"Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis", better known as just "Meet Me in St. Louis", is a popular song from 1904 which celebrated the Louisiana Purchase Exposition

Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...

, i.e., the St. Louis World's Fair. The words were by Andrew B. Sterling

Andrew B. Sterling

Andrew B. Sterling was an American lyricist.Born in New York City, after he graduated from high school, he began writing songs and vaudevilles. An important event was his meeting with the composer Harry Von Tilzer in 1898...

; the music, by Kerry Mills

Kerry Mills

Kerry Mills was an American composer of popular music during the Tin Pan Alley era. His stylistically diverse music ranged from ragtime to cakewalk to marches. He was most prolific between 1895 and 1918....

. The song was published in 1904 in New York by Mills's firm operating under the name F. A. Mills

Kerry Mills

Kerry Mills was an American composer of popular music during the Tin Pan Alley era. His stylistically diverse music ranged from ragtime to cakewalk to marches. He was most prolific between 1895 and 1918....

. It was recorded by many artists such as William F. Denny

William F. Denny

William F. Denny was an American vaudeville performer and pioneer recording artist.-Biography:William F. Denny was born in late 1859 or more likely in 1860 in Boston, born to James and Elizabeth Denny. He gained fame performing on vaudeville stages, specializing in comic numbers...

. and Billy Murray

Billy Murray (singer)

William Thomas "Billy" Murray was one of the most popular singers in the United States in the early decades of the 20th century...

.

The song and the fair were focal points of the Judy Garland

Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...

 movie, Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in St. Louis is a 1944 musical film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which tells the story of an American family living in St. Louis at the time of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in 1904...

. Garland recorded the song in 1944.

Overview

"Louis" in the song is pronounced "LOO-ee", akin to the French. The song is one of the few instances of pronouncing the city's name that way. It is normally pronounced "LOO-is".

The song, which is generally styled in the form of a limerick

Limerick (poetry)

A limerick is a kind of a witty, humorous, or nonsense poem, especially one in five-line or meter with a strict rhyme scheme , which is sometimes obscene with humorous intent. The form can be found in England as of the early years of the 18th century...

, has many and varied verses, few of which are remembered today — unlike the chorus. In the original sheet music, the chorus is the same for the first two verses but varies in verses three through six, which are essentially jokes with the punch line in the chorus.

Verse 1

When Louis came home to the flat

He hung up his coat and his hat

He gazed all around

But no wifey he found

So he said, "Where can Flossie be at?"

A note on the table he spied

He read it just once, then he cried

It ran, "Louis, dear,"

"It's too slow for me here,"

"So I think I will go for a ride..."

Verse 2

The dresses that hung in the hall

Were gone, she had taken them all

She took all his rings

And the rest of his things

The picture he missed from the wall

"What, moving?" the janitor said

"Your rent is paid three months ahead!"

"What good is the flat?"

Said poor Louis, "Read that!"

And the janitor smiled as he read...

Chorus

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis,

Meet me at the Fair

Don't tell me the lights are shining

Anyplace but there

We will dance the "Hoochie-Koochie"

I will be your "Tootsie-Wootsie"

If you will meet me in St. Louis, Louis,

Meet me at the Fair.

Verse 3

Lew Woods was the name of a horse,

that ran at the New Orleans course,

I played him one day

for a dollar each way,

and I charged it to profit and loss;

He started to run in the wet,

the son of a gun's running yet,

That crazy old skate,

he made straight for the gate,

and I hollered, “Hey Lew! don't forget.”

Chorus 3

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair,

Take my tip and don't stop running until you are there,

You're a wonder that's no liesky, if you don't fall down and diesky,

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair

Verse 4

There came to the gay tenderloin,

a Jay who had money to burn,

The poor simple soul

showed a girlie his roll,

and she said, “for some wine dear, I yearn.”

A bottle and bird right away,

she touched him then said, “I can't stay.”

He sighed, “Tell me, sweet,

where can you and I meet?”

and the orchestra started to play.

Chorus 4

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair,

Don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there;

I'll be waiting there my honey, to divorce you from your money,

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair.

Verse 5

The clerks in the bank said, “It's queer,

did anyone see the cashier?

It's way after time,

and we haven't a dime,

we can't open the safe 'till he's here.”

The President shook his gray head,

“Send out for an expert,” he said,

The door's opened wide,

not a cent was inside,

just a card, that was all, and it read:

Chorus 5

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair,

All the boys and all the girls are going to be there;

If they ask about the cashier, you can say he cuts a dash here,

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair

Verse 6

In church sat a man near the door,

asleep, he was starting to snore,

The Minister rose,

and he said, “We will close

singing, Meet on the Beautiful Shore.”

The man in the back then awoke,

he caught the last words that he spoke;

He said, “Parson White,

you can meet me alright,

but The Beautiful Shore is a joke.”

Chorus 6

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair,

Don't tell me the lights are shining any place but there;

I'll be waiting at the station, for the whole darned congregation,

Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair

In popular culture

The song was also featured in the film, The Strawberry Blonde

The Strawberry Blonde

-Cast:* James Cagney as T. L. 'Biff' Grimes* Olivia de Havilland as Amy Lind* Rita Hayworth as Virginia Brush* Alan Hale as William 'Old Man' Grimes* Jack Carson as Hugo Barnstead* George Tobias as Nicholas Pappalas* Una O'Connor as Mrs...

with James Cagney

James Cagney

James Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...

 and Olivia de Havilland

Olivia de Havilland

Olivia Mary de Havilland is a British American film and stage actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1946 and 1949. She is the elder sister of actress Joan Fontaine. The sisters are among the last surviving leading ladies from Hollywood of the 1930s.-Early life:Olivia de Havilland...

, some four years prior to Meet Me in St. Louis.