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Concept
Li'l Liza Jane
Summary
"Li'l Liza Jane", also known as "Little Liza Jane", "Liza Jane", and "Goodbye Liza Jane", is a song dating back at least to the 1910s. It has become a perennial standard both as a song and an instrumental in traditional jazz, folk music, and bluegrass, and versions have repeatedly appeared in other genres including rock and roll. Numerous scholars and musicologists have written about the song, and it is one of the standards of the New Orleans brass band tradition.
In December 2023, University Press of Mississippi will publish Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane in its American Made Music Series. The book, written by Dan Gutstein, presents the origins and evolution of "the 'Liza Jane' family of songs, including the most popular variant 'Li’l Liza Jane.' Likely originating among enslaved people on southern plantations, the songs are still performed and recorded centuries later."
"Li'l Liza Jane" was first published in 1916 by Sherman, Clay & Co of San Francisco, California as a composition by Countess Ada de Lachau (Ada Louise Metz, 1866-1956). It was described as a "Southern dialect song". The tune was featured as entr'acte entertainment during the 1916-1917 Broadway show Come Out of the Kitchen.
The song's origins, however, seem to go back even earlier. Lucy Thurston remembered a song with the refrain "Ohoooooooo lil Liza, lil Liza Jane" being sung by slaves in the area of Covington, Louisiana before the American Civil War. While the melody is not preserved in the written interview, the lyrics and their rhythm strongly suggest it was the same or very similar to the song published decades later.
The name "Liza Jane" or "Eliza Jane" was a standard female character name in minstrel shows. A tune "Goodbye, Liza Jane" was published by Eddie Fox in 1871. Harry Von Tilzer published "Goodbye, Eliza Jane" in 1903, which has some similarity to the later "Li'l Liza Jane".
Natalie Curtis Burlin's book Negro Folk-Songs, published in 1918, documents a version said to be a Negro folk song with an associated dancing game.
Official source
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