Puttin on The Ritz

Have you seen the well-to-do
Up and down Park Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air

High hats and narrow collars
White spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime
For a wonderful time

Now, if you're blue
And you don't know where to go to
Why don't you go where fashion sits
Puttin' on the Ritz
Different types who wear a daycoat
Pants with stripes and cutaway coat
Perfect fits
Puttin' on the Ritz

Dressed up like a million dollar trooper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super-duper

Come, let's mix where Rockefellers
Walk with sticks or "umberellas"
In their mitts
Puttin' on the Ritz

This song speaks to the aspiration of the masses amongst a capitalist system, where everyone aspires for glamour and glitz. It is about aspiration. It is also a song in the midst of transition from the glamour of the 1920's into the hardboiled 1930's. This aspiration will die out and give away to the grit of the hardened 1930's.