Little Tin Box

1959 Music by Jerry Bock Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick

(“Little Tin Box” is the title of a song in the 1959 musical, “Fiorello,” which told the story of one of New York City’s most famous mayors. Fiorello LaGuardia, a progressive politician who was a strong supporter of the New Deal, was mayor of New York for three terms, serving from 1933 to 1945.)

“Mr. X, may we ask you a question?
It’s amazing, is it not,
That the city pays you slightly less than fifty bucks a week,
Yet you’ve purchased a private yacht?”
“I am positive your Honor must be joking!
Any working man can do what I have done.
For a month or two I simply gave up smoking,
And I put my extra pennies one by one
“Into a little tin box,
A little tin box
That a little tin key unlocks.
There is nothing unorthodox
About a little tin box.
In a little tin box.
A little tin box