Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj

Post to this Thread - Printer Friendly - Home
Page: [1] [2]


Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red

Related thread:
Lyr Req: 'A handsome man stepped under the transom (24)


In Mudcat MIDIs:
Let Her Sleep Under the Bar


GUEST,Granny Gruntz 08 Sep 14 - 11:19 PM
Lighter 09 Sep 14 - 07:54 AM
GUEST,CarolinaJacket 26 Oct 14 - 04:20 PM
Jim Dixon 28 Oct 14 - 01:39 PM
GUEST,K. Canning 25 Mar 15 - 02:08 PM
and e 28 Jan 25 - 01:18 PM
and e 28 Jan 25 - 03:22 PM
Lighter 28 Jan 25 - 08:35 PM
Share Thread
more
Lyrics & Knowledge Search [Advanced]
DT  Forum Child
Sort (Forum) by:relevance date
DT Lyrics:













Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: GUEST,Granny Gruntz
Date: 08 Sep 14 - 11:19 PM

09/08/2014 - I think I first heard "The Lady In Red" when I attended
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN - BACK IN 1948. *AND - it was a pretty old drinking song THEN! *Never knew when it originated. *Just one, among many, "songs" one hears and learns at the "places of higher learning" - *AND passes on to future generations to be. ;-) *I am NOW a great-grandmother of four and 3/9ths great-grandchildren. *AND - I still like to sing the "old songs" at the top of my voice when taking a shower! ;-)


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Sep 14 - 07:54 AM

You go, girl!


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: GUEST,CarolinaJacket
Date: 26 Oct 14 - 04:20 PM

The Sigma Nus at Presbyterian College were singing it back in the '50s. Our version ended with "beside the gin". Great song.


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Oct 14 - 01:39 PM

This article in Life, from Feb. 1, 1963, called "Just a Home Where Squares Get Lost" is about Bill Baird (who professionally spelled his name "Bil") and Cora Baird. The Bairds were probably the world's most famous puppeteers until Jim Henson came along. It says:
    [Bill] also wrote, but never bothered to copyright, the college classic, Her Mother Never Told Her (with that part about "Let her sleep under the bar").


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: GUEST,K. Canning
Date: 25 Mar 15 - 02:08 PM

Like a post above, this was a song our family sang on car rides in the 1970's, taught by my mother who likely learned it from her father who was in a fraternity at Union College,NY in the late 1920's. We learned the "gentleman handsome stepped over the transom" line, as well as "ways of college men, and how they come and go, [mostly go]." Also at the last lines, it was, "Let her sleep under the bar ["between the bottles" added a la barbershop style], Let her sleep under the bar."


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: and e
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 01:18 PM

Let Nellie Sleep Under the Bar

On a cold winter's evening,
The guests were all leaving
O'Leary was closing the bar.
He stopped and he said to the lady in red,
"Get out! You can't stay where you are."

She wept a sad tear in her bucket of beer
As she thought of the cold night ahead.
When a gentleman dapper, stepped out of the ... PHONE BOOTH
And these were the words that he said:

Her mother never told her, the things a young girl should know,
About the ways of college men, [aside: "The girls all shouted 'Boys!'"]
And how they come and go. [aside: "The girls all shouted 'Mostly come!'"]
Now age taken her beauty, and sin has left its sad scar,
So remember your mothers and sisters, boys,
Let Nellie sleep under the bar.
Or in you car
B-A-R -- E

Transcribed from the singing of Sarah Curry. Learned mid-1960s at University of Arizona at "beer bust" parties.


Download recording here:
https://archive.org/download/jack_horntip_collection_field_recordings/0171%20Let%20Nellie%20Sleep%20Under%20The%20Bar%20%5BAka%20The%20Lady%20In%20Red%5D.mp3


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: and e
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 03:22 PM

The following songs seem to be the most popular among college students:

MIMI THE COLLEGE WIDOW, SILVER DOLLAR, THE SOUSE FAMILY, MINNIE THE
MERMAID, MARY ANN'S, and THE LITTLE MOUSE.

The most widely collected song, HER MOTHER NEVER TOLD HER, has over
120 texts in the Archive, of which the following is an example:
"O'Leary Was Closing the Bar"

It was a cold winter's evening,
The guests were all leaving,
O'Leary was closing the bar,
When he turned and he said
To the lady in red,
"Get out, you can't stay where you are."

She wept a sad tear in her bucket of beer
As she thought of the cold night ahead,
When a gentleman dapper stepped out of the crapper
And these are the words that he said:

"Her mother never told her
"The things a young girl should know
"About the ways of college men
"And how they come and go.

"Now age has taken her beauty
"Sin has left its sad scar
"So remember your mothers and sisters, boys
"And let her sleep under the bar!"

(Turned in by Sumner Collins of New York City, Fall 1951).


June, 1958. "College Songs in the Indiana University Folklore Archives"
by Joseph Hickerson. Folklore and Folk Music Archivist Volume 1, Issue 2.


Available for download here: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals-playground/index.php/ffma/article/view/25439


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Let Her Sleep Under the Bar / Lady in Red
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Jan 25 - 08:35 PM

Am informed that the song was sung at Indiana University in 1942 and in California in 1939.

Indoor phone booths became common in U.S. cities around 1915.

"Crapper" seems to have come into common U.S. use about the same time.


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate
  Share Thread:
More...

Reply to Thread
Subject:  Help
From:
Preview   Automatic Linebreaks   Make a link ("blue clicky")


Mudcat time: 19 February 4:55 PM EST

[ Home ]

All original material is copyright © 2022 by the Mudcat Café Music Foundation. All photos, music, images, etc. are copyright © by their rightful owners. Every effort is taken to attribute appropriate copyright to images, content, music, etc. We are not a copyright resource.