The Old Chestnut Tree
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Hosted by Kirk Stantis
Playlist
[14:21]
Ten Cents a Dance
[22:33]
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
— Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
[25:08]
Mack the Knife
— The Threepenny Opera
[27:22]
Whatever Lola Wants
— Damn Yankees
[46:21]
Camelot
— Camelot
Transcript
[00:18]
The National Alliance on Mental Illness Dane County
[00:39]
announces the NAMI Walk State County on Saturday, October 3rd at
[00:43]
Warder Park. The walk is held to promote awareness of
[00:47]
mental health and end stigma to raise funds for NAMI's mission of advocacy,
[00:51]
education and support and to build community and let people
[00:55]
know that they are not alone. The 1 in 3 mile walks start at noon.
[00:59]
Walkers can walk shorter distances or stay behind to enjoy
[01:03]
the games and food near the Rainbow Shelter at Warder Park.
[01:07]
There is no fee to register but walkers are encouraged to raise
[01:11]
donations. Online sign up and information is available at
[01:15]
namiwalks.org slash Dane County or by calling
[01:19]
608-249-7188 or by email
[01:23]
walk at namidanecounty.org.
[01:27]
This is WORT 89.9 FM Madison
[01:31]
and WORT FM.org.
[01:37]
And welcome back to WORT Live! I am your
[01:41]
host for the next one approximately one hour, Kirk Stantis with
[01:45]
Better Living Through Show Tunes and today I'm going to do something
[01:49]
that I like to do early on when I started about 15, 20
[01:53]
years ago on this show and that is play some
[01:57]
of the chestnuts. I love the old musicals and I still do. So today
[02:01]
I'm calling it the old chestnut tree and we're going to get started and just
[02:05]
play some great old music. I hope you appreciate it.
[02:09]
It's what has given the American musical
[02:13]
theater its roots, its standards.
[02:17]
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I'll be back to talk to you later. So let's start
[02:21]
off with Joel Gray and a nice cone song.
[02:25]
Say hello to dear old Coney Isle if there your chance to be
[02:29]
When you're at the Waldorf have a smile and charge it up to me
[02:33]
Mention my name every place you go as round the town you roam
[02:37]
Wish you'd call and my gal
[02:41]
Now remember old pal
[02:45]
When you get back home
[02:50]
Give my regards to bra
[02:57]
Remember me to Herald Square
[03:02]
Tell all the gang at 42nd
[03:07]
Street that I will soon be there
[03:11]
Whisper of how I'm yearning
[03:17]
To mingle with the old time
[03:21]
throng
[03:23]
Yes, give my regards to old Broadway
[03:27]
And say that I'll be there
[03:38]
Just words for the skyrocket
[03:43]
Did you ever see to Yankees part upon a foreign shore
[03:47]
When the good ship's just about to start for old New York once more
[03:51]
With kid and die they say goodbye
[03:55]
They're friends without a doubt
[03:59]
Then the man on the pier shouts
[14:09]
A dime's a dance
[14:15]
What they pay me gosh, how they weigh down
[14:21]
Ten cents a dance
[14:24]
Sees and rough guy
[14:27]
My gal
[14:41]
The sack's umpits are breaking my
[14:56]
It's a queer big boy
[15:09]
Fighters say old legged tailors
[15:12]
Can pay for a ticket and rent me
[15:17]
Butchers and barbers and rats from the harbors
[15:21]
Our sweetheart's my good luck
[15:23]
Walkings are pulls in the tea gosh, how's a dance
[15:54]
Severedly the sack's a phone block
[16:10]
Trumpets are breaking my
[16:13]
Eardrums
[16:17]
Crush my toes
[16:19]
Sometimes I think
[16:23]
I found my hero
[16:25]
But it's a queer old man
[16:29]
It is a ticket
[16:34]
Big boy
[16:38]
And the dive done pre-goiled
[17:25]
A simp pretty well Asian poem
[18:15]
Wild again
[18:23]
He goiled again, could sleep
[18:46]
Sleep, but what of it
[18:59]
Will he
[19:18]
But still he's all my
[19:20]
I'll keep him adding
[19:54]
To his ship, the trousers
[20:00]
Chest vexed again
[20:32]
The French are glad to die
[21:13]
They delight in fighting
[21:19]
Dual
[21:23]
But I prefer
[21:26]
A man who
[21:29]
A kiss me or help you
[22:01]
As girls
[22:05]
But square cut or pear shape
[22:15]
These rocks don't lose their shape
[22:17]
Dara girls
[22:20]
Dove of fate are strictly platonic
[22:33]
But diamonds are a girl's best friend
[22:37]
So think affairs that you must
[22:40]
Keep Masonic are the better bets
[22:44]
If little pets get big baguettes
[22:48]
Time rolls off is gone
[22:51]
And you can't straighten up
[22:56]
When you bend
[22:58]
But stiff back or stiff knees
[23:01]
You stand straight at Tiffany's
[23:04]
Diamonds are a girl's best friend
[23:08]
There come a time when a lass needs a lawyer
[23:13]
But diamonds are a girl's best friend
[23:17]
There may come a time when a hard-boiled employer
[23:22]
Thinks you're awful nice
[23:25]
But get that ice or else no dice
[23:29]
He's your guy
[23:32]
When stocks go high
[23:35]
But beware when they start to descend
[23:41]
It's then that those louses
[23:44]
Go back to their spouses
[23:47]
Diamonds
[23:58]
For the shark has pretty teeth, dear
[24:03]
And he shows them
[24:10]
Just a jackknife
[24:13]
Has Mackie here
[24:17]
And he keeps it out of sight
[24:22]
When the shark bites
[24:25]
With his teeth, dear
[24:28]
Scarlet billows
[24:31]
Are to spread
[24:34]
Fancy gloves, though
[24:37]
Where's Mackie here?
[24:40]
Brace of red
[24:45]
On the sidewalk
[24:49]
Day morning
[24:53]
Lies a body
[24:56]
Sneakin'
[25:02]
Round the corner
[25:05]
Is there someone
[25:08]
Mack the Knife
[25:10]
A tugboat
[25:14]
A mint
[25:19]
A pin-dumb
[25:31]
Eke a magintow
[25:37]
We mill
[25:40]
Sapir
[25:41]
Difter
[25:44]
Draw
[26:27]
The shark
[26:33]
He shows
[26:38]
Just a jack
[26:39]
Out of sight
[26:51]
Just a jackknife
[26:54]
Has Mackie here
[26:57]
And he keeps it
[27:00]
There goes Mack the Knife
[27:04]
Out of sight
[27:22]
Whatever lola wants
[27:34]
Lola wants you
[27:38]
Make up your mind to have
[27:46]
Decline yourself
[27:48]
Resign yourself
[27:50]
You're through
[27:51]
I always get
[27:55]
What I'm for
[28:00]
And your heart and soul
[28:04]
Is what I...
[28:05]
Whatever lola wants
[28:11]
No use to fight
[28:18]
Don't you know you
[28:20]
Can't win
[28:22]
You're no exception to the rule
[28:28]
I'm irresistible, you fool
[28:31]
Give in
[28:34]
Give in
[28:37]
Give in
[28:41]
I love you
[28:48]
It's me so far
[28:55]
You'll never win
[30:09]
I'm irresistible, you fool
[30:15]
Give in
[30:21]
Give in
[30:25]
Breaking
[34:23]
Forced to glitter
[34:26]
Forced to be gay
[34:28]
Be gay
[40:10]
It's gone, ooh baby
[40:13]
They think that baby
[40:17]
Beside us
[45:30]
Then December
[45:35]
The ground has made it clear
[46:02]
The climate must be perfect
[46:05]
All the earth
[46:08]
A law was made a day soon ago here
[46:12]
July and August cannot be too hot
[46:17]
And there's a legal limit to the suno here
[46:21]
In Camelot
[46:23]
Winter is forbidden
[46:28]
Till December
[46:30]
Exit's March the 2nd on the dot
[46:32]
By order summer lingers through September
[46:37]
In Camelot
[46:39]
Rindies are
[46:51]
But in Camelot
[46:52]
That's how conditions are
[46:56]
The rain may never fall
[47:00]
Till after sundown
[47:02]
By 8 the morning fog must disappear
[47:07]
In short there's simply not
[47:09]
A more congenial spot
[47:11]
Happily ever after
[47:15]
Rain than here in
[47:18]
Camelot
[47:21]
Gives a person Camelot
[47:54]
Those are the legal laws
[47:56]
Never slush upon the hillside
[48:03]
By 9 pm the moonlight must appear
[48:06]
In short there's simply not
[48:09]
A more congenial spot
[48:11]
For happily ever after
[48:14]
Rain than here in
[48:17]
Camelot
[48:20]
Executive washroom
[48:34]
Oh, come on down
[48:36]
We're here making plans
[48:39]
Gotta stop that man
[48:47]
I gotta stop that man
[48:50]
Cold
[48:51]
For he'll stop me
[48:53]
Big Rocket
[49:00]
Thinks he has the world in his pocket
[49:03]
Gotta stop, gotta stop, gotta stop that man
[49:07]
And they're staring at himself in the mirror
[49:12]
Now there you are
[49:14]
Yes, there's that face
[49:17]
That face
[49:20]
That somehow
[49:22]
I trust
[49:24]
It may
[49:26]
Embarrass you to
[49:28]
Hear me say it
[49:30]
But say it I must
[49:32]
Say it I must
[49:35]
You have the cool
[49:38]
Clear
[49:39]
Eyes of a seeker
[49:41]
Of wisdom and truth
[49:46]
Yet there's that up
[49:49]
Turned
[49:50]
Chin
[49:51]
And that grin of impetuous you
[49:54]
I hear the good
[50:13]
Solid judgment whenever you talk
[50:16]
Yet there's the bold
[50:22]
Brave
[50:23]
Spring of the tiger
[50:26]
That quickens your walk
[50:28]
I fell on my mind
[50:56]
I take heart
[50:59]
Take heart
[51:04]
The
[51:08]
Eyes of a seeker
[51:13]
Of wisdom and truth
[51:15]
Yet with the slam
[51:20]
Bang
[51:23]
Reminiscent of Jim Vermouth
[51:27]
Welcome back
[52:30]
I know that's been almost an hour
[52:32]
Of uninterrupted show tunes today
[52:35]
A little bit different for me
[52:37]
It's some of the chestnuts I've always wanted to play
[52:40]
And have played way back when I started the show
[52:43]
About 15, 20 years ago now
[52:46]
And I loved the old chestnuts
[52:48]
I hope you do too
[52:49]
And had some fun listening to them
[52:51]
Next up on the horizon
[52:53]
The world's best world music
[52:55]
Played here, right here at W.O.R.T.
[52:58]
89.9 FM
[52:59]
So stay tuned
[53:00]
And we'll see you in about
[53:02]
The third Sunday of next month
[53:04]
Thanks for listening
[53:05]
Thanks for tuning in
[53:06]
And always thank you for supporting WART
[53:08]
...
[53:25]
WART
[53:30]
...
[53:34]
...
[54:30]
...
[54:31]
WART
[60:12]
The WART Network invites you to their Growing Through Literacy fundraising lunch on Tuesday,
[60:16]
September 29th from noon to 1 PM at the Concourse Hotel.
[60:21]
All are welcome to celebrate how Literacy Network continues its commitment to the power
[60:26]
of free adult literacy education.
[60:29]
Enjoy stories of students reaching their goals of becoming U.S. citizens, earning their GED,
[60:35]
curing improved job opportunities, and more. Attendance for this event is free. To register,
[60:41]
visit litnetwork.org and click on the events tab. To become an event sponsor, email margaret
[60:49]
at litnetwork.org. The deadline to register is September 25th at noon. That's growing through
[60:56]
Larry's Seed Lawn Tuesday, September 29th from noon to 1 p.m. at the Concourse Hotel. This is WORT 89.9 FM
[61:07]
Madison. Well, that's UB40, so I must be Helena White. And you are listening to WORT 89.9 FM Madison,
[61:52]
your listener-sponsored community radio station.