"A Real Nice Clambake" is a song featured in the 1956 film Carousel with music composed by Richard Rodgers and lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. In the song, the full-bellied New Englanders sigh a breath of delight after a filling and delicious seaside clambake picnic while they rest in languorous contentment.
Lyrics[]
All:
This was a real nice clambake,
We’re mighty glad we came.
The vittles we et
Were good, you bet!
The company was the same.
Our hearts are warm,
Our bellies are full,
And we are feelin’ prime.
This was a real nice clambake
And we all had a real good time!
Nettie:
Fust come codfish chowder,
Cooked in iron kettles,
Onions floatin’ on the top,
Curlin’ up in petals!
Julie:
Throwed in ribbons of salted pork—
All:
An old New England trick—
Julie:
And lapped it all up with a clamshell,
Tied on to a bayberry stick!
All:
Oh-h-h—
This was a real nice clambake,
We’re mighty glad we came.
The vittles we et
Were good, you bet!
The company was the same.
Our hearts are warm,
Our bellies are full,
And we are feelin’ prime.
This was a real nice clambake
And we all had a real good time!
Snow:
Remember when we raked
Them red-hot lobsters
Out of the driftwood fire?
They sizzled and crackled
And sputtered a song
Fitten fer an angels’ choir.
Girls:
Fitten fer an angels’,
Fitten fer an angels’,
Fitten fer an angels’ choir!
Nettie:
We slit ’em down the back
And peppered ’em good,
And doused ’em in melted butter—
Carrie:
Then we tore away the claws
And cracked ’em with our teeth
’Cause we weren’t in the mood to putter!
Girls:
Fitten fer an angels’,
Fitten fer an angels’,
Fitten fer an angels’ choir!
A Man:
Then at last come the clams—
Men:
Steamed under rockweed
An’ poppin’ from their shells—
All:
Jest how many of ’em
Galloped down our gullets—
We couldn’t say oursel’s!
Oh-h-h—
This was a real nice clambake,
We’re mighty glad we came.
The vittles we et
Were good, you bet!
The company was the same.
Our hearts are warm,
Our bellies are full,
And we are feelin’ prime.
This was a real nice clambake
And we all had a real good time!
We said it afore—
And we’ll say it agen—
We all had a real good time!