Hello, Ma Baby

This is an online fiddle lesson for the ragtime song "Hello, Ma Baby."

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Genre: Old Time
Skill Level: Intermediate
Key of F

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Video #1: Here is a video of me playing and singing "Hello, Ma Baby."

"Hello! Ma Baby" is a Tin Pan Alley song written in 1899 by the songwriting team of Joseph E. Howard and Ida Emerson, known as "Howard and Emerson". Its subject is a man who has a girlfriend he knows only through the telephone. 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. Additionally, the word "Hello" itself was primarily associated with telephone use — "Hello Girl" was slang for a telephone operator even through the first world war — though it later became a general greeting for all situations.

source: wikipedia

Hello, Ma Baby

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 alright
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 my honey then I ring the bell
And this is what I say to baby mine:

Hello my baby, Hello my honey
Hello my ragtime gal
Send me a kiss by wire
Baby my heart’s on fire
If you abuse me, honey you lose me
Then you’ll be left alone, so baby
Telephone and tell me
I’m your own!