Lyrics and Music by Harold Arlen & Ted Koehler
Forget your troubles and just, get happy
You better chase all your cares away.
Sing hallelujah come on, get happy
Get ready for the judgment day.
The sun is shinin’ come on, get happy
The Lord is waitin’ to take your hand.
Shout hallelujah come on, get happy
We’re going to the promised land.
We’re headin’ cross the river,
Wash your sins away In the tide.
It’s all so peaceful on the other side.
Forget your troubles and just, get happy
You better chase all your cares away
Shout hallelujah come on, get happy
Get ready for the judgment day.
In 1929, Ruth Etting starred in Ruth Selwyn’s unsuccessful musical Nine-Fifteen Revue which closed in New York in less than a week; however, she did introduce Ted Koehler and Harold Arlen‘s great song Get Happy. George Gershwin called her handling of the song the most exciting finale he had ever heard in a theatre.
