Bess
Oh... what you want wid bess?
She's gettin' ole now;
Take a fine young gal
For to satisfy crown.
Look at this chest
An' look at these arms you got.
You know how it always been with me,
These five years I been yo' woman,
You could kick me in the street,
Then when you wanted me back,
You could whistle, an' there I was
Back again, lickin' yo' hand.
There's plenty better lookin' gal than bess.

Can' you see, I'm with porgy,
Now and forever
I am his woman, he would die without me.
Oh, crown, won't you let me go to my man, to my man.
He is a cripple an' needs my love, all my love.
What you want wid bess? oh, let me go to my man. . .

Crown
What I wants wid other woman,
I gots a woman, yes,
An' dat is you, yes, dat is you, yes,
I need you now an' you're mine jus' as long as I want you.
No cripple goin' take my woman from me.
You got a man tonight an' that is crown, yes, crown, yes
Crown.
You're my woman, bess, I'm tellin' you, now I'm your man.

(pressing her very close)

Bess
What you want with bess?
(boat whistles)
Lemme go, crown dat boat, it's goin' wiout me!

Crown
You ain't goin' nowhere!

Bess
(weakening)
Take yo' hands off me, I say, yo' hands, yo' hands, yo hands.
(crown kisses her passionately)

Crown
I knows you' ain' change - wid you and me it always be the
Same. git in dat thicket.
(bess backs into woods; crown follows.)

• A Fine Romance
• A Foggy Day
• A Night in Tunisia
• A Ship Without a Sail
• A Woman is a Sometime Thing
• Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive
• Ace in The Hole
• After I Say I'm Sorry?
• Alexander's Ragtime Band
• All by Myself
• All My Life
• All of You
• All The Things You Are
• All Through The Night
• All Too Soon
• Always
• Always True to You in My Fashion
• Angel Eyes
• Anything Goes
• April in Paris
• Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?
• As Long as I Live
• At Last
• Autumn in New York
• Azure
• Baby, Won't You Please Come Home
• Begin The Beguine
• Beginner's Luck
• Bess, You is My Woman Now
• Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea
• Bewitched
• Bidin' My Time
• Black Coffee
• Bli-blip
• Blue Moon
• Blue Room
• Blue Skies
• Blues in The Night
• Born to Be Blue
• Boy Wanted
• Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!
• But Not for Me
• By Strauss
• Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
• Can't We Be Friends?
• Caravan
• Change Partners
• Cheek to Cheek
• Cheerful Little Earful
• Clap Yo' Hands
• Come Rain or Come Shine
• Comes Love
• Cotton Tail
• Crab Man
• Cry Me a River
• Dancing on The Ceiling
• Day Dream
• Day in - Day Out
• Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead
• Do I Love You?
• Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me
• Don't Be That Way
• Don't Fence Me In
• Don't Get Around Much Any More
• Dream
• Drop Me Off in Harlem
• Early Autumn
• Easy to Love
• Embraceable You
• Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye
• Ev'rything I've Got
• Everything but You
• Fascinating Rhythm
• For You, for Me for Evermore
• From This Moment On
• Frosty The Snowman
• Funny Face
• Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You?
• Get Happy
• Get Out of Town
• Get Thee Behind Me Satan
• Give It Back to The Indians
• Gone With The Wind
• Good Morning Blues
• Good Morning Heartache
• Goodnight, My Love
• Guilty
• Happiness is a Thing Called Joe
• Happy Blues
• Have You Met Miss Jones?
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• He Loves & She Loves
• Heat Wave
• Here Come De Honey Man
• Here in My Arms
• Hooray for Love
• How About Me?
• How Deep is The Ocean
• How Long Has This Been Going On?
• How's Chances?
• I Ain't Got Nothin' but The Blues
• I Am in Love
• I Can't Be Bothered Now
• I Concentrate on You
• I Could Write a Book
• I Didn't Know About You
• I Didn't Know What Time It Was
• I Get a Kick Out of You
• I Got It Bad
• I Got Plenty O' Nuttin
• I Got Rhythm
• I Gotta Right to Sing The Blues
• I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart
• I Love Paris
• I Remember You
• I Used to Be Color Blind
• I Want to Talk About You
• I Wants to Stay Here
• I Was Doing All Right
• I Wish I Were in Love Again
• I Won't Dance
• I'll Be Hard to Handle
• I'm Beginning to See The Light
• I'm Just a Lucky So & So
• I'm Old Fashioned
• I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket
• I've Got a Crush on You
• I've Got Five Dollars
• I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
• I've Got The World on a String
• I've Got You Under My Skin
• Ill Wind
• Imagination
• In a Mellow Tone
• In a Sentimental Mood
• In The Still of The Night
• Isn't It a Pity?
• Isn't It Romantic?
• Isn't This a Lovely Day
• It Ain't Necessarily So
• It Don't Mean a Thing
• It Never Entered My Mind
• It Was Written in The Stars
• It's a Lovely Day Today
• It's All Right With Me
• It's De-lovely
• It's Wonderful
• Jersey Bounce
• Jim
• Jingle Bells
• Johnny One Note
• Just A-sittin' & A-rockin'
• Just Another Rhumba
• Just One of Those Things
• Just Squeeze Me
• Laura
• Lazy
• Learnin' The Blues
• Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
• Let Yourself Go
• Let's Begin
• Let's Call The Whole Thing Off
• Let's Do It
• Let's Face The Music & Dance
• Let's Fall in Love
• Let's Kiss & Make Up
• Let's Take a Walk Around The Block
• Little Girl Blue
• Looking for a Boy
• Lorelei
• Lost in Meditation
• Love for Sale
• Love is Sweeping The Country
• Love Walked In
• Love You Madly
• Lover
• Lullaby of Birdland
• Lush Life
• Makin' Whoopee!
• Manhattan
• Midnight Sun
• Miss Otis Regrets
• Misty
• Mood Indigo
• Moonlight in Vermont
• Mountain Greenery
• Music Goes 'round & Around
• My Cousin in Milwaukee
• My Funny Valentine
• My Heart Stood Still
• My Man's Gone Now
• My Melancholy Baby
• My One & Only
• My Reverie
• My Romance
• My Shining Hour
• Nice Work if You Can Get It
• Night & Day
• No Strings
• Now It Can Be Told
• Of Thee I Sing
• Oh, Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?
• Oh, Dey's So Fresh & Fine
• Oh, Doctor Jesus
• Oh, Lawd, I'm on My Way
• Oh, So Nice
• Once I Loved
• One for My Baby
• Our Love is Here to Stay
• Out of Nowhere
• Out of This World
• Over The Rainbow
• Perdido
• Prelude to a Kiss
• Puttin' on The Ritz
• Reaching for The Moon
• Remember
• Remind Me
• Ridin' High
• Rocks in My Bed
• Round Midnight
• Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer
• Russian Lullaby
• S Wonderful
• Sam & Delilah
• Satin Doll
• Shall We Dance?
• She Didn't Say Yes
• Shoo Fly Pie & Apple Pan Dowdy
• Signing Off
• Sing My Heart
• Sing, Song, Swing
• Single-o
• Skylark
• Slap That Bass
• Slumming on Park Avenue
• So in Love
• Solitude
• Somebody from Somewhere
• Somebody Loves Me
• Someone to Watch Over Me
• Something's Gotta Give
• Soon
• Sophisticated Lady
• Spring Can Really Hang You up The Most
• Spring is Here
• Stars Fell on Alabama
• Stella by Starlight
• Stiff Upper Lip
• Stompin' at The Savoy
• Stormy Weather
• Strike up The Band
• Summertime
• Suppertime
• Sweet Georgia Brown
• Take Love Easy
• Take The & Quot;a & Quot;Train
• Ten Cents a Dance
• Tenderly
• That Certain Feeling
• The Buzzard Song
• The Half of It, Dearie & Quot;Blues
• The Lady is a Tramp
• The Man I Love
• The Man That Got Away
• The Nearness of You
• The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else
• The Real American Folk Song
• The Song is Ended
• The Very Thought of You
• The Way You Look Tonight
• There's a Boat Dat's Leavin' Soon for New York
• There's a Small Hotel
• These Foolish Things
• They All Laughed
• They Can't Take That Away from Me
• Things Are Looking Up
• This Can't Be Love
• This Could Be The Start of Something Big
• This Time The Dream's on Me
• This Year's Kisses
• Thou Swell
• To Keep My Love Alive
• Too Darn Hot
• Too Marvelous for Words
• Top Hat, White Tie, & Tails
• Trav'lin' Light
• Treat Me Rough
• Undecided
• Under a Blanket of Blue
• Wait Till You See Her
• What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
• What is This Thing Called Love?
• What You Want Wid Bess?
• When a Woman Loves a Man
• When I Get Low I Get High
• When The Sun Comes Out
• Where or When
• White Christmas
• Who Cares?
• Why Can't You Behave?
• Why Was I Born?
• Willow Weep for Me
• With a Song in My Heart
• Yesterdays
• You Can Have Him
• You Couldn't Be Cuter
• You Do Something to Me
• You Go to My Head
• You Keep Coming Back Like a Song
• You Took Advantage of Me
• You Won't Be Satisfied
• You'll Have to Swing It
• You're Blase
• You're Laughing at Me
• You're My Thrill
• You're The Top
• You've Got a Friend