Scrap Your Fat

Performed by Mildred Bailey
Recorded c. 1943

Miss Suzy Lee was a charming girl
But she wasn't no wearin' slacks
Two hundred or so,
Said the weight machines
So she couldn't join the Marines,
Or the WAVES or the wACS
Miss Suzy wrote to Washington
"I'd like to do my bit
And everybody tells me
I'd surely be a hit"

In record time from Washington
Came this official note
The simple gist of the note,
They wrote, I quote:

[chorus]
Scrap your fat
Oh mama won't you scrap your fat
Oh mama won't you scrap your fat
For victory

[repeat chorus]

A pound of fat makes a lot of powder
Take it to your corner store
Then say to the grocer,
"What do you know sir?
I still have plenty more

[repeat chorus]

Suzy gave up singin'in a local dive
To volunteer her service in the salvage drive
She answered when they asked her, "Can you gather fat?"
"How can you look at me and ask a question like that?

Suzy's great in helpin' in her country's defense
And when I say she's great I mean she's really immense
She wants to do her part to help the fighting boys
So now the lady's makin' with the avoirdupois*

[repeat chorus twice]

A pound of fat makes a lot of powder
Won't you lend a helpin' hand?
Get out in the kitchen
Start in pitchin'
Send in the fat of the land

[repeat chorus]

*a system of weights (or, properly, mass) based on a pound of sixteen ounces.

[note: a later version of this song includes the following lyrics:
Then she met a handsome, wealthy millionaire
He and she, they had themselves a flaming affair
Though he offered gifts that cost a grand apiece
Suzy made him pay her off in bacon grease]

[lyrics transcribed by listening. Send corrections via the contact link on the main page]