Glow Worm

Words & Music by Lilla Cayley Robinson & Paul Lincke
Modern words by Johnny Mercer
Recorded by The Mills Brothers, 1952


A                       Bm7-5     E7             
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer

Bm7-5         E7        A9        A
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer

D9       D7       E7                                  A            
Lead us lest too far we wander love's sweet voice is calling yonder;

A                        Bm7-5    E7
Shine little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer

Bm78-5      E7       A9       A
Hey, there don't get dimmer, dimmer

A          A7     D9   Bm7       E      E7      A
Light the path below, above and lead us on to love!

Glow little glow-worm, fly of fire
Glow like an incandescent wire
Glow for the female of the species, turn on the AC and the DC.
This night could use a little brightnin'
Light up you little ol' bug of lightnin'
When you gotta glow, you gotta glow-- glow little glow-worm, glow.

Glow little glow-worm, glow and glimmer
Swim through the sea of night, little swimmer
Thou aeronautical boll weevil, illuminate yon woods primeval.
See how the shadows deep and darken
You and your chick should get to sparkin'
I got a gal that I love so -- glow little glow-worm, glow

Glow little glow-worm, turn the key on
You are equipped with taillight neon
You got a cute vest-pocket *Mazda*
Which you can make both slow and *fazda*
I don't know who you took a shine to
Or who you're out to make a sign to
I got a gal that I love so glow little glow-worm, glow,

Bm7-5         E7         A  Gdim
Glow little glow-worm, glow, 

Bm7-5         E7         A  Gdim
Glow little glow-worm, glow, 

Bm7-5         E7         A  D9  A6
Glow little glow-worm, glow.

There are a couple of words in the final verse that usually throw people (like me, for example) for a loop. Here's the explanation from Ron Hontz, whose transcription of the lyrics I used:

*Mazda* and "fazda* are pronounced as "mawstuh" and "fawstuh". "Mazda" is from Avestan, an ancient Iranian language in which the sacred books of Zoroastrianism were written. It translates as "Light." In the early 1900's there was a product known as a "G.E. Mazda lamp." More backstory: Adaptation of the 1908 song from the German operetta "Lysistrata" and the Broadway musical "The Girl Behind the Counter"

The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.