I Cain't Say No

"I Cain't Say No" is a song from the 1943 musical play Oklahoma! written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II,^[1] initially performed by Celeste Holm.^[2]

"I Cain't Say No"
Song
Published	1943
Songwriter(s)	Oscar Hammerstein II
Composer(s)	Richard Rodgers

In the song Ado Annie Carnes describes her sexual awakening (albeit in highly euphemistic terms) and the conflicts that it brings. One of two female leads, Ado Annie has a pair of principal suitors, a Persian traveling salesman Ali Hakim and the cowboy Will Parker, recently returned from an excursion to Kansas City. She describes to her friend Laurey the attention she is now receiving from men "since she filled out" and her inability to say "no" to their advances.

Sample lyrics:

It ain't so much a question of not knowing what to do.

I knowed what's right and wrong since I was ten.

I heard a lot of stories and I reckon they are true

About how girls're put upon by men.

I know I mustn't fall into the pit

But when I'm with a feller,

I fergit!

I'm just a girl who cain't say no

I'm in a terrible fix

I always say "come on, let's go!"

Jist when I orta say nix...^[2]

In popular culture

In the British comedy Fawlty Towers, the character Polly sings the song to entertain the guests in the episode "Gourmet Night".