That's a well-known phrase,
But your heart becomes
Full of kettle drums
When the sweet potato piper plays
Go on, throw your hat up,
Shout a few hoorays,
Cause you can't hold back
you're a jumping jack
When the sweet potato piper plays...
Though it's not a magic flute
there's a fascinating toot
It's not exactly beautiful,
It's sort of like an' I don't know
I guess you'd call it cute!
Sunbeams try new dance steps,
Songbirds sound their a's,
And the world joins in
With a great big grin
When the sweet potato piper plays!
(whistlewhistlewhistle)
(Dialogue between Marion Hutton and Tex Beneke)
Marion Hutton:
Hello there, Texas, whatcha say'
How come you're whistling,
Why don't you play?
Tex Beneke:
I've been messing with this Sweet Potato all day long
I can't make it play,
What goes, what's wrong?
MH:
you're crazy, Texas,
you're outta your mind
You can't blow that
that's the eatin' kind!
TB:
But them baby rug-cutters down Texas way
They been blowin' on Sweet Potatoes
And really make ?em play!
MH:
Why don't you stick to your saxophone, man'
You oughta know you can't jam on a yam...!

Copyright: BMG Rights Management, Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): JAMES V MONACO, JOHNNY BURKE