This month's free tab is an arrangement of the classic Tin Pan Alley era tune "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home", written in 1902 by Hughie Cannon.  It originally included a number of verses, but like many tunes from that era, it is the chorus that has survived, while the verses have fallen into obscurity.  The chorus part of the tune has become a "standard" for Dixieland and Traditional Jazz bands.  Hughie Cannon wrote a number of other classic tunes, including "I Hate to Get Up Early in the Morn".  He is also credited with having written the first traditional "blues" tune in 1904 when he wrote "He Done Me Wrong" (better known today as "Frankie and Johnny"). 

"Bill Bailey" was originally written to be performed in a musical called "Town Topics", written and directed by Johnny Queen.  Legend has it that Cannon based the song on a friend of his named Dale B. Bales, a vaudevillian performer who had taken the stage name of Bill Bailey.  The song has been recorded by such notables as Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Louis Armstrong, Bobby Darin, and countless others ... including Jim Sperry and myself on our "How Can I Keep From Singing" CD.  ;-) 

This arrangement is based on the original sheet music from 1902, which uses a number of "accidentals", both in the melody and in the underlying chord structure.  Most of those can be found by capoing at the 4th fret, and making use of both the 6 and the 6+ frets.

Enjoy!

--Tull

One one summer's day,
Sun was shinin' fine,
The lady love of old Bill Bailey
Was hangin' clothes on the line
In her back yard,
And weepin' hard.
She married a B&O brakeman
That took and throwed her down,
Bellerin' like a prune-fed calf
With a big gang hanging round
And to that crowd,
She hollered loud:

Refrain:
Won't you come home, Bill Bailey
Won't you come home?
She moans the whole day long.
I'll do the cookin', darling
I'll pay the rent,
I know I've done you wrong;
'member that rainy eve that
I threw you out,
With nothing but a fine-tooth comb?
I know I'm to blame,
Well, ain't that a shame
Bill Bailey won't you please come home.

Bill drove by that door
In an automobile,
A great big diamond, coach and footman
Hear that lady squeal.
He's all alone
I heard her groan.
She hollered through the door
Bill Bailey, is you sore?
Stop a minute, listen to me
Won't I see you no more?
Bill winks his eye
As he heard her cry:
Chorus: