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The song's origins are uncertain; however, its nearest known relative is the English folk song "The Twelve Apostles." [2] Both songs are listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as #133. Parallel features in the two songs' cumulative structure and lyrics (cumulating to 12 loosely biblical references) make this connection apparent.
The song is commonly thought to be of African-American origin. [1] An early published version is in "A White Dove", [2] a 1903 story for kindergarteners by Maud McKnight Lindsay (1874–1941), a teacher from Alabama and daughter of Robert B. Lindsay. [3] In the story, "a little girl" sings to "her baby brother" what is footnoted as "an old ...
Billy Murray's 1916 recording has lyrics as follows: Verse 1. You ask me why I'm always teasing you. You hate to have me call you "Pretty Baby." I really thought that I was pleasing you, For you're just a baby to me. Your cunning little dimples and your baby stare, Your baby talk and baby walk and curly hair, Your baby smile Makes life worthwhile.
Like most folk songs, the author and date of origin are unclear. The English folklorist Cecil Sharp collected and notated a version from Endicott, Franklin County, Virginia in 1918, [3] and another version sung by a Julie Boone of Micaville, North Carolina, with a complete version of the lyrics.
The song was popular at blackface minstrel shows. [22] [23] 'Miss Lucy Neal' was a popular African-American song published in 1854. [24] 'Miss Luce Negro' - was the nickname of a brothel owner hypothesized to be the Dark Lady in several of William Shakespeare's writings. [25] A version of the song has been "Miss Lucy had a steamboat".
The mood of the song as a whole, however, is catchy pop-rock with a bit of cool-jazz overlay, with a honking King Curtis-sounding sax solo in the instrumental break. [ 1 ] The single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 , number three on the Billboard R&B Singles charts in 1963, [ 3 ] and #17 in Canada . [ 4 ]
The biggest-selling hit version was recorded by Bing Crosby, [1] [2] with Bob Crosby and his orchestra while other contemporaneous hit versions included recordings by Tommy Dorsey (with vocal by Edythe Wright) and Russ Morgan. [1] It was also revived by Bobby Darin in 1961, reaching the charts again that year. [1]
Harold Arlen described the song as "another typical Arlen tapeworm" – a "tapeworm" being the trade slang for any song which went over the conventional 32-bar length. He called it "a wandering song. [Lyricist] Johnny [Mercer] took it and wrote it exactly the way it fell. Not only is it long – fifty-eight bars – but it also changes key.