Barbra Streisand - Cornet Man Lyrics

Fanny convinces Eddie she has talent and he
Agrees to teach her the specialty for the next
Audition. She gets the job.
Well--
I just put the kids to sleep
And swept the shack,
Took my sweet man's satchel down
And watched him pack,
I said, "Darlin', while the stove still smolders,
Unpin your woman's hair and rub her shoulders."
I threw myself across the doorway
Beggin', "Stay, sweet man, stay, "
But there's more in my man's life
Than this old hag.
It's Jelly Roll Morton, and a shiny cornet,
And jazzin' the rag!
The lady ain't been born
Can take the place of a horn,
With a cornet man.
A-goin' where there's blowin',
Trav'lin' cornet man.
Just anytime they call him
He'll leave his wife and kiddies
Sittin' with their tongues out
To play for peanuts in a dive
And blow his lungs out.
He'll hop a choo-choo on a moment's notice
To play some dates with Billy Bates
Or Rag-time Otis!
The lady ain't see light
Can give a horn a fair fight
With a cornet man
A rootin', shootin', ever-tootin' Dapper Dan
Who carries in his satchel
A powder-blue Norfolk suit,
A silver-plated wah-wah mute,
There is whiskey, gamblin'--each one is a curse,
But I'm up against a devil that's worse.
Yes, a horn is my thorn,
My trav'lin' cornet man!
Kill yourself! Tell me about it! Yeah! Yeah!
A powder-blue Norfolk suit,
I said a silver-plated wah-wah mute,
Oh, he's shy on height,
He's short on weight,
But he's the only man can make my coffee perculate,
A Dapper Dan,
My cornet-playin' man.
After the performance, Nick Arnstein comes backstage,
Elegant in formal dress, to pay off a gambling debt to Keeney.
Nick has seen the show and tells Fanny she's going to be a
Big star some day. Fanny asks how much Keeney is paying her,
And Nick manages to jack up her salary by pretending to bid on
Behalf of a competitor. He gives her his card and kisses her hand.
Eddie asks Fanny out for a date, but she only wants to be friends;
Already she has fallen for Nick, but imagines she'll never see him
Again.

Can anyone explain to me why this delightful number wasn't used in the "Funny Girl" film? That slightly silly roller-skate version of "I'd Rather Be Blue Over You" isn't remotely in this league.

Thomas DiMaggio So many songs from the OBCR aren’t in the movie... shame

It's been suggested that it was cut because it was basically a modern song. It didn't really have a whole lot to do with Fanny Brice or the style of music she sang.... so they replaced this song with "I'd rather be blue," and "the music that makes me dance" with "my man," because they were songs she actually sang. I guess since this would have been a song Fanny actually would have been performing, they wanted something a little closer to the real deal.

@Gregory Wiederecht There are those of us who love this, but also love the Roller-Skate Rag. The movie needed one number where all of Fanny's talents were allowed to shine. In Roller Skate, she starts off gawky and awkward and blooms into a star. Coronet Man would not have done that. And you're wrong about Coronet sounding modern. It is a classic ragtime dixieland piece very much of the era.

I *love* this song -- but I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say it's "racist" (eye roll).

I must have missed the "racist" part. I don't hear anything racist about it, and Barbra does it masterfully.

Does it the lyric written in a Black woman’s point of view?

Also I think if anything, it could be Read as a gay-husband-leaving-his-wife piece. A lady been born to take a place of a horn. You know a horn.

@Ritai Su — You are full of hot air.

Seth Rudetsky brought me here. He points out in one of his videos that Barbra changes "silver plated wah wah mute" to "silver plated wah wah muLE." With an "L" instead of the "T" that it's supposed to be lol

Hate to contradict Seth, but she says mute, she just doesn't emphasize the "t."

Strictly for recording session.  This is not the way it is performed in the show.

Terrific
A la Lizzie Miles growly style
Love it!!!
Nobody else could have done this but Streisand

Robert Lee You’re very cute.