Here are the lyrics to the song:
There was once a poor boy And he left his country home And he came to the city to look for work
He promised his ma and pa He would lead a civilized life And always shun the fatal curse of drink
Once in the city He got a situation in a quarry And there he made the acquaintance of some college students
He little thought they were demons For they wore the best of clothes But the clothes do not always make the gentleman
So they tempted him to drink And they said he was a cow'rd Until at last he took the fatal glass of beer
When he found what he'd done He dashed the glass upon the floor And he staggered through the door with delirium tremens
Once upon the sidewalk He met a Salvation Army girl And wickedly he broke her tambourine
All she said was, "Heaven bless you" And placed a mark upon his brow With a kick she'd learned before she had been saved
Now, as a moral to young men Who come down to the city Don't go 'round breaking people's tambourines.
There was once a poor boy And he left his country home And he came to the city to look for work
He promised his ma and pa He would lead a civilized life And always shun the fatal curse of drink
Once in the city He got a situation in a quarry And there he made the acquaintance of some college students
He little thought they were demons For they wore the best of clothes But the clothes do not always make the gentleman
So they tempted him to drink And they said he was a cow'rd Until at last he took the fatal glass of beer
When he found what he'd done He dashed the glass upon the floor And he staggered through the door with delirium tremens
Once upon the sidewalk He met a Salvation Army girl And wickedly he broke her tambourine
All she said was, "Heaven bless you" And placed a mark upon his brow With a kick she'd learned before she had been saved
Now, as a moral to young men Who come down to the city Don't go 'round breaking people's tambourines.
In W.C. Fields' first sound film, The Golf Specialist (1930) there is a wanted poster of Fields which shows him in his "Fatal Glass of Beer" costume. It evidently was taken from an earlier stage presentation of the classic sketch.
On his 2001 album "Love and Theft", Bob Dylan quotes [W.C. Fields'] from this film when he sings in "Lonesome Day Blues", "Well the road's washed out, the weather's not fit for man or beast!"
Snavely refers to his sled dog as Balto who was a famous sled dog in Alaska.
"My old embouchure ain't what it used to be." The line may be hard to understand, when he is outside and blows his elk call. He's referring to how he sets his mouth to blow the horn. It sounds like amba-sure.