At The Ball, That’s All

Lyrics:

At The Ball That’s All – Traditional arrangement Tim O’Brien and Jan Fabricius/ No Bad Ham Music / ASCAP

Dancin’, advancin’,
Prancin’, a glancin’
Dancin’, entrancin’
You do the tango jiggle with the Texas Tommy wiggle
Take your partner and you hold her, enfold her
Bolder, just work your shoulder
Snap your fingers one and all in the hall at the ball that’s all, some ball

Commence to dancin’, commence advancin’
Just start a prancin’, right and left a glancin’
A moochee dancin’, slide and glide entrancin’
You do the tango jiggle with the Texas Tommy wiggle
Take your partner and you hold her, lightly enfold her
A little bolder, just work your shoulder
Snap your fingers one and all in the hall at the ball that’s all, some ball

Credits:

Recorded May 20th, 2015 at the Butcher Shoppe
Engineer David Ferguson
Tim O’Brien – mandolin, bass and vocal
Jan Fabricius – vocal

Song notes:

This song was written by John Leubrie Hill, an early African American stage performer and songwriter from Memphis. In collaboration first with Alex Rogers and later with J. Rosamond Johnson, he wrote songs and entire plays for the touring African American theater and tent shows of his day, working with top performers like Bert Williams. In 1913 Hill produced and starred in the successful Harlem show My Friend From Kentucky, which included At The Ball That’s All. Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld purchased the rights to the song for his next review, and it eventually made it into a 1937 Laurel and Hardy film called Way Out West. You can watch Stan and Ollie dance to the Avalon Boys’ wonderful rendition of the song on YouTube. J. Leubrie Hill died in 1916.