In a certain city, where the girls are cute and pretty
They have a raggy, jazzy jazz-time tune
When you hear that syncopated jazz created melody
You could dance all morning night and noon
When the slide trombone and moaning saxophone begin to play
It will make you sad, 'twill make you glad
Oh boy, what joy
Burn my clothes for I'm in Heaven, wish I had a million women

Solomon in all his glory, could have told another story
Were he but living here today
With his thousand wives or more, a jazz band on some Egypt shore
He could dance the night and day away
I will tell you how they dance
That tantalizing 12th Street Rag

First you slide, and then you glide, then shimmy for a while
To the left, then to the right, "Lame Duck," "Get over Sal"
Watch your step then Pirouette, Fox Trot, then squeeze your pal
O-ver you comes stealing such a funny feeling, 'till you feel your senses reeling
Tantalizing, hypnotizing, mesmerizing strain
I can't get enough of it, please play it o'er again
I could dance forever to this refrain
To that 12th Street, oh you 12th Street Rag

Jazz-time music is the rage, this is a syncopated age
ev'ry body loves a jazz-time tune
For the music captivating, sets your heart a palpitating
You just can't make your feet behave
Ancients youths of sixty-four, do steps they never did before
Father time is mad, no one grows old
Oh boy, what joy
Put your loving arms around me, say babe, ain't you glad you found me

Cleopatra on the Nile, could vamp right in the latest style
If she'd only known this ragtime tune
Old King Cole a merry soul, called for his pipe and then his bowl
And the first jazz band his fiddlers three
Play, oh play me while I dance
That tantalizing 12th Street Rag

First you slide, and then you glide, then shimmy for a while;
To the left, then to the right, "Lame Duck," "Get over Sal"
Watch your step then Pirouette, Fox Trot, then squeeze your pal
Over you comes stealing such a funny feeling, 'till you feel your senses reeling
Tantalizing, hypnotizing, mesmerizing strain
I can't get enough of it, please play it o'er again
I could dance for ever to this refrain
To that 12th Street, oh you 12th Street Rag