Neighbors’ Chorus
January 30, 2004
I sing in a local chorale in Twin Falls, and we had rehearsal this evening. We are performing a selection from Jacques Offenbach’s comic opera, Lo jolie Parfumeuse. It’s called the “Neighbors’ Chorus.” It was written in 1954 and is so…well, you can see for yourself. Here are the lyrics:
Please excuse us, mister, we don’t want to bother, we only want to know
Why do you look so low? Give us all the lowdown,
Did you reach a show-down with your last lady love?
Did she keep you waiting, did she break your date?
Please elucidate, please elaborate
Did she treat you badly, was she very bad?
Did she make you mad? Are you very sad?Was she a very rich man’s daughter
Who showed that she was not all you thought her?
When with your songs of love you sought her,
Were you dowsed with water poured down from above?Did you beat her, try to choke her till you made her pout?
Did her father take a poker, did he throw you out?
Did you beat her and choke her and knock her all about? Ah!
I’m looking at my 80-yr old friend Joan in the choir and she can’t believe what she’s singing. Joe, who is close to 80 and sits next to me, looks at me after we finish singing it and says, “It’s a silly song, if you ask me.”
Tags: Choir, Chorale, Neighbors-Chorus
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Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
March 31st, 2004 at 5:07 pm
i sing that song and u missed a line!!!
Please excuse us, mister, we don’t want to bother, we only want to know ALL OF US ARE NEIGHBORS SO WERE VERY COURIOUS
Why do you look so low? Give us all the lowdown
April 5th, 2004 at 4:19 pm
you also missed another line though i can’t remember it but i remember parts but it goes between Did you reach a show-down with your last lady love?right here is the part
Did she keep you waiting, did she break your date?… were learning this in my choir now its soo funny to sing
February 4th, 2005 at 5:29 pm
hey! haha i love this song soo much.. we’re learning this at my choir in GA and its an awesome song… its so funny! well thats all i wanted to say.. bye!
February 16th, 2005 at 9:58 am
We are doing the same song in university chorus… But its at a wierd low tempo… BUT its an awesome song
August 7th, 2005 at 1:42 pm
First of all, it may sound like a silly song, but it was written to be that way. Besides, it’s fun to sing and even better to listen to when done right. The tempo changes rock.
Secondly, you don’t have all of it. You’re missing lines here and there all over the place.
Thirdly, I was just curious because I am perplexed: You are a beer drinker yet a Christ follower? Oh wow, and you’re in Seminary… Is that even allowed?
October 12th, 2005 at 9:01 am
My goodness, how could anybody believe that this was written in 1954. The copyright on the music is 1954, but that does not and will never mean that the music is written at that time. Copyrights are always changing. When a publishing company re-edits a work or decides to publish something for the very first time it establishes a copyright during that calendar year. Neighbors’ Chorus is so extremely a part of the Romantic music period even a high school student should be able to pick up on that. All it took was a quick look up on the comic opera to then find it was written in 1873 the late romantic period. Research before you type something blindly.
October 15th, 2005 at 3:42 pm
consider this: in its native french, the words may have held a different meaning. When translated into english, their may not have been exact word equivolents (sp?)
January 7th, 2006 at 11:42 pm
I love this song. Here’s all the words (as far as I can remember, anyway!).
Please excuse us, mister, we don’t want to bother, we only want to know
All of us are neighbors, so we’re very curious: Why do you look so low?
Give us all the lowdown, Did you reach a show-down with your last lady love?
Give us all the lowdown, do you feel a let-down ’cause you lost your love? Oh!
Did she keep you waiting, did she break your date?
Please elucidate, please elaborate
Did she treat you badly, was she very bad?
Did she make you mad? Are you very sad?
Was she a very rich man’s daughter
Who showed that she was not all you thought her?
When with your songs of love you sought her,
Were you dowsed with water poured down from above?
Did you beat her, try to choke her till you made her pout?
Did her father take a poker, did he throw you out?
Did you beat her and choke her and knock her all about? Ah!
February 17th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
Everyone’s forgetting the:
Did she, did she keep you waiting
Did she, did she (I forget this part)
Are you very (sad or mad), are you so very (sad or mad)?
And the last part. But I forget that for the most part. I just know:
We are curious indeed!
Was she bad, are you mad, are you so very sad?
The song gets really high for soprano ones, up to a high a. I’m singing higher now, but this is constantly high. That in itself makes our choir burst out laughing. But we’re getting better.
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:10 pm
THE VERY COMPLETE SONG!
Please excuse us, mister, we don’t want to bother, we only want to know
All of us are neighbors, so we’re very curious: Why do you look so low?
Give us all the lowdown, Did you reach a show-down with your last lady love?
Give us all the lowdown, do you feel a let-down ’cause you lost your love? Oh!
Did she keep you waiting, did she break your date?
Please elucidate, please elaborate
Did she treat you badly, was she very bad?
Did she make you mad? Are you very sad?
Did she, did she keep you waiting?
Did she, treat you very badly?
Are you very sad?
Are you so very sad?
Was she a very rich man’s daughter
Who showed that she was not all you thought her?
When with your songs of love you sought her,
Were you dowsed with water poured down from above?
Did you beat her, try to choke her till you made her pout?
Did her father take a poker, did he throw you out?
Did you beat her and choke her and knock her all about? Ah!
Please excuse us, mister, we don’t want to bother, we only want to know
All of us are neighbors, so we’re very curious: Why do you look so low?
Give us all the lowdown, Did you reach a show-down with your last lady love?
Give us all the lowdown, do you feel a let-down ’cause you lost your love? Oh!
Did she keep you waiting, did she break your date?
Please elucidate, please elaborate
Did she treat you badly, was she very bad?
Did she make you mad? Are you very sad?
Did she, did she keep you waiting?
Did she, treat you very badly?
Are you very sad?
Are you so very sad?
Did she break your date?
Did she make you wait?
We are curious indeed!
Did she treat you bad?
Are you very sad?
We are curious indeed!
Was she bad?
Are you sad?
Did she make you…mad?!
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:58 pm
We just started learning this song in choir for our spring concert, and wow, is it weird. But, when paired with an upbeat waltz tune, it is very fun and comical.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:10 am
I would like to state that you didnt miss any parts, for the tenors and bass, but you did not include the alto or soprano. so its not a bad on youre part or anything, i also noticed the only people complaining about it are women, sorry gals but its true!
December 10th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
I sang this song in my Senior year of HS. 1991-1992. I sang it in both tenor and soprano. It was a all girl choir. Also I am a first soprano so the change to tenor for this song was a relief!!!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Correct lyrics:
Please ex-cuse us mis-ter, we don’t want to both-er, we only want to__ know.
All of us are neigh-bors, so we’re ver-y cu-rious.
Why do you look so__ low?
Give us all the low-down, did you reach a show-down with your last la-dy love?
Give us all the low-down, do you feel a let down ‘cos you’ve lost yor love? Oh!
Did she keep you wait-ing? Did she break your date?
Please e-lu-ci-date, please e-la-o-rate!
Did she treat you bad-ly, was she ver-y bad?
Did she make you mad? Are you ver-y sad?
Did she, did she keep you wait-ing?
Did she, treat you ver-y bad-ly?
Are you real-ly sad, are you so very sad?
Was she a ver-y rivh mans daugh-ter
who showed that she was not all you thought her?
When with youryour songs of love you sought her,
were you dowsed wth wa-ter poured down from a-bove?
Did you beat her try to choke her till you made her pout?
Did her fa-ther take a po-ker, did he throw you out?
Did you beat her and choke her and knock her all a-bout? Ah!
Please ex-cuse us mis-ter, we don’t want to both-er, we only want to__ know.
All of us are neigh-bors, so we’re ver-y cu-rious.
Why do you look so__ low?
Give us all the low-down, did you reach a show-down with your last la-dy love?
Give us all the low-down, do you feel a let down ‘cos you’ve lost yor love? Oh!
Did she keep you wait-ing? Did she break your date?
Please e-lu-ci-date, please e-la-o-rate!
Did she treat you bad-ly, was she ver-y bad?
Did she make you mad? Are you ver-y sad?
Please e-lu-ci-date, Did she make you mad? We are cu-rious, in-deed!
Did she make you mad? Was she very sad? We are cu-rious in-deed!
Was she bad? Are you sad? id she make you mad?
April 13th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
its funni because we just started singing this in my high school choir not to long ago
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I’m so glad you guys posted the lyrics to this! A bit of it popped into my head while I was at work today, but I couldn’t remember the whole song. I havn’t sung it in about eight years (since I was a high school senior) and it was driving me nuts!
June 1st, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I have been looking for this for years, I sang it in HS in the late 70’s I love it Thanks!!