of "The Teddy Bears Picnic" as published in the
Star Tribune newspaper in April 1908 Bratton composed and personally copyrighted it in 1907, and then assigned the copyright to
M. Witmark & Sons, New York City, who published it later that year as "The Teddy Bears Picnic: Characteristic Two Step", according to the first page of the published piano score, as well as the orchestral parts Witmark published in an arrangement by
Frank Saddler. However, the illustrated sheet music cover gives the title as THE TEDDY BEARS' PICNIC, with apostrophe on "BEARS" and no genre descriptor. Irish songwriter
Jimmy Kennedy wrote the now familiar lyrics for it in 1932. After Bratton wrote "The Teddy Bears' Picnic", however, many people felt that the composer plagiarized portions of the melody. Music aficionados pointed out in particular that the refrain echoed the theme from
Robert Browne Hall's 1895 "Death or Glory March". Nevertheless, charges were not filed and Bratton's song still has the same tune it had in 1907. The first recording of the piece was by the Edison Symphony Orchestra, made at
Edison Records' "New York Recording Department" studio, 79
Fifth Avenue, New York City, in November 1907 and was released as Edison two-minute cylinder 9777 in March 1908, as announced on page 3 of the January 1908 issue of
The Edison Phonograph Monthly (vol. VI, no. 1).
Arthur Pryor's Band made the work's first disc recording for the
Victor Talking Machine Company in
Camden, New Jersey, on 14 September 1908. Take 2 from that session was released in November 1908 as Victor single-faced disc 5594 and as side A of the company's first double-faced disc 16001, with the title on the label reading "The Teddy Bears' Picnic/Descriptive Novelty". An early UK recording was made by the Black Diamonds Band for
Zonophone records in 1908. The first vocal version was recorded in 1932 on
BBC Radio by
Henry Hall with his
BBC Orchestra, with
Val Rosing singing Kennedy's lyrics. The song has subsequently been recorded by numerous notable artists, including:
Rosemary Clooney,
Bing Crosby (recorded 22 June 1950),
Frank DeVol,
Michael Feinstein,
Jerry Garcia,
John Inman,
Jessie Matthews,
Anne Murray, and
Dave Van Ronk. Notable non-solo artists to record the song include the
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,
Bad Manners,
Rosenshontz, and
Trout Fishing in America. == Lyrics ==