The Best Undressed Girl In Town
1961



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Highlights
  • Written for the 1961 Broadway production of Joel Spector presents Let It Ride! starring Goerge Gobel, Sam Levene and Barbara Nichols, but the song was never used.
  • A Broadway musical based on the 1935 Broadway farce Three Men on a Horse by George Abbott.
  • The musical, with book by Abram S. Ginnes, opened in New York City at the Eugene O’Neill Theater on October 12, 1961, and ran for 68 performances.



Recording History
Jay Livingston, demo
Barbara Nichols, The Original Broadway Cast Recording LET IT RIDE!, RCA Victor, LOC/LSO-1064, 1961
Jon Weber, It's Never Quite the Same, Mood Records, MD-1111, 1998
Lyrics
Casanova made all his women cry for him
And Blue Beard was murder you can bet.
Romeo made his girl lie down and die for him,
They say it was something Juliet.
 
But my Patsy treats me good,
He beats me very rarely
He mistreats me very fairly
Spoken: However there is one regrettable thing about him that I find irksome,
 
When he loses at the track
He takes the clothes right off my back.
He pawns them all at Uncle Benny’s
And the very next AM at ten he’s back to making a killing at the same stinkin’ track.
 
Since he’s almost always comin’ home without no loot
With nothing for me but love
I greet him at the door in just my birthday suit
Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
 
I love him I love him, goodness knows
But why is he always hocking all my clothes?
So often my wardrobe is only a rose
I’m the best undressed girl in town.
 
I put on, I take off et-ce-te-ra
No wonder I always wake up feeling blah!
You can’t get uplifted if you ain’t got a bra!
I’m the best undressed girl in town.
 
Seems I’ve a fate like Godiva
And it could drive-a girl to despair.
Each night the same frightening nightmare,
Me riding nude on a white mare.
 
I’m like that dame Lydda without no swan
He’s seen so much of me the thrill is gone
When he wants his jollies he yells “put it on”
I’m the most depressed and the draftiest, I’m the best undressed girl in town.
 
At Joe’s on tenth avenue my jewelry’s in hock at Moe’s on Delancey
Is my new organdy frock
He hocked my coat in the Bronx when his luck was down.
When I wanna get dressed I gotta make a tour of the town.
 
Some girls keep sighing I dreamt
I dwelt in marble halls
But I dream I’m flying in my garter belt
Juggling three golden balls
 
I know I was born in just my skin,
Began life so naked and feminine.
At this rate I’ll go out the way I came in,
I’m the best undressed girl in town.
 
When Patsy invites me to got to a dance
I wish I could wear something lovely from France
But without no apparel I’m schlepped in a barrel
I get depressed when I’m dispossessed, I’m the best undressed girl in this town.
 
BEST UNDRESSED GIRL IN TOWN written for the 1961 Broadway production of Joel Spector presents Let It Ride! starring Goerge Gobel, Sam Levene and Barbara Nichols. Music and words by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. (song never used in the production)