|
Goodbye Miss Liza
Old-Time Breakdown and Song. Words by Andrew B. Sterling, Music by Harry Von Tilzer, 1903.
AUTHOR: New Deal String Band - Dealing Another Hand
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1903
OTHER NAMES: Good-bye Sweet Liza Jane (Poole); Good-Bye Eliza Jane; Good-bye Liza Jane.
SOURCES: Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 211, "Good-bye, Eliza Jane" (partial text and tune) Rorrer, p. 93, "Good-bye Sweet Liza Jane" (1 text);
RECORDINGS: Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Good-bye Sweet Liza Jane" (Columbia 15601-D, 1930; on CPoole03 as "Goodbye Liza Jane") Read 'Em and Weep, Arco, Sof (1959/1926), p211 (Good-Bye Eliza Jane); Boiled Buzzards. Fine Dining, Marimac 9043, Cas (1991), cut#A.05; Corn Dodgers. Nobody's Business If I Do, Rooster 106, LP (1980), cut#B.04 (Goodbye/Good-bye Liza Jane); Dickel Brothers. Dickel Brothers Volume One, Empty Records MTR 376, LP (1999), cut#B.02 (Goodbye/Good-bye Liza Jane); Highwoods String Band. Dance All Night, Rounder 0045, LP (1975?), cut# 2; McClatchy, Debby. Light Years Away, Marimac 4010, CD (1992), cut#14; Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Legend of Charlie Poole, County 516, LP, cut# 7 (Goodbye/Good-bye Liza Jane); Spontaneous String Band. String Band Project, Elektra EKS 7292, LP, cut#B.08
NOTES: Sentimental ballad writer Harry von Tilzer wrote the music for the “Goodbye Eliza Jane" in 1903. He was one of the leading ‘Tin Pan Alley” writers with hits such as "My Old New Hampshire Home" and “Bird in a Gilded Cage.” When Charlie Poole recorded the song it became an old-time song obscuring its original composition.
Only the title (Goodbye Eliza Jane) and a few lyrics, connect this Tin Pan Alley song with the fiddle tune, Goodbye Liza Jane. I have listed this under a frequent title, Goodbye Miss Liza Jane, as it’s listed in the online Folk Song Index.
BIO: Harry Von Tilzer- b. July 8, 1872, Detroit, MI, d. Jan. 10. 1946, New York, N.Y. Harry Gummbinsky (The family later shortened the name to "Gumm".) Harry, one of six children, was to find a career in music as did his younger brother Albert. When Harry was still a child, his family moved to Indianapolis, IN, where he father acquired a shoe store. A theatrical company gave performances in the loft above the store, and that's where Harry learned to love show business.
His career really started in 1886 when, at age 14, he ran away from home and joined the Cole Brothers Circus. By 1887, he was playing piano, composing songs, and acting in a traveling repertory company. He changed his name at that time. His mother's maiden name was Tilzer, and he 'gussied' it up by adding the 'Von'. Thereafter he would be called Harry Von Tilzer, and later his younger brother would adopt the name also, Albert Von Tilzer. Harry met Lottie Gilson when the burlesque troupe with which he was working reached Chicago. The popular vaudevillian took an interest, and induced him to go to New York. In 1892, Harry, working as a groom on a trainload of horses, arrived in New York, with just $1.65 in his pocket. He rented a room near the Brooklyn Bridge and became a $15.00 per week saloon pianist. He left New York briefly to work in a traveling medicine show, but returned to again work in saloons and later as a vaudevillian in a 'Dutch' act with George Sidney. At this time, Harry was writing songs, literally hundreds of songs that were never published. He would sell them outright to other entertainers for $2.00 each. Even Tony Pastor sang a few of his songs in his theater. But the tide was about to turn for Harry.
One of his songs was published, "My Old New Hampshire Home", lyric by Andrew B. Sterling. William C. Dunn, owner of a small print shop, purchased it outright for $15.00, and issued it in 1898. It was a hit that sold more than 2 million copies.
LYRICS:
1: Look here Liza listen to me
Say you’re not the girl you promised to be
Didn’t you say you’d always be true
You went out a runnin with Mr Brown
I am the laughing stock of the town
People say to never trust you.
Chorus: Throw up your hands ma’am I’m a gonna go
I was a good man while I had to go – So
Goodbye Miss Liza I’m gonna leave you
You’ll know when I go I was the feller with the do do do.
Sing a little song travel along
Leave me good day maam I’m on my way
Goodbye miss Liza Jane.
2: Give me here my gold watch and chain
Give me my umbrella case it might rain
Give me the clothes that I paid for too
Check me in the trunk and hand me those things
Give me back my gold diamond ring
You can get Mr Brown to dress you all up new.
|