[Warning: Offensive racial terms and inaccurate stereotypes were used for entertainment in times past. This song is presented here in original form as a part of music history.]
A 1912 nostalgic ragtime song set on river loading docks
words by Ballard MacDonald
music by Carroll & Fields
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
- In my dreams I seem to hear a whistle shrill
Like the whippoorwilling of the whippoorwill
In my ears I hear it ringing
And the past to me it is bringing
It reminds me of the dear old Mississipp’
When I loaded cotton on that stern wheel ship
Roustabout, knocked about
They were the happy days there’s no doubt
Chorus
On the Mississippi, on the Mississippi
Where those boats go puffin’ along
On the Mississippi, darkies all go dippy
When they hear a little bit of ragtime melody
It seems I hear them singing, see them buck and winging
To the banjos ringing, Oh, my heart is clinging
To the Mississippi, dear old Mississippi
That’s where I was born
- I just have to close my eyes to see that sight
River all a-glistening in the bright moonlight
With my gal again I’m strolling
And her eyes at me they are rolling
All along the levee see those darkies prance
Listen to the music watch that shufflin’ dance
Lordy me, can’t you see
That there is only one place for me?
Sung here by Fred Feild: