"Goodnight, Ladies" is a folk song attributed to Edwin Pearce Christy

Edwin Pearce Christy

Edwin Pearce Christy was an American composer, singer, actor and stage producer. He is more commonly known as E. P. Christy, and was the founder of the blackface minstrel group Christy's Minstrels.-Background:...

, originally intended to be sung during a minstrel show

Minstrel show

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....

. Drawing from an 1847 song by Christy entitled "Farewell, Ladies", the song as known today was first published on May 16, 1867.

Lyrics

Verse 1:

Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! Goodnight, ladies! We're going to leave you now.

Chorus:
Merrily we roll along, roll along, roll along, O'er the dark blue sea.

Verse 2:

Farewell, Ladies! Farewell, ladies! Farewell, ladies! We're going to leave you now.

Chorus

Verse 3:

Sweet dreams, ladies!
Sweet dreams, ladies!
Sweet dreams, ladies!
We're going to leave you now.

Chorus