FOR ME AND MY GAL (THE BELLS ARE RINGING)

FOR ME AND MY GAL

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THIS 1917 SONG HAS become a standard. Though in a dated musical style, it remained popular through the years and finally a 1942 Hollywood film, starring Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, was named after it. Their duet is heard here (the actual film sequence, including a dance number, is also on youtube).
    Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire were the two greatest dancing stars of the Hollywood cinema. Though neither had strong voices, they could sing with charm and rhythm. Garland, on the other hand, was one of the great popular vocalists of the century.
    This song is notable for its feminine rhyme schemes (congregating/waiting), and even triple feminine rhymes (knowing/sewing/going). Especially noteworthy is the intricate feminine rhymes on "new so/blue so/trousseau."
    ESL students can increase their vocabulary and mastery of idioms ("put you wise") by listening to what has been called the Great American Songbook.

Ding-dong, ding-dong
Do you hear the bells go ding-dong.
Do you know, do you know why they're ringing?
(Why no! I don't know why they're ringing.)
Well you're going to get a big surprise
Because I'm going to put you wise.

The bells are ringing for me and my gal,
The birds are singing for me and my gal.
Everybody's been knowing
To a wedding they're going
And for weeks they've been sewing,
Every Susie and Sal.

They're congregating for me and my gal,
The parson's waiting for me and my gal.
And sometime
We're goin' to build a little home for two,
For three or four or more,
In Loveland for me and my gal.
{Duet}
The bells are ringing for me and my gal,
The birds are singing for me and my gal.
Everybody's been knowing
To a wedding they're going
And for weeks they've been sewing,
They've been sewing something old and something new so
Something that is blue so
They can make a trousseau
For my gal.
They're congregating for me and my gal,
Look here!
Why that's the Parson's waiting for me and my gal.
And sometime
I'm goin' to build a little home for two,
For three or four or five, or maybe more,
In Loveland for me and my gal.

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