[Original 1930 version]
[Verse:]
Have you seen the well-to-do
Up on Lenox Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air
High hats and colored collars
White spats and fifteen dollars
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time
[Refrain:]
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where Harlem sits
Puttin' on the ritz
Spangled gowns upon a bevy of high browns
From down the levee, all misfits
Puttin' on the ritz
That's where each and ev'ry Lulu Bell goes
Ev'ry Thursday ev'ning with her swell beaus
Rubbing elbows
Come with me and we'll attend their jubilee
And see them spend their last two bits
Puttin' on the ritz
[Verse:]
Have you seen the well-to-do
Up on Lenox Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air
High hats and colored collars
White spats and fifteen dollars
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time
[Refrain:]
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where Harlem sits
Puttin' on the ritz
Spangled gowns upon a bevy of high browns
From down the levee, all misfits
Puttin' on the ritz
That's where each and ev'ry Lulu Bell goes
Ev'ry Thursday ev'ning with her swell beaus
Rubbing elbows
Come with me and we'll attend their jubilee
And see them spend their last two bits
Puttin' on the ritz