Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  



Let Us Come In (Party Crasher's Carol)

Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1957 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1985. Malvina’s husband, Bud (William) Reynolds, loved to visit people. They called some friends one evening to find out whether they might drop in. “Well, um, actually we’re having a party, but why don’t you just come over and join us!” So they did, had a good time, and Malvina wrote this song. She changed the lines “We heard the music playing/We smelled the beautiful booze” to “We heard the music playing/Sounded like happy time news” to put it into a children’s songbook.


We are three wand'ring trav'lers
Out in the wind and the rain,
We saw your light, cheery and bright,
And tapped on your window pane, singing:

Chorus:
Let us come in, let us come in,
Into your house so gay,
Let us come in, let us come in,
Please do not send us away.

We heard the music playing,
Sounded like happy time news,1
One of us said, "Let's knock on the door!"
The other said, "What can we lose?" singing:

(Chorus)

One of us plays on the whistle,
Makes such a musical tweet,
One of us sings such beautiful things,
And one keeps time with his feet, singing:

(Chorus)

Please go ahead with your dinner,
We will just wait till you're through,
But if you find there's enough to go round,
Save us a beefsteak or two, singing:

(Chorus)

We will make noise very softly,
The landlord won't hear us at all,
And if there's not enough room in the beds
We will just sleep in the hall, singing:

(Chorus)

One or two extra won't matter,
Plenty of room on the floor,
You'll look around and find we have gone
After a fortnight or more, singing:

(Chorus)


Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- Little Boxes and Other Handmade Songs
---- Cheerful Tunes for Lutes and Spoons: Youngish Songs
---- There's Music in the Air: Songs for the Middle-Young

Malvina Reynolds recording(s) on which this song is performed:
---- Magical Songs

Recordings by other artists on which this song is performed:
---- Charlie King et al.: The Senseless Laughter of Whales / Ship in the Sky (Vaguely Reminiscent Sounds VRS9013/VRS9014, 1996)
---- Pete Seeger: Song and Play-Time (Folkways Records FC 7526, 1960)
---- Rosalie Sorrels et al.: An Imaginary Christmas in Idaho (Limberlost Books & Records, 1999)

Additional note
1. The second line of this verse may read "We smelled the beautiful booze" or "We smelled the beautiful stews," depending on the audience.


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This page copyright 2006 by Charles H. Smith and Nancy Schimmel. All rights reserved.

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