Song lyrics to Beans. Lyrics by Mack David, Music by Jerry Livingston. Sung by Jerry Lewis and cast in At War With the Army
“The Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans” – a comedy song where Jerry Lewis, on KP duty, complains about the low-quality food that the Army gets.
Jerry Lewis:
In the Navy they get steak, caviar and whipped cream cake
They have fancy cooks who know what cooking means…
In the Army we get mess, and it really is a mess
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Send a salami, to your boy in the army
Yes, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans beans
beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Nothing but beans
Navy service is ideal, printed menus every meal
And they decorate your plate with parsley greens
In the Army we get chow that you wouldn’t feed a Chow
Oh, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the
Chorus
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Beautiful beans, gorgeous beans, succulent beans
Send a baloney `cause I’m skinny and boney
Yes, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans
nothing but beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Loving those beans, loving those beans, liking those beans
Know what I mean, mammy I love you
Nothing but beans
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Oh, I was born at the age of three, as might’ as I could be
Sure it takes a great mentality to dish out all the
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Oh, it seems bell bottomed pants are conducive to romance
They are wined and dined and loved by movie queens
But you wear a khaki frame and you get a wacky dame
Oh, the Navy gets the [silence] the Army gets the [silence]
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
I hit the jackpot, but it’s always a crackpot
Yes, the Navy gets the gravy, but the Army gets the beans
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)
Jerry Lewis:
Did you know that the Navy gets all of the gravy
Did you know that the Army gets all of the beans
Oh, a soldier’s a coward if he doesn’t lick the platter clean
Oh, a soldier’s a coward if he leaves a solitary bean
Oh, it isn’t the fighting that will make a soldier cross and mean
It is only the beans!
You can grab a marine and you show him a bean
He says : “what does it mean, that I never have seen”
So you grab a civilian, and one in a million can identify
So I say to you : “Why do we got to have beans ?”
Multiple beans, haricot beans, succulent beans
Nothing but beans
Chorus:
(beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans,
beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans, beans)