Easy Come, Easy Go
1947


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Highlights
  • Written for the 1947 Paramount Pictures film Easy Come, Easy Go. Directed by John Farrow, starring Barry Fitzgerald, Diana Lynn, and Sonny Tufts.
  • Martin L. Donovan (Barry Fitzgerald) is a rabid fan of following the ponies (but none too good at picking the winners) and owns a shabby boarding house east of NYC's Third Avenue. Mostly, he never works, follows his hunches, philosophizes through most of the 77 minutes and changes the life course for most of those around him. His dependence upon his daughter (Diana Lynn) keeps him interfering with her romance with a returning WW II sailor (Sonny Tufts) And he will stretch the truth beyond accepted boundaries. Fitzgerald's real-life brother Arthur Sheilds plays his brother who he has built up to be a rich man, but who is really a diver working for the police department.
  • Taglines: LOVE IS GOING TO THE DOGS...WHEN THE WEDDING RING IS BET ON THE HORSES!
  • Paramount released the song, EASY COME, EASY GO, in conjunction with the release of the film, but the song was not heard in the viewed print.

WRITTEN BY RAY EVANS & JAY LIVINGSTON
COPYRIGHT 1947


Recording History
Jay Livingston, Easy Come, Easy Go (demo), 1947
Lyrics
I can’t get excited, I’m rarely delighted
Life’s not arousing, I’m kind o’ drowsing.
Love I can take or leave alone
That old feelin’ to me is unknown.
 
I’m a doubting Thomas. (You don’t mean it.)
Love is just a promise. (Have you seen it?)
Let the others reap it, I keep it.
Easy come, easy go. (You ain’t really livin’, baby!)
 
Love is merely mental, (Who you fool-in?)
Kisses only dental, (Then stop drool-in’)
I prefer it lightly, politely,
Easy come, easy go (You’re not hittin’ the bell, Jack!)
 
Floating, no real emoting,
Floating night time
I’m fancy free,
That’s me!
 
Trouble is that laughter (Quit that grinnin’)
Leaves me nothin’ after. (You ain’t winnin’?)
So I must confess it,
I guess it’s high time to get me a glow
That won’t become easy come, easy go. 
 
EASY COME, EASY GO From the Paramount Picture Easy Come, Easy Go starring Barry Fitzgerald, Diana Lynn, Sonny Tufts, Famous Music Corp., 1947. Words and Music by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (Special Picture Release)