A 1919 popular song
words by Blanche Merrill
music by M. K. Jerome
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
My daddy was a ragtime trombone player
My mammy was a ragtime cabaret-er
They met one day at a tango tea
There was a syncopated wedding
And then came me
Folks think the way I walk is a fad
But, it’s a birthday present from my Mammy and Dad
Chorus
I’m a Jazz baby
I want to be jazzing 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 jazbo harmony
That “walk the dog,” that caused 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
Patter
Rocked to sleep while the cradle went to and fro
To and fro to the tune of the “tickle toe”
Ever since I started in to grow
I’d love to hear the music playin’
See my dear old mammy swayin’
Jazz, Jazz, Jazz, that’s all I ever knew
All day long I never would get thro’
Jazz, Jazz, Jazz, that’s all I want to do
Play me a little Jazz
‘Cause I’m a Jazz baby
Full of jazbo harmony
That “walk the dog,” that caused 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
Sung here by Laurence Rubenstein: