Song lyrics to So Long! Oo-Long (How Long You Gonna Be Gone?) by Bert Kalmar / Harry Ruby, 1920
(sung by Fred Astaire and Red Skelton in Three Little Words)
Ming Toy loved a boy,
Happy little Japanee;
Oo-long was his name,
Set her heart a flame.
One day he say, “Soon I gotta go away;”
When he leave Ming Toy grieve;
Everybody hear her say:
Days fly quickly by,
Turning into lonely years;
Tho’ the nights are long,
Ming Toy’s faith is strong.
She kneels and feels,
That she doesn’t pray in vain;
Whispers “Oo I love you, Ming Toy wants you back again.”
So long! Oo-long, how long you gonna be gone?
Your little Japanee,
Will be waiting underneath the bamboo tree;
So don’t be too long,
Oo-long I’ll long while you’re away
Waiting for the day when you’ll come back to me.
I’ll sit and sigh, — Neath the Oriental sky,
Each day that I am left a lone In Naki Saki.
So long! Oo-Long, How long you goin’ to roam?
Please don’t be too long
Oo-long, so long hurry back home.