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Ain't Dat a Shame
Old-time jazz crossover song; Tin Pan Alley song, widely known
ARTIST: John Queen (lyricist) Walter Wilson (composer) Written 1901
CATEGORY: Tin Pan Alley, Blues and Jazz Songs DATE: 1901
RECORDING INFO: This song was first recorded in 1901 as "Ain't That A Shame" by Dan Quinn. You can hear Ain't Dat A Shame by Silas Leachman (1902): http://www.archive.org/details/AintDatAShameBySilasLeachman1902
Early Country recordings: Uncle Dave Macon 1926 Victor; "Bill Bailey Ain't That A Shame" by John McGee 1928 and the Allen Brothers 1928 Columbia unissued.
RELATED TO: Bill Bailey
SOURCES: Levy site;
NOTES: "Ain't Dat A Shame" by John Queen (lyricist) and Walter Wilson (composer) was written in 1901. It is based on a character (several sources claim he was a real person) named Bill Bailey and is sometimes named, "Bill Bailey, Ain't That A Shame." It was written one year before Hugh Cannon's 1902 "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home." It was blackface performer and singer John Queen who performed Bill Bailey on the minstrel and vaudeville circuit which led to popular recording by Aurthur Collins. Bill Bailey was a huge hit based on Queen's character from "Ain't Dat A Shame," which never reached hit status.
"Ain't Dat A Shame" verse: One dark and stormy night, de rain was fallin' fast,
Bill Bailey told his lady friend, our dream of love is past...
Ain't Dat A Shame (Chorus only)
John Queen (lyricist) Walter Wilson (composer) 1901
Ain't dat a shame, a measly shame.
To keep your honey, out in the rain. (Lordy have a little pity)
Will you open dat door an' let me in,
I stand yere (sic) freezin' wet to the skin.
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