Showing posts with label Buffalo Gals. Show all posts

Thursday, December 18, 2025

Ballad of America: Top 40 Songs

Ballad of America:

Top 40 Songs

According to their website, Ballad of America is a nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the preservation and celebration of music from American history. Their website features a music library of 40 titles, in alphabetical order, that represent American history. The website provides links to each song that offer more detailed backgrounds on the songs.

Click here to see other lists from publications and/or organizations.

1. “Across the Western Ocean” (19th century)
2. “America the Beautiful” (1895)
3. “American Taxation” (1811)
4. “The Battle Cry of Freedom” (1862)
5. “Brave Wolfe” (late 1790s)
6. “The Brazos River” (1942)
7. “Buffalo Gals (Will You Come Out Tonight)” (1844)
8. “The Crawdad Song” (1917)
9. “Dem Golden Slippers” (1879)
10. “The Distressed Damsel” (1680s)

11. “Down in the Valley (Birmingham Jail)” (1835)
12. “Get on Board” (1872)
13. “Ho! For California!” (1849)
14. “Home on the Range” (1874)
15. “Home Sweet Home” (1823)
16. “Jimmy Crack Corn (The Blue Tail Fly)” (1846)
17. “Lincoln and Liberty” (1860)
18. “The Lovely Ohio” (1842)
19. “O! Say Bonny Lass” (1783)
20. “Oh Freedom!” (post-Civil War)

21. “Oh! Susanna” (1846)
22. “The Old Chisholm Trail” (1910)
23. “Old Settler’s Song” (1870s)
24. “Old Sister Phoebe” (first half of 19th century)
25. “Once More A-Lumbering Go” (1851)
26. “Paddy Works on the Railway” (1864)
27. “Railroad Bill” (1895)
28. “The Rambling Gambler” (1938)
29. “Red River Valley” (1896)
30. “Shenandoah” (1837)

31. “The Streets of Laredo” (1911)
32. “Swannanoa Tunnel” (1917)
33. “Sweet Betsy from Pike” (1851)
34. “Tenting on the Old Campground” (1864)
35. “This Little Light of Mine” (1925)
36. “Wanderin’” (1950)
37. “We Shall Not Be Moved” (1909)
38. “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” (1863)
39. “The Wisconsin Emigrant” (1931)
40. “Woried Man Blues” (1930)

Resources/Related Links:

Dave’s Music Database: “Lists from other publications and/or organizations”
BalladOfAmerica.org

First posted 12/18/2025.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

“Buffalo Gals” version by Bruce Springsteen released

Buffalo Gals (Will You Come Out Tonight)

Cool White

Writer(s): Cool White (see lyrics here)

Published: 1844

First Charted: --

Peak: -- (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): --

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1.81 video, 1.80 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The traditional American song “Buffalo Gals” was published in 1844 as “Lubly Fan” by the minstrel John Hodges, aka Cool White. The phrase was mock African dialect, common to minstrel performances, for “Lovely Fanny.” ^BA ^WK The lyics reference girls who danced at bas, concert-hall-dives, and brothels in the Canal distict at Buffalo, New York. ^WK

Alan Jabbour, a fiddler and folklorist, traced the song’s melody to “Midnight Serenade.” That song was first published in G.P. Knauff’s 1839 book Virginia Reels, Selected and Arranged for the Piano Forte. ^BA The song likely ciculated orally before it was published but, as often was the case in that time, a song’s authorship went to the first person to transcribe and publish the song. ^BA

The Ethiopian Serenaders published “Philadelphia Gals” in 1845 with a similar melody and lyrics and as “Buffalo Gals” in 1848. ^BA At the time, touring performers would often change the name of a song to appeal to the local audiences. ^BA It was also performed as a fiddle tun under other names including “Round Town Gals,” “Round Town Girls,” and “Alabama Gals.” ^BA

The song has been recorded, under many of the various titles, at least 238 times according to SecondHandSongs.com by artists including the Byrds, Fiddlin’ John Carson, the Chieftains, the Chipmunks, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin, Bill Haley, Burl Ives, Leadbelly, Louis Prima, Jimmie Rodgers, Pete Seeger, and Bruce Spingsteen.

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Thursday, December 18, 2025