HELLO, MA BABY
(Words and Music by Ida Emerson and Joseph E. Howard, 1899)

Verse 1: I'se got a little baby, but she's out of sight,
I talk to her across the telephone.
I'se never seen my honey but she's mine all right,
So take my tip an' leave this gal alone.
Every single morning you will hear me yell,
"Hey Central! Fix me up along the line."
He connects me with ma honey, then I rings the bell,
And this is what I say to baby mine,

Chorus: Hello! ma baby, Hello! Ma honey, Hello! ma ragtime gal.
Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire!
If you refuse me, Honey, you'll lose me, then you'll be left alone;
Oh baby, telephone and tell me I'se your own.
Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello there.

Verse 2: This morning thro' the phone she said her name was Bess,
And now I kind of know where I am at.
I'se satisfied because I'se got my babe's address
Here pasted in the lining of my hat.
I am mighty scared, 'cause if the wires get crossed,
'Twill separate me from ma baby mine,
Then some other man will win her, and my game is lost,
And so each day I shout along the line,

Chorus: Hello! ma baby, Hello! Ma honey, Hello! ma ragtime gal.
Send me a kiss by wire, baby my heart's on fire!
If you refuse me, Honey, you'll lose me, then you'll be left alone;
Oh baby, telephone and tell me I'se your own.

Copyright 1899, T.B. Harms & Co.

Source: Favorite Songs of the Nineties: Complete Original Sheet Music for 89 Songs (Robert A. Fremont, editor; DoverPublications, 1973)