ARTIST: Cy Coben and Charles Grean
TITLE: The Billboard Song
Lyrics and Chords


[This song has long since passed into the folk domain, with dozens of different versions floating around. I don't have the original Coben/Grean version to compare against. Here are two that I have come across.]


As I was walking down the street one dark and gloomy day
I came upon a billboard and much to my dismay
The sign was torn and tattered from the storm the night before
The wind and rain had done it's work and this it what I saw

/ C - - G7 / - - - C / - - - F / - C G7 C /

Smoke Coca-Cola Cigarettes, chew Wrigley's Spearmint beer
Ken-L Ration dog food keeps your wife's complexion clear
Simonize your baby with a Hershey's candy bar
And Texaco's the beauty cream that's used by all the stars

So take your next vacation in a brand new Frigidaire
Learn to play piano in your winter underwear
Doctors say that babies should smoke until they're three
And people over 65 should bathe in Lipton Tea

In flow-thru tea bags

/ C C6 C C7 /

[An alternate, and much older, version exists as well:]
As I was walking down the street a billboard met my eye
The advertising that was there would make you laugh or cry
The wind and rain had almost washed that old billboard away
But the advertising painted there would have that billboard say

Have a smoke of Coca-Cola, chew catsup cigarettes
Watch Lillian Russell wrestle with a box of Cascarets
Pork and beans will meet tonight in a finish fight
Hear Chauncey DePeeuw speak upon Sapolio tonight

Bay rum is good for horses, it is the best in town
Castoria cures the measles, if you pay ten dollars down
Teeth extracted without pain, a nickel or a half a dime
Ingersolls are selling now, a little behind the times

Chew Wrigley's for that headache, eat Campbell's for that cough
There's going to be a swimming bee at the village watering trough
Buy a case of ginger-ale, it makes the best of broth
Shinola's good to curl the hair, it will not rub it off!

Click here to submit corrections.

How to read these chord charts

Go back to the Table of Contents

Go back to the Index

Go back to my main page