Where Did You Get That Hat? - Wikipedia

1888 song by Joseph J. Sullivan

"Where Did You Get That Hat?"
Song by Joseph J. Sullivan
Released	1888 (1888)
Genre	Comic, vaudeville song
Songwriters	Joseph J. Sullivan, James Rolmaz

"Where Did You Get That Hat?" is a comic song that was composed and first performed by vaudeville artist Joseph J. Sullivan at Miner's Eighth Avenue Theatre in 1888. It was a great success and soon performed by other music hall artists in the 1890s including George Robey and J. C. Heffron.[1]

Sullivan's original song consisted of three verses, each followed by a chorus, and it was soon included in penny broadsides of the period.[2] Then in 1901, James Rolmaz (who had written a sequel in 1891 titled "A New Hat Now")[3] wrote an additional two verses commenting on elections and the Prince of Wales to give the original song a more political twist, which increased its popularity further.[4][2]

It has since been performed by other artists such as Stanley Holloway, Al Simmons and Dave Barnes,[5][6] and Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album 101 Gang Songs (1961).

The song is now also a very popular piece performed for musical theatre exams (grades 4 to 8) and music hall concerts.

References

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1. ^ "Where Did You Get That Hat?". folksongandmusichall.com. Folk Song And Music Hall. 25 July 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
2. ^ a b "Broadside Ballad Entitled 'Where did You Get That Hat?'". digital.nls.uk. National Library of Scotland. 2004. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
3. ^ "James Rolmaz: A New Hat Now. Sequel to Where Did You Get That Hat. Comic Song". levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu. Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University. 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
4. ^ James Rolmaz, Johnson Ballads 1373, Francis Day and Hunter, 195 Oxford Street, London
5. ^ Theodore Raph (1986), "Where Did You Get That Hat", The American song treasury, p. 218, ISBN 978-0-486-25222-3
6. ^ Jack Burton, Larry Freeman (1962), The blue book of Tin Pan Alley, vol. 1, Century House, p. 13

External links

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• Sheet music at the Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Sheet Music, Baylor University

Authority control databases	MusicBrainz work

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