Lyrics of first lines and refrains

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First line/ Refrain:	U li a li o la e (first line of chorus)
Title:	Rosa Lee, or, Don't be foolish Joe : the favorite Negro song
Composer:
Publisher:	O. Ditson
Date:	1847

First line/ Refrain:	U-li-a-li o-la-e (first line of chorus)
Title:	Rosa Lee
Composer:
Publisher:	S.W. Marsh
Date:	18XX

First line/ Refrain:	U. stands for uncle (first line of chorus)
Title:	U.S.G. : national walk 'round
Composer:	Emmett, Daniel Decatur
Publisher:	Wm. A. Pond & Co.
Date:	1864

First line/ Refrain:	Um-um-um, go to sleep my honey (first line of chorus)
Title:	Lil' ole brown cabin
Composer:	Cox, Lytton
Publisher:	T.S. Denison & Co.
Date:	1918

First line/ Refrain:	Underneath your window (first line of refrain)
Title:	Say you love me Sue
Composer:	Stromberg, John
Publisher:	Weber, Fields & Stromberg
Date:	1899

First line/ Refrain:	Up in de sky dars a yaller moon a-beamin' (first line of text)
Title:	Eli Green's cake walk
Composer:	Koninsky, Sadie
Publisher:	J.W. Stern
Date:	1896

First line/ Refrain:	Used to have a little ragtime baby (first line of text)
Title:	I've lost ma baby!
Composer:	Von Tilzer, Harry
Publisher:	T.B. Harms
Date:	1899

First line/ Refrain:	'Way down in Georgia lives my gal Rose (first line of text)
Title:	Oh you Georgia rose
Composer:	Cole, Bob
Publisher:	Will Rossiter
Date:	1912

First line/ Refrain:	'Way down south in Tennessee (first line of text)
Title:	Honey I'm waiting
Composer:	Barron, Ted S.
Publisher:	Leo Feist
Date:	1904

First line/ Refrain:	Watch them shufflin' along (first line of chorus)
Title:	Waiting for the Robert E. Lee
Composer:	Muir, Lewis F.
Publisher:	F.A. Mills
Date:	1912

First line/ Refrain:	Watchin' and waitin' underneath the cotton moon (first line of chorus)
Title:	Underneath the cotton moon
Composer:	Meyer, George W.
Publisher:	G.W. Meyer
Date:	1913

First line/ Refrain:	Way down in jungleland where cocoanuts are growin' (first line of text)
Title:	Ringtail blues : (a vocal adaptation of the famous instrumental)
Composer:	Robinson, J. Russel
Publisher:	Pace & Handy Music Co.
Date:	1918

First line/ Refrain:	Way down in Louisiana (first line of text)
Title:	My Hannah lady : whose black baby is you
Composer:	Reed, David
Publisher:	Jos. W. Stern & Co.
Date:	1899

First line/ Refrain:	Way down in my heart (first line of chorus)
Title:	I've got a feelin' for you, or, Way down in my heart
Composer:	Morse, Theodore F.
Publisher:	F.B. Haviland Pub. Co.
Date:	1904

First line/ Refrain:	Way down in old Georgie (first line of text)
Title:	Big brown booloo eyes
Composer:	Leonard, Eddie
Publisher:	Cohan & Harris Pub. Co.
Date:	1908

First line/ Refrain:	Way down on de old plantation, dah's where I was born (first line of text)
Title:	Angelina Baker
Composer:	Foster, Stephen Collins
Publisher:	W.T. Mayo
Date:	1850

First line/ Refrain:	Way down on the levee in old Alabamy (first line of text)
Title:	Waiting for the Robert E. Lee
Composer:	Muir, Lewis F.
Publisher:	F.A. Mills
Date:	1912

First line/ Refrain:	Way down south in old Savannah, G.A. (first line of song:)
Title:	When Aunt Dinah's daughter Hannah bangs on that piano : and Sambo sings those Southern blues
Composer:	White, James
Publisher:	Frank K. Root & Co.
Date:	1918

First line/ Refrain:	Way down south on the river Nile lived a maid with winsome smile (first line of text)
Title:	Zulu love song
Composer:	Hofmann, Louis J.
Publisher:	A. Hospe Co.
Date:	1909

First line/ Refrain:	Way down south where I was born (first line of text)
Title:	Dixie Dan
Composer:	Furth, Seymour
Publisher:	Shapiro
Date:	1907

First line/ Refrain:	Way down upon a cotton farm (first line of text)
Title:	Mammy's little pumpkin colored coons : plantation slumber song
Composer:	Perrin, Sidney
Publisher:	M. Witmark & Sons
Date:	1897

First line/ Refrain:	Way down upon de Swanee ribber (first line of text)
Title:	Old folks at home : Ethiopian melody
Composer:	Foster, Stephen Collins
Publisher:	Firth, Pond & Co.
Date:	1851

First line/ Refrain:	Way down upon de Swanee ribber (first line of text)
Title:	Old folks at home : Ethiopian melody
Composer:	Foster, Stephen Collins
Publisher:	H. Kleber
Date:	1851

First line/ Refrain:	Way down upon de Swanee ribber (first line of text)
Title:	Old folks at home : Ethiopian melody
Composer:	Foster, Stephen Collins
Publisher:	H. Kleber
Date:	1852

First line/ Refrain:	We represent de members of de noble colored troops (first line of text)
Title:	The Skidmore guard
Composer:	Carter, William
Publisher:	Wm. A. Pond & Co.
Date:	1874

First line/ Refrain:	We'n de evenin' shadders come a gliddin' down (first line of text)
Title:	The boogah man
Composer:	Lea, Mary Jordan
Publisher:	Eldridge Entertainment House
Date:	1910

First line/ Refrain:	Wedding bells were ringing in a little village church (first line of text)
Title:	Now for a stranger don't cast me aside : song and chorus
Composer:	Guy, Harry P.
Publisher:	Whitney Warner Pub. Co.,
Date:	1898

First line/ Refrain:	Wedding bells were ringing on a moonlight winter's night (first line of text)
Title:	The fatal wedding : descriptive waltz song
Composer:	Davis, Gussie L.
Publisher:	s.n.
Date:	18XX

First line/ Refrain:	Wedding bells were ringing on a moonlight winter's night (first line of text)
Title:	The fatal wedding
Composer:	Davis, Gussie L.
Publisher:	Spaulding & Gray
Date:	1893

First line/ Refrain:	Weep no more my lady (first line of chorus)
Title:	My old Kentucky home, good night
Composer:	Foster, Stephen Collins
Publisher:	Firth, Pond & Co.
Date:	1853

First line/ Refrain:	Weep no more my lady (first line of chorus)
Title:	My old Kentucky home, good night
Composer:	Foster, Stephen Collins
Publisher:	Morison Kyle
Date:	18XX

First line/ Refrain:	Well, you see this nice new razor (first line of chorus)
Title:	The darktown poker club
Composer:	Williams, Bert
Publisher:	Jerome H. Remick & Co
Date:	c1914

First line/ Refrain:	Were you ever down in Dixie (first line of text)
Title:	Brown skin : (who're you for?) : the singing one-step
Composer:	Barton, Roy
Publisher:	Will Rossiter
Date:	1916

First line/ Refrain:	Whar shall we go w'en de great day comes (first line of text)
Title:	Uncle Remus' revival hymn
Composer:	Hill, W. C.
Publisher:	J. Church & Co.
Date:	1878

First line/ Refrain:	What a gal (first line of chorus)
Title:	Lovin' blues : song and fox-trot
Composer:	Wilson, Helen E.
Publisher:	Will Rossiter
Date:	1918

First line/ Refrain:	What becomes of dreams of old (first line of text)
Title:	The harbor of lost dreams
Composer:	Williams, Bert
Publisher:	Will Rossiter
Date:	c1909

First line/ Refrain:	What's the matter honey there's a tear in your eye (first line of text)
Title:	The pickaninnies paradise
Composer:	Osborne, Nat
Publisher:	Harry Von Tilzer
Date:	1918

First line/ Refrain:	What's the matter honey? (first line of text)
Title:	Mammy's angel chile
Composer:	Shannon, J. R. (James Royce)
Publisher:	Grinnell Bros.
Date:	1911

First line/ Refrain:	When a man gets blue (first line of chorus)
Title:	Nigger blues
Composer:	White, LeRoy Lasses
Publisher:	Bush & Gerts
Date:	1913

First line/ Refrain:	When a war broke out I volunteered to march right to the front (first line of text)
Title:	I certainly was going some
Composer:	Vodery, Will H.
Publisher:	Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co.
Date:	c1913

First line/ Refrain:	When at home in paradise (first line of chorus)
Title:	That home in paradise : love and home forever
Composer:	Guy, Harry P.
Publisher:	J. Piggott Music Publisher
Date:	1921

First line/ Refrain:	When de banjo's a strummin' (first line of text)
Title:	I want yer, ma honey : an Ethiopian oddity
Composer:	Templeton, Fay
Publisher:	Francis, Day & Hunter
Date:	1895

First line/ Refrain:	When de cotton fields am withered an' de corn am in de groun' (first line of text)
Title:	Kiss me, honey, do
Composer:	Stromberg, John
Publisher:	Weber Fields & Stromberg
Date:	1898

First line/ Refrain:	When de golden sun am sinkin in de west (first line of text)
Title:	Mammy's honey : a darkey lullaby
Composer:	Howe, Charles T.
Publisher:	Charles T. Howe & Donnell Music Co.
Date:	1899

First line/ Refrain:	When de honeysuckles climb'in roun de do' (first line of text)
Title:	A southern lullaby
Composer:	Terry, Robert Huntington
Publisher:	Hinds, Hayden & Eldredge, Inc.
Date:	1916

First line/ Refrain:	When de silver moon am shinin' thro' de tree tops (first line of text)
Title:	My dusky babe : a coon lullaby
Composer:	Fehrmann, Max
Publisher:	F.A. Mills
Date:	1900

First line/ Refrain:	When I lib'd in Tennesse (first line of text)
Title:	Rosa Lee
Composer:
Publisher:	S.W. Marsh
Date:	18XX

First line/ Refrain:	When I libd in Tennesse (first line of text)
Title:	Rosa Lee, or, Don't be foolish Joe : the favorite Negro song
Composer:
Publisher:	O. Ditson
Date:	1847

First line/ Refrain:	When I walk dat levee round (first line of chorus)
Title:	May Irwin's Bully song : as sung with great success in the "Widow Jones"
Composer:	Trevathan, Charles E.
Publisher:	The Journal
Date:	1896

First line/ Refrain:	When I was born they christened me plain Samuel Johnson Brown (first line of text)
Title:	That's why they call me Shine
Composer:	Dabney, Ford T.
Publisher:	Gotham-Attuck Music Co.
Date:	1910

First line/ Refrain:	When I was broke, and in the south (first line of text)
Title:	I'm gonna quit - Saturday!
Composer:	Archer, Harry
Publisher:	Leo. Feist Inc.
Date:	1921

First line/ Refrain:	When I was just a little child, so many years ago (first line of text)
Title:	Aunt Sally : a mammy song
Composer:	Clark, Horace
Publisher:	Theo. Presser Co.
Date:	1914

First line/ Refrain:	When I was young I always hoped that someday I'd be rich (first line of text)
Title:	I'd rather have nothin' all of the time, than somethin' for a little while
Composer:	Williams, Bert
Publisher:	Gotham-Attucks
Date:	c1908

First line/ Refrain:	When I was young I us'd to wait on massa and hand him de plate (first line of text)
Title:	Jim crack corn, or, The blue tail fly
Composer:
Publisher:	F.D. Benteen
Date:	1846

First line/ Refrain:	When I'se wand'rin' down de road (first line of text)
Title:	Ma little banjo
Composer:	Dichmont, William
Publisher:	G. Schirmer
Date:	1917

First line/ Refrain:	When Leonidas Lincoln Lee was a piccaninny coon (first line of text)
Title:	Listen to the big brass band : coon march, song & chorus
Composer:	Reed, Dave
Publisher:	M. Witmark & Sons
Date:	1904

First line/ Refrain:	When life seems full of clouds and rain(first line of text)
Title:	Nobody
Composer:	Williams, Bert
Publisher:	Attucks Music Co.
Date:	c1905

First line/ Refrain:	When niggers meet 'tis a pleasure (first line of text)
Title:	Mary Blane
Composer:	Whitlock, William
Publisher:	C.G. Christman
Date:	1846

First line/ Refrain:	When Sylvester Johnson Lee, hit New York from Tennessee (first line of text)
Title:	Much obliged to you
Composer:	Burt, Benjamin Hapgood
Publisher:	Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Date:	1907

First line/ Refrain:	When the band begins to play (first line of chorus)
Title:	At the high brown babies' ball
Composer:	Davis, Benny
Publisher:	Leo. Feist Inc.
Date:	1919

First line/ Refrain:	When the darkness comes a creepin' (first line of text)
Title:	My charcoal charmer
Composer:	Edwards, Gus
Publisher:	Howley, Haviland & Co.
Date:	1900

First line/ Refrain:	When the harvest moon was peepin' and a creepin' o'er the hill (first line of text)
Title:	'Liza
Composer:	Van Alstyne, Egbert
Publisher:	Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Date:	1909

First line/ Refrain:	When the harvest moon was peepin' and a creepin' o'er the hill (first line of text)
Title:	'Liza
Composer:	Van Alstyne, Egbert
Publisher:	Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Date:	1909

First line/ Refrain:	When the midnight choo-choo leaves for Alabam'
Title:	When that midnight choo choo leaves for Alabam'
Composer:	Berlin, Irving
Publisher:	T. Snyder
Date:	1912

First line/ Refrain:	When the moon was rising, clear and bright (first line of text)
Title:	Jungle moon
Composer:	Wenrich, Percy
Publisher:	Victor Kremer Co.
Date:	1909

First line/ Refrain:	When the shadows have fallen on meadow and dale (first line of text)
Title:	Plantation lullaby : a Southern ballad
Composer:	Stevens, Vernon
Publisher:	A.J. Stasny Music
Date:	1921

First line/ Refrain:	When the silver moon is beaming (first line of text)
Title:	My black Bess
Composer:	Von Tilzer, Harry
Publisher:	E.T. Paull Music Co.
Date:	1899

First line/ Refrain:	When the sugar moon am moonin' (first line of chorus)
Title:	Sugar moon
Composer:	Wenrich, Percy
Publisher:	Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Date:	1910

First line/ Refrain:	When the toil of day is o'er (first line of text)
Title:	Shaky eyes
Composer:	Armstrong, Harry
Publisher:	M. Witmark & Sons
Date:	1909

First line/ Refrain:	When the war is over ev'ry nation at peace (first line of chorus)
Title:	Yankee Doodle's in the fight to stay
Composer:	Guy, Harry P.
Publisher:	Universal Music Co.
Date:	1918

First line/ Refrain:	When yo grow up my black eyed angel (first line of chorus)
Title:	Yo's honey to yo' mammy jes' the same
Composer:	Kendis, James
Publisher:	Kendis-Brockman Music Co. Inc.
Date:	1917

First line/ Refrain:	When you hear dem a bells go ding, ling, ling (first line of chorus)
Title:	A hot time in the old town
Composer:	Metz, Theodore A.
Publisher:	Willis Woodward & Co.
Date:	1896

First line/ Refrain:	When your daughter's ta'en away (first line of text)
Title:	Eva to her papa : song
Composer:	Howard, G. C. (George Cunnibell)
Publisher:	Oliver Ditson & Co.
Date:	1870

First line/ Refrain:	When your daughters taen away (first line of text)
Title:	Eva to her papa : as sung by little Cordelia Howard in her original character of "The gentle Eva" in Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Composer:	Howard, G. C. (George Cunnibell)
Publisher:	Horace Waters
Date:	1853

First line/ Refrain:	Where is the azure beauty that once was in the skies (first line of text)
Title:	Three questions : a ballad
Composer:	Johnson, J. Rosamond (John Rosamond)
Publisher:	Harold Flammer
Date:	1917

First line/ Refrain:	Where the moon am a climbin' and the stars am a shinin' (first line of text)
Title:	Emmalina
Composer:	Potter, Bert
Publisher:	Walter Jacobs
Date:	1905

First line/ Refrain:	While doves were softly cooing (first line of text)
Title:	The bull-frog and the coon
Composer:	Nathan, Joseph S.
Publisher:	Leo. Feist Inc.
Date:	1906

First line/ Refrain:	While I am far away from you (first line of text)
Title:	As long as there is love : I will love you
Composer:	Guy, Harry P.
Publisher:	Jerome H. Remick & Co.
Date:	1914

First line/ Refrain:	While the birds were singing in the morning (first line of chorus)
Title:	Kittie Wells : the only correct and authorized edition
Composer:	Bishop, T. Brigham (Thomas Brigham)
Publisher:	S.T. Gordon
Date:	1861

First line/ Refrain:	While the wedding bells were ringing (first line of refrain)
Title:	The fatal wedding
Composer:	Davis, Gussie L.
Publisher:	Spaulding & Gray
Date:	1893

First line/ Refrain:	While the wedding bells were ringing (first line of refrain)
Title:	The fatal wedding : descriptive waltz song
Composer:	Davis, Gussie L.
Publisher:	s.n.
Date:	18XX

First line/ Refrain:	White folks attention, a song I'll sing to you (first line of text)
Title:	Happy land of Canaan : popular banjo solo
Composer:	Wray, Wm. A. (William A.)
Publisher:	John Church, Jr.
Date:	1860

First line/ Refrain:	Who dat a knockin' at the door below (first line of text)
Title:	What you goin' to do when the rent comes 'round : (Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown)
Composer:	Von Tilzer, Harry
Publisher:	Harry Von Tilzer Music Pub. Co.
Date:	1905

First line/ Refrain:	Who dat knockin' at de do' (first line of text)
Title:	Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f : (Encouragement)
Composer:	Sawyer, Henry S.
Publisher:	T.S. Denison & Co.
Date:	1922

First line/ Refrain:	Who dat peeking roun de corner (first line of text)
Title:	Miss spring : a song
Composer:	Willard, Mary
Publisher:	Hinds, Hayden & Eldredge, Inc.
Date:	1922

First line/ Refrain:	Who're you for brown skin (first line of chorus)
Title:	Brown skin : (who're you for?) : the singing one-step
Composer:	Barton, Roy
Publisher:	Will Rossiter
Date:	1916

First line/ Refrain:	Why did you act that way, when you knew you didn't want me (first line of chorus)
Title:	Why did you make me love you : then break my heart
Composer:	Brooks, Shelton
Publisher:	Will Rossiter
Date:	1917

First line/ Refrain:	Why he's a cousin of mine (first line of chorus)
Title:	He's a cousin of mine
Composer:	Smith, Chris
Publisher:	Gotham-Attucks Music Co.
Date:	1906

First line/ Refrain:	Why the dearest days of my life were bandana days (first line of text)
Title:	Bandana days : novelty fox trot song
Composer:	Blake, Eubie
Publisher:	M. Witmark & Sons
Date:	1921

First line/ Refrain:	Wiggle, giggle, look in her eyes (first line of chorus)
Title:	The old time rag
Composer:	Morse, Theodore F.
Publisher:	F.B. Haviland Pub. Co.
Date:	1908

First line/ Refrain:	With the moon, moon, moon
Title:	Wid de moon, moon, moon : Negro love-song
Composer:	Cook, Will Marion
Publisher:	G. Schirmer
Date:	1907

First line/ Refrain:	Within a Sunday school a little child one day (first line of text)
Title:	Little black me : song & refrain
Composer:	Chattaway, Thurland
Publisher:	Howley, Haviland & Co.
Date:	1899

First line/ Refrain:	Won't you come home, Bill Bailey (first line of chorus)
Title:	Bill Bailey, won't you please come home?
Composer:	Cannon, Hughie L.
Publisher:	Howley, Haviland & Dresser
Date:	1902

First line/ Refrain:	Won't you strut Miss Lizzie, get busy (first line of chorus)
Title:	Strut, Miss Lizzie
Composer:	Creamer, Henry
Publisher:	Jack Mills Inc.
Date:	1921

First line/ Refrain:	Woodman, woodman, spare that tree, touch not a single bough (first line of chorus)
Title:	Woodman, woodman, spare that tree!
Composer:	Berlin, Irving
Publisher:	ABC Music Corp.
Date:	[1939?], c1911

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