Tassels on Her Boots

DESCRIPTION: The singer is intrigued by the tassels on a girl's boots. He courts her; she speculates that he is sad because he always stares at the ground. He explains that he is looking at the tassels. Now they are married; he intends to tassel the childrens' boots
AUTHOR: Robert Coombs ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (publication)
KEYWORDS: clothes courting
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 491, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 text)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 158-159, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepSomeMoreMyLady, pp. 93-94, "Tassels on the Boots" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert-LostChords, p. 60, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 partial text)
New-Comic-Songster, p. 4, "Those Tassels on the Boots" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3275
SAME TUNE:
Cap and Gown ("When, trembling Freshmen, first We sought this class share") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 64)
NOTES [144 words]: Spaeth (A History of Popular Music in America, p. 173) says that this was "one of a large group of songs [in the 1860s] that discussed details of feminine attire," but mentions only this and "Jockey Hat and Feather."
Internet sources say that this is from a dramatic production, "Ixion (The Man at the Wheel)." At least one also listed a different author, Arthur Cheney. New-Comic-Songster lists it as by "Frank Cooper." The earliest sheet music I've found says only "as sung by Emelie Melville."
The Coote(s) associated with waltzes in the first stanza is Charles Coote, a bandleader and light music composer whose greatest fame came in the 1870s, but who now is almost completely forgotten. A check of half a dozen musical histories failed to turn up any information about him, and I couldn't find much more in an (admittedly rather cursory) internet search. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: R491

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