| Way Down Yonder in New Orleans | |
| Cover: | WayDownYonderInNOBlossomSeeley.jpg |
| Caption: | 1922 sheet music cover with a photo of singer Blossom Seeley |
| Published: | 1922 |
"Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" is a popular song with music by John Turner Layton Jr. and lyrics by Henry Creamer. First published in 1922, it was advertised by Creamer and Layton as "A Southern Song, without A Mammy, A Mule, Or A Moon", a dig at some of the Tin Pan Alley clichés of the era.
It was performed at The Winter Garden Theater in New York in Act 2 of the Broadway musical production Spice of 1922.[1] The original 1922 sheet music featured a drawing of a girl on a spice bottle on the front cover, referring to the musical in which the song eventually made its public debut.[2]
Early successful recordings of the song were by the Peerless Quartet, Blossom Seeley and Paul Whiteman.[3]
The song has been recorded numerous times from the early 1920s into the 21st century. Layton himself recorded the song as part of the duo Layton & Johnstone in 1927. Roger Wolfe Kahn and His Orchestra played the song in their 1932 film short The Yacht Party. Notable uses have included being the theme song for the radio program This Is Jazz in the 1940s.
According to Dick Biondi, Freddy Cannon's 1959 version became the first record in the rock era to have a full brass section. It reached number 3 on the Billboard chart in early 1960. The song was performed by Harry Connick Jr. in a September 2005 NBC Katrina fundraiser, "A Concert For Hurricane Relief", that raised over $50 million.[4]
As a composition from 1922, this song is in the public domain in the United States due to its copyright expiring.
The song tells of New Orleans, the destination which the singer desires. The chorus is:Second chorus ending: