Nellie Was a Lady

DESCRIPTION: "Down on the Mississippi floating, Long time I travel on the way." The singer mourns his love: "Nellie was a lady," but "Last night while Nellie was a-sleeping, Death came a-knocking at the door." He will leave Virginia because he mourns so deeply
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: death love home
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Dean-FlyingCloud, p. 122, "Nellie Was a Lady" (1 text)
Musick-JAF-TheOldAlbumOf-William-A-Larkin 45a, "Nelly Was a Lady" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1570, p. 107, "Nelly Was a Lady" (3 references)
Emerson-StephenFosterAndCo, pp. 8-9, "Nelly Was a Lady" (1 text)
Jolly-Miller-Songster-5thEd, #126, "Nellie Was a Lady" (1 text)
Dime-Song-Book #1/72, p. 16 and #1/64 p. 16, "Nelly was a lady" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Henry Randall Waite, _College Songs: A Collection of New and Popular Songs of the American Colleges_, new and enlarged edition, Oliver Ditson & Co., 1887, p. 49, "Nellie Was a Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Dean122 (Partial)
Roud #4273
NOTES [71 words]: According to Sigmund Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America, p. 106, this was "Foster's hit in 1849, now chiefly known as a barber-shop favorite." (And, indeed, nearly every reference I found to it online was to barbershop arrangements).
According to Deems Taylor et al, A Treasury of Stephen Foster, Random House, 1946, p. 55, Foster gave this to Firth, Pond & Co. in return for fifty copies of the printed song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: Dean122

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