Transcribed from Lieut. Jim Europe's 369th U.S.
Infantry ("Hell Fighters") Band, vocals by C. Creighton Thompson, recorded
March 14, 1919.
From James
Reese Europe and the 369th US Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band, Featuring
Noble Sissle, the Complete Pathe Recordings - 1919, IAJRC CD 1012, 1996.
My daddy was ragtime trombone player,
My mammy was a ragtime cabaret-er,
They met one day at a tango tea,
It was a syncopated wedding
And then came me.
Folks think the way I walk is a
fad,
But it's a waltz they're playin'
from my mammy and dad.
I'm a jazz baby,
I wanna be jazzin' all the time!
There's something in the tone of
a saxophone
That makes me do a little wiggle
all my own,
'Cause I'm a jazz baby!
Full of jazzbo harmony!
The Walk the Dog and Ball the Jack
that cause all the talk,
Is just a copy of the way I naturally
walk.
'Cause I'm a jazz baby.
A little jazz baby, that's me![Repeat
this verse once.]
Love to sit by the cradle, and to-and-fro,
To and fro to the tune of a Tickle
Toe,
Ever since I started in to grow
I love to hear the music playing,
See my dear old mammy swaying,
Jazz, jazz, jazz, that's all I
ever knew.
All day long I never would get
through,
Jazz, jazz, jazz, that's all I
want to do.
Play me a little jazz.
'Cause I'm a jazz baby!
Full of jazzbo harmony!
The Walk the Dog and Ball the Jack
that cause all the talk,
Is just a copy of the way I naturally
walk.
'Cause I'm a jazz baby.
Little jazz baby, that's me!
Jazz baby!
Return to the Heptune Jazz and Blues Lyrics Page.
Published 1/30/99.
Updated 6/19/01.
Visit the rest of our pages!