Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee

Subject: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: GUEST,Keith Devine
Date: 19 May 01 - 02:02 AM

Unable to find in your database.

Down yonder someone's waiting for me ----------------- Waiting on the levee, waiting on the Robert E. Lee

Subject: Lyr Add: WAITING FOR THE ROBERT E. LEE
From: Pene Azul
Date: 19 May 01 - 02:31 AM

Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
(Words by L. Wolfe Gilbert. Music by Lewis F. Muir)

Way down on the levy in old Alabamy
There's Daddy and Mammy
There's Ephraim and Sammy
On a moonlight night you can find them all
While they are waiting,
The banjos are syncopatin'

What's that they're sayin'?
What's that they're sayin'?
While they keep playin'
A - hummin' and swayin'
It's the good ship Robert E. Lee that's come to carry the cotton away!

Watch them shuff-lin' along,
See them shuff-lin' along!
Go take your best gal, real pal
Go down to the levy, I said to the levy,
And join that shuff-lin' throng
Hear that music and song!
It's simply great, mate, waitin' on the levy
Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee!

The whistles are blowin', the smokestacks are showin'
The ropes they are throwin', excuse me I'm goin'
To the place where all is harmonious
Even the preacher, he is the dancin' teacher!

Have you been down there?
Were you around there?
If you ever go there you'll always be found there,
Why, dog-gone, here comes my baby
On the good old Robert E. Lee!

Watch them shuff-lin' along,
See them shuff-lin' along
Go take your best gal, real pal
Go down to the levy, I said to the levy,
And join that shuff-lin' throng
Hear that music and song!
It's simply great, mate, waitin' on the levy
Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee!

Found here: http://www.melodylane.net/waiting.html

---

Sheet music: http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/hasm_b0153/

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 May 01 - 02:31 AM

Lyrics and Midi are HERE (click)

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 May 01 - 02:32 AM

PENE!!!!! Glad to see you back.....and you kicked my bums on this one!

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Pene Azul
Date: 19 May 01 - 02:43 AM

Eubie Blake played a great piano trio of this with Joe Jordan and Charles Thompson. I have it on Eubie Blake - That's Ragtime!. Very fine CD.

Hi Spaw. Good to be back.

Jeff

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Metchosin
Date: 19 May 01 - 02:53 AM

Glad to see you here too Pene!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 19 May 01 - 12:37 PM

I was in a play in elementary school with that song in it!

Hadn't even thought of it for years!

Thanks!

;-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Mrrzy
Date: 19 May 01 - 03:26 PM

...And waiting for the Robert E. Lee (it was never there on time)...

Snatch of Tom Lehrer's spoof on Dixie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Apr 02 - 05:30 PM

lev·y (lµv"¶) v. lev·ied, lev·y·ing, lev·ies. --tr. 1. To impose or collect (a tax, for example). 2. To draft into military service. 3. To declare and wage (a war). --intr. 1. To confiscate property, especially in accordance with a legal judgment. --lev·y n., pl. lev·ies. 1. The act or process of levying. 2. Money, property, or troops levied. --lev"i·er n.

lev·ee1 (lµv"¶) n. 1. An embankment raised to prevent a river from overflowing. 2. A small ridge or raised area bordering an irrigated field. 3. A landing place on a river; a pier. --lev·ee tr.v. lev·eed, lev·ee·ing, lev·ees. To provide with a levee.

 

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 03:23 AM

From the original post, it looks to me like the requester may actually have wanted "Down Yonder," which does have the line in it about "waiting on the Robert E. Lee," but is a different tune.

There was a discussion of "Down Yonder" in this thread, also noting that the same person co-wrote both it and "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee," so it's no wonder they sound alike!

Lin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: masato sakurai
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 06:15 AM

From the Levy Collection (Click here).

Title: Al Jolson's Big Hit in the Winter Garden. Waiting for the Robert E. Lee.
Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Words by L. Wolfe Gilbert. Music by Lewis F. Muir.
Publication: New York: F.A. Mills, 122 W. 38th St., 1912.
Form of Composition: strophic with chorus
Instrumentation: piano and voice
First Line: Way down on the levee in old Alabamy, there's daddy and mammy
First Line of Chorus: Watch them shufflin' along, see them shufflin' along
Performer: Al Jolson
Engraver, Lithographer, Artist: unattrib. photo of Al Jolson; De Takals

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: masato sakurai
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 06:24 AM

The Heidelberg Quintet's recording (RealPlayer) is HERE.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: greg stephens
Date: 29 Apr 02 - 06:38 AM

As a side issue(especially as the original poster isnt even looking for "Waiting for the Robert E Lee"): the line "it's simply great, mate" always sounds quintessentially London English. Is that really American usage as well?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 May 02 - 11:56 AM

Greg: Here's what the American Heritage Dictionary says:

mate1 (m³t) n. 1. One of a matched pair. 2. A spouse. 3.a. Either of a pair of animals or birds that associate in order to propagate. b. Either of a pair of animals brought together for breeding. 4.a. A person with whom one is in close association; an associate. b. A good friend or companion. 5. A deck officer on a merchant ship ranking below the master. 6. A U.S. Navy petty officer who is an assistant to a warrant officer. --mate v. mat·ed, mat·ing, mates. --tr. 1. To join closely; pair. 2. To unite in marriage. 3. To pair (animals) for breeding. --intr. 1. To become joined in marriage. 2.a. To be paired for reproducing; breed. b. To copulate.

--but I say that meaning #4 is rarely heard. If you refer to a friend as your "mate" you might be understood correctly, but you might also be misunderstood to mean that the two of you are a "mated pair"! I wouldn't recommend using it among people who are unfamiliar with British or Australian usage.

On the other hand, children often have playmates, and this has no connotation of mating.

But usage might have been different in 1912. Or the song might have been using "mate" in the nautical sense—after all, it is a song about boats.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Waiting For The Robert E. Lee
From: greg stephens
Date: 01 May 02 - 12:13 PM

Yes i wondered if it referred to a ship's mate. I also wondered if the songwriter was English..many thanks for confirming my feeling that Americans dont call their friends "mate"