When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich

When The Idle Poor Become The Idle Rich - Finian's Rainbow

When the idle poor

Become the idle rich

You'll never know

Just who is who

Or who is which

Won't it be rich

When everyone's poor relative

Becomes a Rockefellertive

And palms no longer itch

What a switch

When we all have ermine

And plastic teeth

How would we do determine

Who's who underneath

And when all your neighbors

Are upper class

You won't know your Jones'

From your Astor's

Let's toast the day

The day we drink that drinkie up

But with a little pinkie up

The day on which

The idle poor

Become the idle rich

When a rich man doesn't want to work

He's a bon vivant yes he's a bon vivant

But when a poor man doesn't want to work

He's a loafer he's a lounger

He's a lazy good for nothing he's a jerk

When a rich man loses on a horse

Isn't he the sport oh isn't he the sport

When a poor man loses on a horse

He's a gambler he's a spender

He's a low life he's a reason for divorce

When a rich man chases after dames

He's a man about town

Oh yes a man about town

But when a poor man chases after dames

He's a bounder he's a rounder

He's a rotter and a lot of dirty names

When the idle poor

Become the idle rich

You'll never know

Just who is who

Or who is which

No one will see

The Irish or the Slav in you

For when you're on Park Avenue

Cornelius and Mike

Look alike

When poor Tweedle Dum

Is rich Tweedle Dee

This discrimination will no longer be

When we're in the dough and off of the nut

You won't know your banker

From your butler

Let's make the switch

With just a few annuities

We'll hide those incongruities

In clothes from Abercrombie Fitch

When the idle poor

Become the idle rich

When the idle poor

Become the idle rich