The song was composed by Robert Cole and J. Rosamond Johnson while they were still performing as the
vaudeville act Cole and Johnson. They had intended it for a "comic opera" they called
Toloso; the opera was never produced. At Johnson's insistence, Cole used the melody of the
spiritual "
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" as the basis for the song. After writing the words and music, Cole and Johnson sent the song to James Weldon Johnson who made changes to the song. Johnson forwarded the song to a music publisher under the name
If You Lak-a-Me, Lak I Lak-a-You. The publisher changed the name to "Under the Bamboo Tree", taken from the final line in the song's chorus. A month later, Cole and Johnson performed the song at party hosted by
George W. Lederer. There,
Marie Cahill took a liking to the song, and campaigned against producer
Ludwig Englander for its incorporation in the Broadway production of
Sally in Our Alley, of which she starred. The song premiered in this musical on August 29, 1902, and it helped make the play successful.
Arthur Collins recorded it for
Edison Records.
Judy Garland and
Margaret O'Brien perform the song in the 1944 musical film
Meet Me in St. Louis and it was included in the retrospective
MGM film ''
That's Entertainment!. It was later used in the stage musical Meet Me in St. Louis''.
T. S. Eliot parodied the song in
Sweeney Agonistes. ==See also==