- Style
- Jazz
- Tradition
- Jazz standard
- Form
- ABAC, 32 bars
- Keys
- G and F
- Level
- 4
- Played on
- Voice
In the public domain. Source
Music
The 32 bar chorus with its pickup. Swing the eighths.
Click any note to start from there
Chord chart
History
James F. Hanley wrote the music and Ballard MacDonald the words, and Shapiro, Bernstein published it in 1917. The chorus borrows a strain and some of the words of "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away," and the sheet music thanks that song's publisher for the use.
The Original Dixieland Jass Band recorded it for Columbia in 1917, with "Darktown Strutters' Ball" on the other side, one of the first jazz records. For years Louis Armstrong's All Stars opened every show with it. Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee" and other bebop tunes use its chords. It has been sung before the Indianapolis 500 since 1946, most often by Jim Nabors, from 1972 to 2014.