Tiger Tunes - Sammy

Lotta Faust in her SAMMY dress
in The Wizard of Oz

Lotta Faust Autograph

Lyrics

Sung by Lotta Faust as Tryxie Tryfle

Did you ever meet the fellow
Fine and dandy,
Who can readily dispel
Your ills and woes?
Did you ever meet the boy
Who's all the candy
Where e'er he goes?
That's the very sort of fellow
I'm in love with,
He is all the daffodils
Of early spring,
And to me the finest bliss is
Just to revel in his kisses
When to him I sing:

Sammy, oh, oh, oh, Sammy,
For you I'm pining
When we're apart:
Sammy, when you come wooing
There's something doing
Around my heart.
Sammy, oh, oh, oh, Sammy,
Can't live without you
My dream of joy.
Tell me, oh, oh, oh, tell me,
You're only mine, my Sammy boy.

In the evening,
When the summer moon is beaming,
On the river where
The waters rush and swirl,
With my Sammy-boy
A spooning and a dreaming,
You'll find this girl;
When within his manly arms
I am reclining,
Like a bird in summer time
Upon the wing,
I imagine I'm a flying,
Up to Paradise a-hieing,
When to him I sing:

Sammy oh, oh, oh, Sammy
etc.

(Tryxie and Chorus exit.)

A Member of the SAMMY Chorus in
The Wizard of Oz (1903)

Sammy
From the 1903 Musical Extravaganza
The Wizard of Oz
Music by James O'Dea
Words by Edward Hutchison

In Act Two of the 1903 Wizard of Oz King Pastoria and his girlfriend Tryxie Tryfle have a lovers' quarrel. After which Tryxie laments the loss of her previous beau, Sammy, in this hit song from the show.

What made this song so popular? Lotta Faust's performance. In the show Tryxie Tryfle is ravenously hungry. While she says she is hungry for food, she is really hungry for something else. Tryxie doesn't want a tart--she is a tart! And she makes it perfectly clear in her song. Tryxie's gimmick was to perform the song, imploringly concentrating on whichever poor man was seated in one particular box-seat. This position became known as the "Sammy Box."

Tryxie teases a fellow in the Sammy Box

Tryxie Tryfle teases a man in the Sammy-Box
in The Wizard of Oz (1903)

There were several attempts to replace Sammy during the next few years, including such runners-up as Johnny, I'll Take You, , Can't You See I'm Lonely, and The Tale of a Stroll. But the audiences always clamoured for Sammy, and Sammy the song was permanently installed in the show.

For this TIGER TUNE we are offering two mp3 recordings of the song. The first is a modern recording from a concert version of the show. The second is a 78 rpm recording from 1903, featuring early 1900s recording star Billy Murray singing the song.

1903 Columbia Record Label
Listen to this 1903 recording!
(2:44 -- 645k)
So listen to the two recordings, download the PDF sheet music and enjoy this delightful song from 1903!

Sammy -- Sheet Music

Sheet Music Cover (1903)

View/Save a PDF of the Sheet Music

Listen/Save
the new
mp3 of
Sammy
1:33 - 367k

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