Toon Music #1: "My Gal is a High Born Lady"

With this series, I intend to inform the animation fan about the various songs featured in the output of the various animation studios. All thanks to the internet!

In 1948's Long-Haired Hare, Bugs sings this song:

Oh my gal is a high-born stepper

Ginger with salt and pepper

She's a fancy stepper when she dances

Go and see her as she kippers and prances

My gal don't do much talking

Dances even when she's walking

One and two and three and four she dances all day long

Turns out this was originally "My Gal is a High Born Lady", written by Barney Fagan in 1896(?), but with new lyrics in place of the old ones, removing the racist themes.

Here is a performance by Len Spencer, in all its muffled, crackly, politically-incorrect glory: http://www.archive.org/details/MyGalIsAHighBornLadyByLenSpencer1896

Lyrics and sheet music: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiHIGHBORN;ttHIGHBORN.html

Original sheet music cover: http://memory.loc.gov/award/rpbaasm/0400/0443/044301r.jpg