What's the Use?
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Publication Information
Published in Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905)
Performed by Herbert Woodward Martin
Musical Settings
Florence Beatrice Price, What's the Use? (January 1937)
Gary Bachlund, What's the Use? (high voice and piano) (January 2009)
Recommended Citation
Dunbar, Paul Laurence, "What's the Use?" (1905). Dunbar Music Archive. 344.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dunbar/344
COinS
Text
What's the use o' folks a-frownin'
When the way's a little rough?
Frowns lay out the road fur smilin'
You'll be wrinkled soon enough.
What's the use?
What's the use o' folks a-sighin'?
It's an awful waste o' breath,
An' a body can't stand wastin'
What he needs so bad in death.
What's the use?
What's the use o' even weepin'?
Might as well go long an' smile.
Life, out longest, strongest arrow,
Only lasts a little while.
What's the use?