It Was Good Enough for Grandma

It Was Good Enough for Grandma is a song from the play Bloomer Girl is a 1944 Broadway musical with music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg

When Grandma was a lady,
She sewed and cleaned and cooked,
She scrubbed her pots
And raised her tots,
The dear old gal was hooked.
She stitched her little stitches,
Her life was applesauce.
The thing that wore the britches
Was boss.
She had no voice in gov’ment
And bondage was her state.
She only knew what love meant
From eight to half-past eight.
And that’s a hell of a fate!

Chorus:

It was good enough for Grandma,
That good old gal,
With her frills and her feathers and fuss.
It was good enough for Grandma,
Good enough for Grandma,
But it ain’t good enough for us!

When Grandma was a lassie,
That tyrant known as man
Thought woman’s place
Was just the space
Around a frying pan.
He made the world his oyster,
Now it ain’t worth a cuss.
This oyster, he can’t foist ‘er
On us!
Our brains against his muscle,
Our tea against his rum.
A look behind the bustle
For the shape of things to come.
Join up with fife and drum!

[Chorus]

We won the revolution
In seventeen-seventy-six.
Who says it’s nix
For us to mix
Our sex with politics?
We’ve bigger seas to swim in
And bigger holes to slice.
Oh, sisters, are we women
Or mice?
Look twice before you step on
The fair sex of the earth.
Beware our secret weapon:
We could stop giving birth.
Take that for what it’s worth!

[Chorus]

Media Appearances

• The 1944 Broadway musical “Bloomer Girl”
  • Which was made into a TV program in 1956
• TV special “Swing Out Sweet Land” where it was performed by Ann Margaretx