Lyr Add: Ghost of the Saxophone (Collins & Harlan)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ghost of the Saxophone
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 07:50 AM

Q: There are some important differences between the lyrics you posted and what I hear in the recordings. They're so different they make me think you must have had a different source; they're not just mishearings:

CHORUS, LINES 9-11:
Be wise when his cries try to lead you astray.
(Don't obey! Don't obey! Don't obey!)
I own he could moan my heart away – hey! Hey! Hey!

VERSE 2, LINE 9 (same as verse 1, line 9):
Sad and ghostly, but it's mostly jazz blues I choose.


Anyway, this is a great discovery. I don't think I'd ever encountered Collins & Harlan before. Thanks.

Subject: Lyr Add: GHOST OF THE SAXOPHONE
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 05:45 PM

Lyr. Add: Ghost of the Saxophone
Collins and Harlan

There's a sayin' goin' round
Down around old Memphis town;
There's a ragtime ghost been found
Who plays a saxophone.
O'er the graveyard ev'ry night,
You can see that form of white,
Tho' its voice seems to invite,
Better leave it alone.
Sad and ghostly, but it's mostly Jazz and blues I chose.

Chorus:
Look out! That's the ghost of the saxophone,
(Hear him moan, hear him moan, hear him moan.)
Look out for the ghost of the saxophone,
(Hear him groan, hear him groan, hear him groan.)
It sets you shaking and shivering
It gets you quaking and quivering,
Don't let his mournful tone lead you away from home,
Although you love him, better let him alone,
Look out! That's the ghost of the saxophone,
(Hear him moan, hear him moan, hear him moan.)
For he is a ghost that's come to stay- say, hey, hey,
Sweetest jazz I've ever known,
You better listen to his mournful tone,
The ghost of the saxophone.

When this raggy ghost appeared,
With his music wild and weird,
Coons could hear him as he neared
The churchyard late at night,
Then they swayed to beat the deuce,
When they heard those ghostly blues,
'Cause they seem too good to lose,
In the mellow moonlight,
Weepy, creepy, sneaky, freaky, jazz blues I chose.

Words and music copyright 1917.
Frank K. Root & Co., Chicago, IL.

Scroll down, listen, especially to the second cut:
http://www.archive.org/details/CollinsHarlan_part3