"Under the Bamboo Tree" is an American song composed by Robert Cole, J. Rosamond Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson. J. W. Stern & Co. published it in 1902. [1] A ragtime hit, it sold over 400,000 copies. [2]
The song was composed by Robert Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson while they were still performing as the vaudeville act Cole and Johnson. They had intended it for a "comic opera" they called Toloso; the opera was never produced. [3] After a performance, they were discussing the couplet "If you like me, like I like you, No knife can cut our life in two," and Cole suggested they use the idea for a new song. [4] Cole stated he took inspiration from a soldier's story he heard, of a romance he had under a bamboo tree with a Red Cross nurse. [5] At Johnson's insistence, Cole used the melody of the spiritual "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" as the basis for the song. [6] [3]
After writing the words and music, Cole and Johnson sent the song to James Weldon Johnson who made changes to the song. Johnson forwarded the song to a music publisher under the name If You Lak-a-Me, Lak I Lak-a-You. The publisher changed the name to "Under the Bamboo Tree", taken from the final line in the song's chorus. [4]
A month later, Cole and Johnson performed the song at party hosted by George W. Lederer. There, Marie Cahill took a liking to the song, and campaigned against producer Ludwig Englander for its incorporation in the Broadway production of Sally in Our Alley , of which she starred. The song premiered in this musical on August 29, 1902, and it helped make the play successful. [4] [7] Cahill included it in Nancy Brown the next season. It went on to become one of two songs that Cahill would commonly interpolate into her own performances per request. [7] [3]
Over the course of six months, 400,000 copies of the song were sold. [2] It became a popular and well-known song in the United States, and further spread to England and India. [5] [8]
Arthur Collins recorded it for Edison Records. [9] Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien perform the song in the 1944 musical film Meet Me in St. Louis [10] [11] and it was included in the retrospective MGM film That's Entertainment! . [12] It was later used in the stage musical Meet Me in St. Louis. [13]
T. S. Eliot parodied the song in Sweeney Agonistes . [2]