“Take Me out to the Ball Game” (1908)
Writer: Jack Norworth
(Coney Island 1890-1920)
Link to song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ytGaO2uXU
Morgan Lee, Samantha Mallek, Megan Bupp
Presenter:
“Take me out to the ballgame” is a song that was written by
Jack Norworth in 1908. He wrote the song while on a train to New York City. He
saw a billboard that was promoting a New York Giants baseball game. Being that
Norworth was a songwriter, he was always looking for inspiration for a new
song, so he wrote about the popularly growing game of baseball. He scribbled
down the lyrics to this famous song in about 15 minutes on a scrap piece of
paper that he had. After Norworth composed the lyrics, he sent them to composer
Albert Von Tilzer, who set his words to music. Edward Meeker did the first
recording of the song later on in 1908. The first time song was performed it
was done so by the wife of Norworth, a woman named Nora Bayes. The first time
it was played in a ballpark was in 1934 at a high-school baseball game in Los
Angeles. It is believed it made its debut at a major-league park later that
year. When Norworth originally wrote the song, he wasn’t sure where is would
end up or how people would respond to it. Over 100 years later and it is known
as the third most well-known song in the country.
(Jack Norworth)
Sources:
The Contextualizer:
Baseball
games were a trend for Americans in the early twentieth century. There was a
pennant race going on in 1908 between the Giants, Cubs, and Pirates, which
inspired Norworth’s song. The verses of the song point to innovative topics
such as the woman’s role in society as well as immigration. These two topics
were found to be controversial at the time. The lyrics of the first verse
feature a fictional character named Katie Casey, who loves baseball and wants
to go to the games. However, women were not commonly spotted at baseball games.
Their societal role did not think it correct for them to partake in such an
athletic activity. The name ‘Katie’ at the time was a generic name for
employers to refer to their Irish immigrant workers. In the song, Katie Casey
is an Irish immigrant who is assimilating to American ways of life by delving
into the baseball culture. The words urge women and immigrants alike to take
part in the American activity of ball games. This song was sung for a variety
of purposes; it was sang during the seventh inning at baseball games as well as
by those who longed to be at a game. It was also performed in Vaudeville. The
chorus lyrics and upbeat tune of the song show that entertainment, such as
athletics, were very important and exciting in the beginning of the twentieth
century. The verse lyrics give the listener an insight to the role of women and
immigrants during this time period.
(Album Cover)
Sources:
Connector:
Jack Norworth wanted to write this
song to show how important baseball was to the many of its fans. He was not
even a big baseball fan himself, but he saw how much it meant to so many
people. He quickly wrote the song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” on his way to
New York, which became a worldwide tradition to sing during every baseball
game. There are many lost verses of this song because people only really sang
the main chorus of the song. In 1927 Jack Norworth revised the song and changed
the lyrics in some of the verses. He used the lyrics, “Her boy friend by the
name of Joe
Said, ‘To Coney Isle, dear, let's go.’” This was referencing the
amusement park Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, which was another place of
entertainment for many people. He continues and says, “Then Nelly started to
fret and pout,
and to him I heard her shout.” People thoroughly enjoyed singing
this song and going to the games, and even an offer to go to a place as amusing
as Coney Island was not more important than baseball games. Both “Take Me Out
to the Ballgame” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” were very popular
songs of their time and also many people still tend to know them today,
including children because they are both easy tunes to remember.
“Take Me Out to the Ball Game” has
maintained its relevancy because it does not only target a specific audience.
Children or adults can sing it, and it is also a very catchy tune. It allows
the fans at games to have some fun and forget about the competitive nature of
the game, and who is rooting for whom. Although it is not always sung at games
today, people still tend to know the chorus of it and every once in awhile it
is still sung.
Question:
Why do you
think the verses of this song were changed in 1927? Did this have a positive or
negative effect on its audience?
Summary:
The
class responded by saying that the changing of the lyrics had a positive effect
because the original lyrics had some parts in certain verses that referenced
racial or what could be considered offensive things. The new lyrics didn’t
really have any offensive references to anything. Our group thought that the
changes in the lyrics had a positive effect on the audience because nowadays
only the chorus of this song is really known by people and so the original and
even the revised lyrics aren’t really relevant anymore. People only really sing
the chorus of this song because otherwise it would get too long.
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