Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey

Written in 1902 by Hugh Cannon, this popular ragtime/jazz song is based on the true story of his drinking buddy Bill Bailey and his wife Sarah. They were married in 1893, but she finally divorced Bill in the 1940s after 40 years of marriage. In 1973 she told a reporter, “Bill was my sweetheart, but he was everybody else’s, too. He lied to me all the time, but I was too young to understand much then. I was a country girl.” Sarah died in 1976 at the age of 102.

The song has been recorded by Louis Armstrong, Patsy Cline, Bobby Darin, Wayne Newton, Al Hirt, Brenda Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Durante, Phish, Harry Connick Jr., Lena Horne, Michael Buble, and countless others.

Here is me and my mom’s version in a rollicking Weiss Music Minute!

Enjoy,

Dr. Weiss