The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #71726   Message #1229882
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
20-Jul-04 - 11:37 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Ching Chong Chinaman Song
Subject: Lyr Add: CHING CHONG
I still think 'Ching Chong' goes back before the 1916 musical "Chu Chin Chow." Still looking, but found this sheet music from c. 1917.

CHING CHONG
Words J. Will Callahan, Music Lee S. Roberts

Way out in old San Fran
There is a Chinaman
Who's known for miles around,
Wonderful place he keeps
Down where he eats and sleeps
Way underneath the ground;
Each night the festive chinks
Come there to wink and blink,
And dream away the hours,
They sing this funny song
While they are born along
On beds of poppy flow'rs.

Chorus:
Ching Chong, Oh Mister Ching Chong,
You're the King of Chinatown,
Ching Chong, I love your sing-song
When you have turned the lights all down;
Ching Chong, just let me swing 'long
Thru the realms of drowsy-land,
Dreaming while stars are beaming
Oh Mister Ching Chong, sing-song man.

When you're in Frisco Town
Don't fail to stop around
And see this Ching Chong man,
Wonderful things you'll learn
Down where the torches burn
He'll show you all he can;
Then when the time is ripe
He'll fill your little pipe
And then a light he'll bring,
Gently you'll float away
Far out on Slumber Bay,
And softly you will sing.

Pub. by Lee S. Roberts, Fine Arts Bldg., Chicago, c. 1917 (undated); copy at Bancroft Library, Univ. California, Berkeley. Cover shows man with pigtail decorating Chinese lanterns.