Jerry Herman
Elegance
[Verse 1]
[CORNELIUS & BARNABY]
Yes, New York, it's really us
Barnaby and Cornelius

[IRENE & MINNIE]
All the guests of Mr. Hackl are
Feeling great and look spectacular

[ALL]
What a knack there is to that
Acting like a born aristocrat
We got elegance, if you ain't got elegance
You can never, ever carry it off

[Verse 2]
[CORNELIUS]
All who are well-bred agree
Minnie Fay has pedigree

[IRENE]
Exercise your wildest whims tonight
We are out with diamond Jims tonight

[MINNIE]
Could they be misleading us?
[CORNELIUS & BARNABY]
Silver spoons were used for feeding us

[ALL]
We got elegance, if you ain't got elegance
You can never, ever carry it off

[Verse 3]
Snobs that slobs throw roses at
We look down our noses at

[MINNIE]
Pity all the other girls around
When I swing my perfect pearls around

[BARNABY]
Snubbing folks is chic to us

[CORNELIUS]
Sometimes we don't even speak to us

[ALL]
If you ain't got elegance
You can never, ever carry it off

[THE DOG'S OWNER, spoken]
If you please
[Verse 4]
[ALL]
Middle class, don't speak of this
Savoire-faire, we reek of this
Some were born with rags and patches but
We use dollar bills for matches and

[MINNIE]
Vanderbilt kowtows to us

[CORNELIUS]
J. P. Morgan scrapes and bows to us

[ALL]
We've got elegance, we were born with elegance

[BARNABY]
I behave like Walter Rauleigh when the streets are full of mud

[MINNIE]
And the bluest huckleberry isn't bluer than my blood

[IRENE]
Have you noticed when I hold my cup the saucer never moves?

[CORNELIUS]
And the way I keep my pinkie up indubitably proves that
[ALL]
We got elegance, we got built-in elegance

[MINNIE]
And with elegance

[BARNABY]
Elegance

[IRENE]
Elegance

[CORNELIUS]
Elegance

[ALL]
Elegance
We'll carry it off