"Hello! Ma Baby" is aTin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the songwriting team ofJoseph E. Howard andIda Emerson, known as "Howard and Emerson".[1] Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through thetelephone. At the time, telephones were relatively novel, present in fewer than 10% of U.S. households, and this was the first well-known song to refer to the device.[2] Additionally, the word "Hello" itself was primarily associated with telephone use after Edison's utterance[3]—by 1889, "Hello Girl" was slang for a telephone operator[4][5]—though it later became a general greeting for all situations.
The song was first recorded byArthur Collins on anEdison 5470 phonograph cylinder.[6]
The song may be best known today as the introductory song in the famousWarner Bros. cartoonOne Froggy Evening (1955), sung by the character later dubbedMichigan J. Frog and high-stepping in the style of acakewalk.
The lyrics ofHello! Ma Baby and a study guide are found online and in the University of Pittsburgh, Library System, Voices Across Time, Song Discussion and Activities, Unit 6 Emergence of Modern America 1900-1929. Voices Across Time is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Hello! Ma Baby
By Ida Emerson, and Joseph E. Howard, 1899
[1.] I've got a little baby, but she's out of sight,
I talk to her across the telephone.
I've never seen my honey but she's mine all right,
So take my tip and leave this gal alone.
Every single morning you will hear me yell,
"Hey Central! Fix me up along the line."
He connects me with ma honey, then I rings the bell,
And this is what I say to baby mine,
[Chorus:]
"Hello! Ma baby,
Hello! Ma honey,
Hello! Ma ragtime gal.
Send me a kiss by wire,
Baby my heart's on fire!
If you refuse me,
Honey, you'll lose me,
Then you'll be left alone; oh baby,
Telephone and tell me I'se your own."
[ 2.] This morning thro' the 'phone she said her name was Bess,
And now I kind of know where I am at;
I'se satisfied because I'se got my babe's address,
Here pasted in the lining of my hat
I am mighty scared, 'cause if the wires get crossed
'Twill separate me from ma baby mine,
Then some other coon will win her, and my game is lost,
And so each day I shout along the line,
[Chorus]
InCharles Ives's 1906 compositionCentral Park in the Dark, it is quoted frequently.
The short piano pieceThe Little Nigar (Le petit nègre) byClaude Debussy from 1909 features a melody very similar to "Hello! Ma Baby" and may have been inspired by the song.
It was also featured in "She's Only a Build in a Girdled Cage", an episode ofF Troop.
The 1987 Americanspace operacomedy filmSpaceballs featured an uncredited recording (fromOne Froggy Evening) of part of the song sung by axenomorph.
In the 2018 video gameRed Dead Redemption 2, the song is performed by the character Robin Koninsky at the Théâtre Râleur in the fictional city of Saint Denis.[7]
Thesheet music was published byT. B. Harms & Co., which was acquired byWarner Bros. before thestock market crash of 1929 (during the advent of the "Talkies" era ofcinema).[8]
