Good Night, Ladies: A Song History
"Good Night, Ladies" shares its tune with "Farewell Ladies," sheet music issued in New York by Jaques and Brothers around 1847, whose title credits the song as "written, composed & sung by E.P. Christy"; the Morgan Library & Museum's catalog calls its copy a possible first edition, and the lyrics use the dialect of the minstrel stage.[1] Edwin P. Christy (1815–1862) founded the Christy Minstrels about 1842, first appearing with them in Buffalo, New York, and he is credited with setting the format of the standard minstrel show.[2] In blackface minstrelsy, white performers darkened their faces with burnt cork and mocked the songs and dances of enslaved African Americans.[3] The Traditional Ballad Index dates the song to 1847 sheet music, notes that "Farewell Ladies" held its first verse, and judges it likely that Christy's troupe closed its shows with that piece.[4]
Thomas Rowlandson, Good Night, hand-colored etching, November 1, 1799. A sleepy man heading to bed, shown in fun; it has no connection to the song.
According to the Index, the full song, with its "Merrily We Roll Along" section, was published in 1867, and the sources consulted here do not say who first joined the two parts.[4] That year Taintor Brothers of New York published Carmina Yalensia, a book of Yale College songs compiled by Ferdinand V. D. Garretson; the collector James Fuld pencilled a note in his copy, now at the Morgan, stating that it holds the first printing of the song on page 47.[5] The scanned book shows the song on that page under the heading "Good Night," with the "Merrily" section marked to go faster than the slower opening.[6] Henry Randall Waite's Carmina Collegensia, a Boston collection of American college songs, carried it as well in its 1876 edition.[7] The Index notes that the "Merrily" section shares part of its tune with "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and it lists the song in 4-H and Boy Scout songbooks.[4] Meredith Willson's The Music Man, first staged on Broadway in 1957 with a score that includes barbershop quartets, appears in its licensor's song list with the number "Pick-a-little, Talk-a-Little/ Good Night, Ladies."[8]
Judy House includes "Good Night, Ladies" in Favorite Sing-Along Songs For The Mountain Dulcimer, an 85-page book of familiar songs for mountain dulcimer whose arrangements aim for a middle ground between too plain and too hard.[9]
Sources
- The Morgan Library & Museum: "Farewell ladies / written, composed & sung by E.P. Christy".
- Britannica: "Edwin P. Christy".
- American Music at Pitt (University of Pittsburgh): "Blackface Minstrelsy".
- The Traditional Ballad Index: "Goodnight Ladies".
- The Morgan Library & Museum: "Carmina Yalensia: A Complete and Accurate Collection of Yale College Songs".
- Internet Archive (University of Pittsburgh Library System): "Carmina Yalensia" (New York: Taintor Bros. & Co., 1867).
- Internet Archive (York University Libraries): "Carmina Collegensia" (Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., 1876).
- Music Theatre International: "The Music Man".
- Judy House: "Favorite Sing-Along Songs For The Mountain Dulcimer".
- Image: Thomas Rowlandson, Good Night, hand-colored etching, November 1, 1799. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.