It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage!

Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II  Music By Richard Rodgers

Trapped! Hoodwink’d! Hambushed! Ali Hakim finds himself between a rock and… the barrel of a gun held by Ado Annie’s father, Cord Elam. Frustrated but comically misguided, the traveling peddler lets out his frustration by anxiously calling for a men’s “revolution.”

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"It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage!" Lyrics

Ali Hakim:
Trapped! Tricked!
Hoodblinked! Hambushed!

Men:
Friend,
Whut’s on yer mind?
Why do you walk
Around and around,
With yer hands
Folded behind,
And yer chin
Scrapin’ the ground?

Ali Hakim:
Twenty minutes ago I am free like a breeze,
Free like a bird in the woodland wild,
Free like a gypsy, free like a child,
I’m unattached.

Twenty minutes ago I can do what I please,
Flick my cigar ashes on a rug,
Dunk with a doughnut, drink from a jug—
I’m a happy man!

I’m minding my own business like I oughter,
Ain’t meanin’ any harm to anyone.
I’m talking to a certain farmer’s daughter—
Then I’m looking in the muzzle of a gun!

Men:
It’s gittin’ so you cain’t have any fun!
Ev’ry daughter has a father with a gun!

It’s a scandal, it’s a outrage!
How a gal gits a husband today!

Ali Hakim:
If you make one mistake when the moon is bright,
Then they tie you to a contract,
So you make it ev’ry night!

Men:
It’s a scandal, it’s a outrage!
When her fambly surround you and say:
“You gotta take an’ make an honest womern outa Nell!”

Ali Hakim:
To make you make her honest, she will lie like hell!

Men:
It’s a scandal, it’s a outrage!
On our manhood it’s a blot!
Where is the leader who will save us
And be the first man to be shot?

Ali Hakim:
Me?

Men:
Yes, you!

It’s a scandal, it’s a outrage!
Jist a wink and a kiss and you’re through!

Ali Hakim:
You’re a mess, and in less than a year, by heck!
There’s a baby on your shoulder making bubbles on your neck!

Men:
It’s a scandal, it’s a outrage!
Any farmer will tell you it’s true.

Ali Hakim:
A rooster in a chicken coop is better off ’n men.
He ain’t the special property of just one hen!

Men:
It’s a scandal, it’s a outrage!
It’s a problem we must solve.
We gotta start a revolution!

Girls:
All right, boys! Revolve!