The Sidewalks of New York

A 1894 waltz song and chorus that identifies the big apple.
words and music by Chas. B. Lawlor and James W. Blake

A small-time vaudevillian, Charles Lawlor had often watched children dancing on the sidewalks. He met up with James Blake, another vaudevillian, in a hat store. On Blake’s block when he was a kid, everyone was Irish. They developed these lyrics that provide an idealized view of NYC neighborhoods in the 1890s. They were paid $5000 for the song by a publisher. Lawlor died penniless in 1925. Blake went blind, was penniless and performing in obscurity by 1934. He died in 1935. There is a companion song called The Streets of the Crowded City.

The sheet music:

The-Sidewalks-of-New-York – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by Benjamin R. Tubb:

The-Sidewalks-of-New-York – MIDIDownload

Lyrics

  1. Down in front of Casey’s
    Old brown wooden stoop
    On a summer’s evening
    We formed a merry group
    Boys and girls together
    We would sing and waltz
    While the “Ginnie” played the organ
    On the sidewalks of New York

Chorus
East side, west side, all around the town
The tots sang “ring a rosie”
“London Bridge is falling down”
Boys and girls together
Me and Mamie Rorke
Tripped the light fantastic
On the sidewalks of New York

  1. That’s where Johnny Casey
    And little Jimmy Crowe
    With Jakey Krause the baker
    Who always had the dough
    Pretty Nellie Shannon
    With a dude as light as cork
    First picked up the waltz step
    On the sidewalks of New York
  2. Things have changed since those times
    Some are up in “G”
    Others they are on the hog
    But they all feel just like me
    They would part with all they’ve got
    Could they but once more walk
    With their best girl and have a twirl
    On the sidewalks of New York

Sung here by Fred Feild: