The Remains of Tom Lehrer
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Public-domain lyrics

I Got It From Agnes

Tom Lehrer

An innocent-sounding song about sharing becomes a tangled chain of adult innuendo.

The Remains of Tom Lehrer Disc 1 · Track 24 2000
Public domainSatireFriendshipWordplayWryTheatrical
Complete public-domain lyrics

A network of friends passes an unnamed thing from person to person until the narrator brings the audience into the joke. This adult comic song uses sexual innuendo rather than naming the condition. The opening verse and four choruses follow the author sheet, with the orchestral audience-selection direction enclosed in editorial brackets. The printed slips if and maybr are retained rather than silently replaced with a recording's words.

Verse

I love my friends

And they love me

We're just as close

As we can be

And just because

We really care

Whatever we get

We share!

Chorus 1

I got it from Agnes

She got it from Jim

We all agree it must have been Louise who gave it to him

Now, she got if from Harry, who got it from Marie

And everybody knows that Marie ----

Got it from me!

Chorus 2

Giles got it from Daphne

She got it from Joan

Who picked it up in County Cork, a-kissin' the Blarney Stone

Pierre gave it to Sheila, who must have brought it there

He got it from François and Jacques, aha! ---

Lucky Pierre!

Chorus 3

Max got it from Edith

Who gets it every spring

She got it from her Daddy, who just gives her everything

She then gave it to Daniel, whose spaniel has it now

Our dentist even got it, and we're still ----

Wondering how!

Chorus 4

But I got it from Agnes

Or maybr it was Sue

Or Millie or Billie or Gillie or Willie, it doesn't matter who

It might have been at the pub, or at the club, or in the loo

And if you will be my friend, then I might

Mind you, I said "might"

[orchestral passage, during which he looks around the audience,

finally chooses someone, grins, points to him or her, and says:]

Give it to you!

Credits

Written by Tom Lehrer

Words by Tom Lehrer, released into the public domain by the author. This is the author-published text edition, not a transcription of a particular performance.

Source & text edition

Author-published lyric sheet · original English words

Tom Lehrer's November 26, 2022 declaration relinquishes copyright in lyrics he wrote. It does not grant rights to third-party music, photographs or album artwork. This edition uses only his words.

Read the author’s lyric sheet (PDF)

View copyright evidence · Author’s public-domain declaration

Retrieved 2026-09-08. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.

Source edition: The Remains of Tom Lehrer · Compilation · 2000-05-23 · US

Release data: MusicBrainz · CC0-1.0 · Retrieved 2026-09-07.

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