Button Up Your Overcoat

By Ray Hernderon, B.G. DeSylva and Lew Brown
1928

Although Ruth Etting was the first to record this song, it was the version recorded a few months later by Helen Kane, the cutesy-voiced singer who inspired Betty Boop, that made the song a major hit. It would also be featured in the 1929 Broadway musical Follow Thru, as well as the film of the following year. Although it would always be identified as a song very much of the 1920s, it would be regularly brought back as a nostalgia piece by artists of later decades.

Lyrics: 

Listen, big boy
Now that you got me made
Goodness, but I'm afraid
Somethin's gonna happen to you

Listen, big boy
You gotta be hooked, and how
I would die if I should lose you now

Button up your overcoat
When the wind is free
Take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Eat an apple every day
Get to bed by three
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Be careful crossing streets, ooh, ooh
Cut out sweets, ooh, ooh
Lay off meat, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum

Wear your flannel underwear
When you climb a tree
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Button up your overcoat
When the wind is free
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me
Boop-boop-a-doop

When you sass a traffic cop
Use diplomacy
Just take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Beware of frozen funds, ooh, ooh
Stocks and bonds, ooh, ooh
Dockside thugs, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your bankroll

Keep the spoon out of your cup
When you're drinking tea
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Don't sit on hornet's tails, ooh, ooh
Or on nails, ooh, ooh
Or third rails, ooh, ooh
You'll get a pain and ruin your tum-tum

Keep away from bootleg hooch
When you're on a spree
Oh, take good care of yourself
You belong to me

Recorded By:

Sarah Vaughan
Paul Whiteman
Connie Francis
Johnny Mercer
Bing Crosby