A southern song without a mammy, a mule, or a moon, 1922.
Words by Henry Creamer. Music by Turner Layton.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment player piano roll QRS #2083s, scan by Terry Smythe:
Lyrics
- Guess! where do you think I’m going
When the winds start blowing strong?
Guess! where do you think I’m going
When the nights start growing long?
I ain’t going East, I ain’t going West
I ain’t going over the cuckoo’s nest
I’m bound for the town that I love best
Where life is one sweet song
Chorus
‘Way down yonder in New Orleans
In the land of dreamy scenes
There’s a garden of Eden, that’s what I mean
Creole babies with flashing eyes
Softly whisper with tender sighs
Stop! Oh! won’t you give your lady fair a little smile
Stop! You bet your life you’ll linger there a little while
There is heaven right here on earth
With those beautiful queens
(They’ve got angels right here on earth
Wearing little blue jeans)
‘Way down yonder in New Orleans
- Guess! what do you think I’m thinking
When you think I’m thinking wrong?
Guess! what do you think I’m thinking
When I’m thinking all night long?
I ain’t thinking this, I ain’t thinking that
I cannot be thinking about your hat
My heart does not start to pit-a-pat
Unless I hear this song
Patter
The orange blossoms’ sweet aroma
And the strains of La Paloma
Seem to throw me into a coma
When the shadows play
Again I see a peacherin-o
Dance the you know what I mean-o
She could shake a mean tambourin-o
So I hear the folks say
Sung here by Fred Feild: