Eighteen and eighty-four, June the twenty-first
Thought I'd write a poem, if I could a verse
Sitting by the window something made me smile
I saw a fellow passing, putting on the style

Putting on the agony, putting on the style
What the stylish people are a-doing all the while
When I look around me I very often smile
To see so many people putting on the style

Young man and his true love a-going to see the scenes
Looking mostly like a bunch of garden greens
Gingerbread and candy eating all the while
Going to see the show, boys, putting on the style

Putting on the agony, putting on the style
What the stylish people are a-doing all the while
When I look around me I very often smile
To see so many people putting on the style

Young man in the the carriage, going like mad
Pair of spanking horses he borrowed from his dad
Cracked his whip so suddenly he made the ladies smile
Oh, isn't he a-going it, putting on the style.

Putting on the agony, putting on the style
What the stylish people are a-doing all the while
When I look around me I very often smile
To see so many people putting on the style

Young man in the dramshop, smokes the dirty pipe
Looking like a pumpkin only partly ripe
Drinks, swears, and gambles, thinking all the while
That this is something equal to putting on the style

Putting on the agony, putting on the style
What the stylish people are a-doing all the while
When I look around me I very often smile
To see so many people putting on the style

Preacher in the pulpit shouts with all his might
"Glory Hallelujah!" with the people in a fright
Thinking of pretences come out on double file
But the preacher's only putting on the style

Putting on the agony, putting on the style
What the stylish people are a-doing all the while
When I look around me I very often smile
To see so many people putting on the style

Sweet sixteen at meetin', going to see the boys,
She turns her head and sniggers at every little noise
She turns her head on this side, and then on that a while
Oh, isn't she a swell, boys, putting on the style

Putting on the agony, putting on the style
What the stylish people are a-doing all the while
When I look around me I very often smile
To see so many people putting on the style