Rebecca (Came Back from Mecca)
Lyrics and Music by Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar
Key: C
Copyright 1921

Chords and Lyrics Provided by Judy Muldawer
For Educational Purposes Only
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File Created 7-13-2024

Verse 1:

  Am                  E7
A-cross the  way from where I live
      Am               E7             Am
There lives a girl and her name is Re-becca
E7           Am   E7
She's twenty-three

    Am         E7
She saw an ori-ental show
    Am           E7              Am
And then decided she would go to  Mecca
  G7        C
A-cross the sea

    G7
And so she went one day
   C
To Turkey far away
        G7                      C
And she lived near the Sultan's den

    G7           Gdim     G7
She stayed there just two years
    C
Got  full of new ideas
    Em        F7          E
And now she's back home a-gain

Chorus:

         Am    E7             Am
Since Re-becca came back from Mecca
        E7                                   Am
All day long she keeps on smoking Turkish to-becca

         G7
With her veil upon her face
          C       Gm         A7
She keeps dancing ’round the place
    D             D7
And yesterday her father found her
G7     Gdim    G7      E7
With a Turkish towel a-round her

Am  F7    Am         E7      Am
Oh! Oh! Ev'ryone's worried so
Am               F7           E   E7
They think she's crazy in the dome

Am               F6
She's as bold as Theda Bara
Am              F6      Gbdim
Theda's bare butBecky's barer
C        G7              C   E7
Since Re-becca came back home

Verse 2:

   Am              E7
In Mecca where the nights are hot
   Am           E7           Am
Re-becca got an awful lot of learning
E7            Am E7
She certainly did

    Am                 E7
She goes to sleep when shadows creep
    Am            E7              Am
And has to keep a bowl of incense burning
     G7     C
Some classy kid!

    G7
Her mother feels so sad
    C
Her brother Moe is mad,
       G7                   C
And he keeps on complaining so

   G7
To satisfy her whim,
    C        Gm      A7
She keeps on calling him
    Em        F7        E
“Mo-hammed” In-stead of Moe

Chorus 2:

         Am    E7             Am
Since Re-becca came back from Mecca
       E7                                    Am
All day long she keeps on smoking Turkish to-becca

         G7
She lays on a Turkish rug
      C        Gm      A7
Ev'ry one says she's a bug
    D                     D7
And since she's back home from the Harem
G7      Gdim        G7        E7
She has clothes but she don't wear 'em

Am  F7  Am         E7      Am
Oh! Oh! Ev'ryone's worried so
             F7              E     E7
She made the Sultan lose his throne

Am              F6
Once her little sister Sonia
Am                   F6       Gbdim
Wore her clothes and got pneu-monia
C        G7              C
Since Re-becca came back home

Several ukulele chords I use for fingerpicking this song: