This song is from a delightful album titled "After the Ball: A Treasury of Turn-of-the-Century Popular Songs" With Joan Morris (mezzo-soprano) and William Bolcom (piano), Nonesuch Records, 1974. I believe both are in the School of Music at the University of Michigan. Joan has a Web page.
Of this song, the liner notes (remember them?) say :
"'I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard' is a rare, charming example of the child-song genre; the words are neither cute nor condescending—they reflect the direct way children talk. H.W. Petrie, its composer, also wrote that staple of the basso-profundo repertory 'Asleep in the Deep' (to Arthur J. Lamb's lyrics). Both Petrie and his illustrious contemporary George M. Cohan were published by Frederick Allen (Kerry) Mills, a one-time concert violinist and university professor who wrote the ragtime hit 'At a Georgia Camp Meeting' in 1897."
Enjoy……Tiger
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I DON'T WANT TO PLAY IN YOUR YARD
Words by Philip Wingate; music by H.W. Petrie
Once there lived side by side, two little maids,
Used to dress just alike, hair down in braids;
Blue ging'am pinafores, stockings of red,
Little sun bonnets tied on each pretty head.
When school was over, secrets they'd tell,
Whispering arm in arm, down by the well.
One day a quarrel came, hot tears were shed:
"You can't play in our yard,"
But the other said:
CHORUS
"I don't want to play in your yard
I don't like you any more,
You'll be sorry when you see me,
Sliding down our cellar door;
You can't holler down our rain barrel,
You can't climb our apple tree,
I don't want to play in your yard
If you won't be good to me."
Next day two little maids each other miss;
Quarrels are soon made up, sealed with a kiss.
Then hand in hand again, happy they go,
Friends all thro' life to be, they love each other so.
Soon school days pass away, sorrows and bliss,
But love remembers yet, quarrels and kiss;
In sweet dreams of childhood, we hear the cry:
"You can't play in our yard,"
And the old reply:
REPEAT CHORUS
the Great song thesaurus says "I Don't want to Play in Your Yard was published in 1894, words by Philip Wingate and music by H.W. Petrie.
-Joe Offer-