BASIN STREET BLUES
Music by Spencer Williams, 1926.
Words by Glenn Miller and Jack Teagarden, 1931.
As recorded by The Charleston Chasers with vocal by Jack Teagarden, 1931.

Won't you come along with me
To the Mississippi?
We'll take the boat to the land of dreams,
Steam down the river down to New Orleans.

The band's there to meet us,
Old friends to greet us,
Where all the dark and the light folks meet.^[1]
This is Basin Street.

Basin Street
Is the street
Where dark and light always meet,^[2]
In New Orleans,
The land of dreams.
You'll never know how nice it seems
Or just how much it really means.
Glad to be,
Yes-siree,
Where welcome's free,
Dear to me,
Where I can lose
My Basin Street blues.

[Instrumental break]

Ain't you glad you came with me
'Long the Mississippi?
You saw the place where the folks all meet:
Heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street.

- - -
1,2. When Ella Fitzgerald sang with Sy Oliver & His Orchestra in 1949, she changed these lines to:
1. Where all the proud and elite folks meet
2. Where the best folks always meet