DARKTOWN STRUTTERS' BALL

(Shelton Brooks)


Recorded by:
Jamey Aebersold; Oscar Alemán; Ray Anthony; Svend Asmussen;
Chet Atkins; Paul Barbarin; Count Basie Orch.; 
Sidney Bechet; The Boswell Sisters; Tiny Bradshaw; 
Shelton Brooks; Joe Brown; Milton Brown; Dave Brubeck; 
Albert Burbank; Al Caiola; Hoagy Carmichael; 
Renato Carosone; Brian Carrick; The Charioteers; Max Collie; 
Ken Colyer; Eddie Condon; The Coon-Sanders Nighthawks; 
Carleton Coon; Johnny Costa; D-Formation; Joe Daniels; 
Katherine Davis; The Delta Rhythm Boys; 
The Dixieland Ramblers; Fats Domino; Jimmy Dorsey; 
Dukes of Dixieland; Fred Elizalde; James Reese Europe; 
Jim Europe's 369th Infantry Hell Fighters Band;
Robert Farnon Orch.; Ella Fitzgerald; ..... and many others.





I've got some good news, honey
An invitation to the Darktown Ball
It's a very swell affair
All the "high-browns" will be there
I'll wear my high silk hat and frock tail coat
You wear your Paris gown and your new silk shawl
There ain't no doubt about it babe
We'll be the best dressed in the hall


chorus

I'll be down to get you in a taxi, honey
You better be ready about half past eight
Now dearie, don't be late
I want to be there when the band starts playing
Remember when we get there, honey
The two-steps I'm goin' to have 'em all
Goin' to dance out both my shoes
When they play the "Jelly Roll Blues"
Tomorrow night, at the Darktown Strutter's Ball


We'll meet our hightoned neighbors
An exhibition of the "Baby Dolls"
And each one will do their best
Just to outclass the rest
And there'll be dancers from ev'ry foreign land
The classic, buck and wing, and the wooden clog
We'll win that fifty dollar prize
When we step out and "Walk The Dog"





(Contributed by Paul Molloy - September 2002)