"Buffalo Gals" is a traditional

Traditional music

Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...

 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

, written and published as "Lubly Fan" in 1844 by the blackface

Blackface

Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...

 minstrel John Hodges

John Hodges (minstrel)

John Hodges was an early blackface minstrel entertainer, who wrote or popularized the song Buffalo Gals, published by him in 1844 under the title 'Lubly Fan'. There is some dispute as to whether he composed the tune or adapted a traditional air.-Career:Hodges's stage name was "Cool White"...

, who performed as "Cool White." The song was widely popular throughout the United States. Because of its popularity, minstrels altered the lyrics to suit the local audience, so it might be performed as "New York Gals" in New York City or "Boston Gals" in Boston. The best-known version is named after Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

.

The chorus is:

Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight?

Come out tonight, Come out tonight?

Buffalo gals, won't you come out tonight,

And dance by the light of the moon.

Adaptations

• The English singing game
  Singing game
  A singing game is an activity based around a particular verse or rhyme, usually associated with a set of actions and movements. They have been studied by folklorists, ethnologists and psychologists and are seen as important part of childhood culture...
  
   "Pray, Pretty Miss" may have been an inspiration for the lyric, according to Frank Brown in "Collection of North Carolina Folklore." The tune is reminiscent of "Im Grunewald, im Grunewald ist Holzauktion," a music hall
  Music hall
  Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
  
   song from Germany.
• A 1944 recording set to the same tune, titled "Dance with Dolly" became a hit in the United States.
• A 1960 hit by Ray Smith
  Ray Smith (rockabilly singer)
  Ray Smith was an American rockabilly musician.Smith recorded for Vee-Jay Records, Tollie Records, Smash Records, and Sun Records during his career, and had a hit with the song "Rockin' Little Angel" in 1960 on Judd Records. "Rockin' Little Angel" took a portion of its melody from the 1844 song...
  
  , "Rockin' Little Angel" is based on the same melody.
• A 1960 hit by The Olympics
  The Olympics (band)
  The Olympics were an American doo-wop group, formed in 1957 by lead singer Walter Ward . The group included Eddie Lewis , Charles Fizer , Walter Hammond and Melvin King and except for Lewis were friends in a Los Angeles, California, high school...
  
  , "Dance by the Light of the Moon" borrows part of the melody and lyrics, reworking it into a doo-wop
  Doo-wop
  The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
  
   song.

In popular culture

• The song plays multiple times throughout Frank Capra
  Frank Capra
  Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
  
  's Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life
  It's a Wonderful Life
  It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
  
  .
• The Band Summer Camp did a remix of the song "Voice of an Old Friend" by Active Child and named it "Summer Camp Bedford Falls Remix" referring to the fictional town in the classic film It's a Wonderful Life
  It's a Wonderful Life
  It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
  
  .
• An instrumental version of the song was used as the theme for a saloon scene in the classic film, High Noon
  High Noon
  High Noon is a 1952 American Western film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The film tells in real time the story of a town marshal forced to face a gang of killers by himself...
  
  .
• The song was sung by "The Raiders" in the Civil War
  American Civil War
  The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
  
   film Andersonville
  Andersonville (film)
  Andersonville is a film directed by John Frankenheimer about a group of Union soldiers during the American Civil War who are captured by the Confederates and sent to an infamous Confederate prison camp....
  
  
• The song was also featured in the hit TV sitcom "Two and a Half Men
  Two and a Half Men
  Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...
  
  ," in the episode where Alan's ex-wife has a support group that Charlie wins over.
• The song was also featured in two Cartoon Network
  Cartoon Network (United States)
  Cartoon Network is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting which primarily airs animated programming. The channel was launched on October 1, 1992 after Turner purchased the animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1991...
  
   series, Cow and Chicken
  Cow and Chicken
  Cow and Chicken is an American animated series, created by David Feiss. The series shows the surreal adventures of a cow, named Cow, and her chicken brother, named Chicken. They are often antagonized by "The Red Guy", who poses as various characters to scam or hurt them...
  
   and Johnny Bravo
  Johnny Bravo
  Johnny Bravo is an American animated television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network. The series stars a muscular beefcake young man named Johnny Bravo who dons a pompadour hairstyle and an Elvis Presley-like voice and has a forward, woman-chasing personality...
  
  
• The melody also used in the 3D-CGI-Animation Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks
• The melody was adapted for Tweety
  Tweety
  Tweety Bird is a fictional Yellow Canary in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being a typical English onomatopoeia for the sounds of birds...
  
  's song "I Tawt I Taw a Putty Tat" (not to be confused with a later song) in the Merrie Melodies
  Merrie Melodies
  Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
  
  cartoon A Gruesome Twosome
  A Gruesome Twosome
  A Gruesome Twosome is a Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Bob Clampett and released on June 9, 1945. it stars Tweety, and two cats.- Plot :...
  
  .
• In The Simpsons
  The Simpsons
  The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
  
  , Homer Simpson sings 'Buffalo Gals' in Moes Tavern to earn 25 cents to buy beer with.
• "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" is a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin
  Ursula K. Le Guin
  Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
  
  , featured in the collection Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences
• The melody was used by Bobby Darin
  Bobby Darin
  Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
  
   in his 1958 single "Plain Jane"
• The chorus was sung by lead character 'Ray' in the Everbody Loves Raymond episode "Debra at the Lodge"
• The song was sung in a "Two of a Kind" sitcom on Skinnamarink TV
  Skinnamarink TV
  Skinnamarink TV is a children's television show that aired from 1997 to 2000 and aired on CBC in Canada and The Learning Channel in the US. It was created by Lynn Harvey and Richard Mortimer for Skinnamarink Entertainment in association with Craftsman & Scribes Creative Workshop, The Learning...
  
  .

External links

• Buffalo Gals by John Renfro Davis