I hardly had a bellyful
Never knew a new bicycle
Hand-me-down books and shoes
They brought the yule tides in July

I rode a bus, a train and sometimes
Strolling for miles to a movie show
Singing a song "Shoobedoo"
While birds and rich folks flew right on by

But we got by, we got by
We got by, Lord knows we got by

Winter wishes wait till June
We brightened July with that hot dog fun
Tell your mama you're with Sue
You bring the beans and I will find the wine

Them neon lights were bright till 2:00
And sneaking back home with this girl named Jo
I hurried down to say I do
And stared my first man-child in the eye

But we got by, we got by
We got by, Lord knows we got by
Sometimes I say

And now baby's got his bellyful y'all
And finally here's that new bicycle
Working, praying, June to June
And mama's got L.A. gleaming in her eye

And we got by, we got by, yeah
We got by, Lord knows we got by

See we kept on walking and talking and hawking
And ooing, and cooing, and wooing
Loving, and tugging, and hugging
And a rubbing and sugging, and fugging

Laying, praying, swaying, letting
And fretting, and betting, begetting
Lying, and flying, and trying
And dying, and sighing

We got by, yes, we got by
We got by, yeah, let's now help me sing
By and by, by and by
By and by, by and by

Oh, we gonna sweet, sweet by, and didn't we get there?
By, by, by, by
Thank you mama provided, thank you papa
'Causing me to tremble