Goodnight, Ladies
Song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy
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"Goodnight, Ladies" is a folk song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy, originally intended to be sung during a minstrel show. Drawing from an 1847 song by Christy entitled "Farewell, Ladies", the song as known today was first published on May 16, 1867.[1]
Lyrics
VERSE I: Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! We're going to leave you now!
CHORUS: Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along. Merrily we roll along, o'er the dark blue sea.
VERSE II: Farewell, ladies! Farewell, ladies! Farewell, ladies! We're going to leave you now!
CHORUS
VERSE III: Sweet dreams, ladies! Sweet dreams, ladies! Sweet dreams, ladies! We're going to leave you now!
CHORUS
Note: the "Merrily We Roll Along" chorus has the same melody as "Mary Had A Little Lamb".
Notable uses
Charles Ives quoted the song in A Symphony: New England Holidays (1897–1913): I. Washington's Birthday, towards the end of the movement.
The 1957 musical The Music Man by Meredith Willson features the song in counterpoint with the original composition "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little."
Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961).
Lou Reed included a version of the song at the end of side two of his album Transformer (1972).
The song appears in the early part of the movie The Four Feathers (2002).
