The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #31710   Message #1106976
Posted By: Jim Dixon
01-Feb-04 - 11:29 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Missouri Waltz (Shannon/Eppel)
Subject: Lyr Add: HUSH-A-BYE, MA BABY (THE MISSOURI WALTZ)
The lyrics above have apparently been cleaned up/sanitized/politically-corrected, not to mention that 2 verses are missing.

Transcribed from the sheet music at The Library of Congress American Memory Collection:

HUSH-A-BYE, MA BABY (THE MISSOURI WALTZ)
Lyric by J. R. SHANNON. Music from an Original Melody procured by John Valentine Eppel. Arr. for piano by Frederic Knight Logan. 1914.

Hush-a-bye, ma baby, slumber-time is comin' soon;
Rest yo' head upon ma breast while Mammy hums a tune;
The sandman is callin' where shadows are fallin'
While the soft breezes sigh as in days long gone by.

'Way down in Missouri where I heard this melody,
When I was a Pickaninny on ma Mammy's knee;
The darkies were hummin'; their banjos were strummin'
So sweet and low.

Strum, strum, strum, strum, strum,
Seems I hear those banjos playin' once again,
Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum,
That same old plaintive strain.

Hear that mournful melody,
It just haunts you the whole day long,
And you wander in dreams back to Dixie it seems,
When you hear that old-time song.

Hushabye, ma baby, go to sleep on Mammy's knee,
Journey back to Dixieland in dreams again with me;
It seems like yo' Mammy was there once again,
And the darkies were strummin' that same old refrain.

'Way down in Missouri where I learned this lullaby,
When the stars were blinkin' and the moon was climbin' high,
And I hear Mammy Cloe, as in days long ago
Singin' hush–a–bye.