Much more than you really wanted to know:

Found at: http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/chubb/horsey.ram Go here to listen to a recording, written by (Waltler Hirsch / Bert Kaplan)

Found at: http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/basic_black/wwwboard/messages/1013.html Posted by Jim Shaw on January 29, 2002 at 15:24:58: I was surprised to hear Dinah Christies sing the song (different melody and some changed words than the one I know). Even more surprising was that it was supposed to have been sung during WWI by the Dumbells. According to the Oxford University Press book - "Great Song Thesaurus", which I own-- The song was written by Walter Hirsch and Bert Kaplan in 1923 (after WWI). The version that I have by Freddy "Schnicklefritz" Fisher was released on Decca records ca. 1940. This is probably the version that was well-known. I have the record which I can send on a CD-R, If needed.

Found at: http://www.l-m-c.org.uk/texts/hall.html OFFBEAT ROOTS: Reg Hall interviewed by Ed Baxter RH: I think it's functional. Dance music was for dancing to. It was for a whole range of pleasures, but its main function was as dance music and therefore all its characteristics were to do with making you want to dance. Traditional music has always been on the move, it's always been developing, it's always been changing, and even since perhaps even the 17th century it's been taking in music from the culture higher up the social scale. The element that is common to all traditional musicians is that he or she actually mediates the material into their own way of thinking. So that in the '20s when people like Scan Tester and his mates in Sussex - who were all ear players and had roots back 150 years in oral music - actually heard the Savoy Orpheans playing Horsey Horsey Keep Your Tail Up on a gramophone record or on the radio, they actually mediated that into their own way of playing. They took all the swing, all the jazz element, all the chromatic harmony out of it, and played it as if it were an early 19th century dance tune, although its structure might remian. So one element of tradition is not going along with bourgeois sophistication, with education. Not that you reject it - they just can't handle it, just can't cope with it.

From: THE BLOCKHEAD MUSIC STAND: THE DUKE OF ELLINGTON Found at: http://www.blockhead.com/duke.htm "...Generally, the stage show consisted of the band and a couple of tired vaudeville comedians or dancers and "personality" was a very big thing. All the band leaders wanted to ingratiate themselves to the audience and would do almost anything to be liked and appreciated. A couple of weeks before Ellington came to town, Pinky Tomlin and his orchestra (does anyone else remember him?) appeared on the same stage. Tomlin tried to resurrect his fifteen minutes of fame which came with a recording of a delightful little song called THE OBJECT OF MY AFFECTION, probably the only good song he ever wrote, with a new, sprightly number, HORSEY KEEP YOUR TAIL UP. I venture to say that I am the only person in the world who can sing that song from memory. It was not a great success, but it exemplifies the urgency with which those lesser band leaders tried to ingratiate themselves with the audience. The last line of that less than memorable ditty, was "Keep the sun out of my eyes."