"Goodnight, Ladies" is a
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
attributed to
Edwin Pearce Christy, originally intended to be sung during a
minstrel show. Drawing from an 1847 song by Christy entitled "Farewell, Ladies", the song as known today was first published on May 16, 1867.
The "Merrily We Roll Along" chorus has the same melody as "
Mary Had A Little Lamb
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin, first published by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622.
Background
The nursery rhyme was fi ...
".
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...
quoted the song in
A Symphony: New England Holidays (1897-1913): I. Washington's Birthday, toward the end of the movement.
Meredith Willson
Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 195 ...
features the piece as the tenth number in
The Music Man
''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...
(1957).
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...
included the song in a medley on his album ''
101 Gang Songs
''101 Gang Songs'' is an LP recorded in December 1960 by Bing Crosby for his own company, Project Records and distributed by Warner Bros. (W 2R-1401) and the RCA Victor Record Club in 1961 with lyric sheets to help the listener join in with the si ...
'' (1961).
Lyrics
VERSE I: Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! We're going to leave you now.
CHORUS: Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along. Merrily we roll along, o'er the dark blue sea.
VERSE II: Farewell, Ladies! Farewell, ladies! Farewell, ladies! We're going to leave you now.
CHORUS
VERSE III: Sweet dreams, ladies! Sweet dreams, ladies! Sweet dreams, ladies! We're going to leave you now.
CHORUS
See also
*
I've Been Working on the Railroad
"I've Been Working on the Railroad" is an American folk song. The first published version appeared as "Levee Song" in ''Carmina Princetonia'', a book of Princeton University songs published in 1894. The earliest known recording is by the Shannon ...
*
Mary Had a Little Lamb
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" is an English language nursery rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin, first published by American writer Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7622.
Background
The nursery rhyme was fi ...
*
Merrily We Roll Along
*
Nice One Cyril
"Nice One Cyril" is a single by Cockerel Chorus written by Harold Spiro and Helen Clarke. The song title is a reference to Cyril Knowles, a left back who played for Tottenham Hotspur. It was released before the 1973 Football League Cup Final where ...
References
External links
1867 songs
American folk songs
{{folk-song-stub