likes to live his life free of strife
Doing whatever he thinks is best, for him
Just an ordinary man
But, let a woman in your life
And your serenity is through
She'll redecorate your home
From the cellar to the dome
And then go on to the enthralling fun of overhauling you
Oh, let a woman in your life
And you're up against a wall
Make a plan and you will find
She has something else in mind
And so rather than do either you do something else
That neither likes at all
You want to talk of Keats or Milton
She only wants to talk of love
You go to see a play or ballet
And spend it searching for her glove, oh
Let a woman in your life
And you invite eternal strife
Let them buy their wedding bands
For those anxious little hands
I'd be equally as willing for a dentist to be drilling
Than to ever let a woman in my life
I'm a very gentle man
Even tempered and good natured
Who you never hear complain
Who has the milk of human kindness
By the quart in every vein
A patient man am I, down to my fingertips
The sort who never could, ever would
Let an insulting remark escape his lips
A very gentle man
But, let a woman in your life
And patience hasn't got a chance
She will beg you for advice, your reply will be concise
And she will listen very nicely
Then go out and do exactly what she wants
You are a man of grace and polish
Who never spoke above a hush
All at once you're using language
That would make a sailor blush
Oh, let a woman in your life
And you're plunging in a knife
Let the others of my sex
Tie the knot around their necks
I prefer a new edition of the Spanish Inquisition
Than to ever let a woman in my life
I'm a quiet living man
Who prefers to spend the evening in the silence of his room
Who likes an atmosphere as restful as an undiscovered tomb
A pensive man am I, of philosophic joys
Who likes to meditate, contemplate
Free from humanity's mad inhuman noise
Just a quiet living man
But, let a woman in your life
And your sabbatical is through
In a line that never ends come an army of her friends
Come to jabber and to chatter
And to tell her what the matter is with you
She'll have a booming boisterous family
Who will descend on you en mass
She'll have a large wagnerian mother
With a voice that shatters glass
Oh, let a woman in your life
Let a woman in your life
Let a woman in your life
I shall never let a woman in my life