Little Liza Jane: A Song History

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The song known today as "Little Liza Jane" was published in 1916 as "Li'l Liza Jane" by Sherman, Clay & Co. of San Francisco, with Countess Ada de Lachau named as its composer.[1] Billed as a "Southern dialect song," it was used as incidental music in the three-act comedy Come Out of the Kitchen.[2] The Levy Sheet Music Collection's record for one edition lists minstrel shows and ethnic stereotypes among the cover's subjects.[1] On September 10, 1917, Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band, with Ted Lewis on clarinet, recorded it in New York as a one-step for Victor, credited to de Lachau.[3]

Winslow Homer wood engraving of young couples riding on a hay wagon, 1869

Winslow Homer, The Straw Ride, wood engraving from Harper’s Bazar, 1869. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A country outing of the period; the engraving has no connection to the song.

The 1916 credit may not be the whole story. Dan Gutstein's book Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane traces a wide family of "Liza Jane" songs, and its publisher's description says he makes the case that they likely began among enslaved people on Southern plantations, with the Works Progress Administration's interviews of formerly enslaved people among his evidence. In his account, variants such as "Goodbye Liza Jane" passed in time to Civil War soldiers and to minstrel troupes.[4] The Traditional Ballad Index, by contrast, judges the related "Liza Jane" folk song almost certainly minstrel in origin,[5] so the sources consulted differ on where the family began. The broader "Liza Jane" family, including the old-time fiddle tune, has its own page here. The two titles are easy to mix up, and the sources consulted do not settle exactly how de Lachau's published song relates to the earlier folk material.

In New Orleans, "Li'l Liza Jane" has been part of the jazz repertoire since the 1910s, according to the Preservation Hall Foundation. It remains a brass-band standard there, known for its call-and-response chorus between singer and band or crowd.[6] Later performers who took up the Liza Jane songs include Harry Belafonte, Fats Domino, Nina Simone and David Bowie.[4] Bowie's first record, released on June 5, 1964, under the name Davie Jones with the King-Bees, was a "Liza Jane." Its credit to his first manager, Leslie Conn, as songwriter has been called controversial.[7] Today "Little Liza Jane" is part of the mountain dulcimer jam repertoire, appearing in Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam, separately from "Liza Jane."[8]

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Sources

  1. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins University: "Li'l Liza Jane. Standard Edition.".
  2. Gonzaga University Digital Archives: "Li'l Liza Jane: Southern dialect song".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix B-20549. Li'l Liza Jane / Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band".
  4. University Press of Mississippi: "Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane".
  5. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Liza Jane".
  6. Preservation Hall Foundation: "Lil Liza Jane (Brass Bandbook)".
  7. DavidBowie.com: "Liza Jane hits half century today".
  8. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam DAD Tuning".