THE "TA-RA-RA" BOOM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XX, Issue 28, 29 April 1892, Page 11

THE "TA-RA-RA" BOOM.

♦- — (From Antners.") " The Bogie man " is dead, " Hi-tiddly-bi-ti 1 " is passing away, and we ars now face to face with the latest melody, that carious song known as "Ta-ra-ra -boom -de-ay." No one knows who wrote it. Like many another barrel-organ favourite, it came from the land of the Yankee. All the papers are writing about this strange song. Here is what Mr Henry Labouchere, M.P., has to say about it : " ' Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay 1 ' How few tbere are who really understand tbe true meaning of what appears to bo the idiotic refrain of tbe most popular song of tbe day I " It is questionable if eveo the great Miaa Lottie Collins herself is aware how this apparent gibberish came into notoriety. The negro of the West is as fond of religious excitement as tbe dervish of the East, and expresses it by frenzied dancing and wild ululations. All who have witnessed that Eastern form of hysterical devotion that by slow degrees rises with chants, bowling, and frenzy into almost uncontrollable madness, are aware of its intoxicating effect. "It is the same with tbe Western negro. He begins at one of the camp-meetings with a slow wail, and an imperceptible swaying of the body, moaning to himself ' to-ra-r&-boom- Je-ay." Loader and louder becomes tbe chant ; more intense thi scream as the music advances. Gradually at every ' boom ' be claps bis hands loader and louder, until tbe rhythmic song merges into an idiotic scream tbat fascinates and half maddens the spectator. At the end the whole assemblage is dancing, shouting, and screaming ' ta-.a-ra- boom-de-ay., till the chorus becomes deafening. "This carious form of religions revUalisaa has descended into a music-hall song, in which a young woman fre.zie* herself and her audience, and draws all London to the Grand Taeatre, Islington, and elsewhere. "It is only fair, however, to say the song, as beard in England, was written at the suggestion of Miss Lottie Collins, who wia present at one of tbe negro moatinga in Ameiioa, and was impressed witn tha ftensy of tbe dance." Hearth and Home observes : •' At present London is in tbe tbrall of two demons— one, the influenza, of course ; the other a certain music-hall song called < Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay.' Th< latter is in tbe very air for all tbe world like a microbe. We positively seem to inhale it aa we take oar walks abroad. As I go along one Btreet a grocer's bjy pause?, and I caicb, ' Ta-ra-ra ' ; I tarn the corner, and ' JZoom-de-ty I ' cries a passing 'busman. Bchoolbojs pipe it. Mashers hum it. Solicitors warble it. Briefless barristers sigh it out dejectedly. " On Friday I beard Miss Lottie Collin9 sing it, and now I find myself everlastingly ejaculating, ' Ta-ra-ra.' 11 I usually have tbe self-respect to pause there, but I am beginning to lose my self-control, and yesterday bonified a dear old lady on tho underground railway by softly but emphatically adding ' boom-de-ay ' before I could stop myself. We ought to be coerced by the law in this matter."

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