"A Hot Time in the Old Town" is an American ragtime

Ragtime

Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...

 song, composed in 1896 by Theodore August Metz with lyrics by Joe Hayden. Metz was the band leader of the McIntyre and Heath Minstrels.

The song was a favorite of the American military at the turn of the 20th century, particularly during the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

 and the Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

.

Prior to the adoption of "The Victors

The Victors

"The Victors" is the fight song of the University of Michigan . It was composed by UM student Louis Elbel in 1898 following the last-minute football victory over the University of Chicago that clinched a league championship...

" as the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

's official fight song, it was considered to be Michigan's school song.

The fight song of Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...

 currently uses the chorus of this song as its finale, but it is sung with different lyrics.

The song has also been tradition at the University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 since the late 1890s when a Wisconsin-flavored arrangement

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

 was made. The University of Wisconsin Marching Band

University of Wisconsin Marching Band

The University of Wisconsin Marching Band is the marching band for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was formed with 11 members in the fall of 1885 to support the military battalion. Today, it has grown to over 300 members and performs at all Badger home football games.-History:The...

 plays this arrangement regularly at sporting events, including the beginning of each period in Hockey and Basketball, and following touchdowns at football games.

Also, the Eastern Illinois University marching band plays the song in conjunction with their fight song at athletic events.

The song appears as an instrumental at the very end of the New Year's Eve scene in the stage and 1936 film versions of the musical Show Boat

Show Boat

Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...

.

Lyrics

Verse 1:

Come along get you ready, wear your bran, bran new gown,

For dere's gwine to be a meeting in that good, dum strange town,

Where you knowed ev'ry body, and they all knowed you,

And you've got a rabbits foot to keep away the hoodoo;

Where you hear that the preaching does begin,

Bend down low for to drive away your sin

And when you gets religion, you want to shout and sing

There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!

My baby -

Chorus:

When you hear dem a bells go ding, ling ling,

All join 'round and sweetly you must sing

When the verse am through, in the chorus all join in,

There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight.

Verse 2:

There'll be girls for ev'ry body in that good, good old town,

For dere's Miss Consola Davis an dere's Miss Gondolia Brown;

And dere's Miss Johanna Beasly she am dressed all in red,

I just hugged her and I kissed her and to me then she said:

Please, oh please, oh, do not let me fall,

You're all mine and I love you best of all,

And you must be my man, or I'll have no man at all,

There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight!

My baby -

Chorus

External links

• "A Hot Time in the Old Town". The Charles Templeton Digital Sheet Music Collection. Mississippi State University.
• "Hot Time in the Old Town" , Victor Military Band (Victor 18371, 1917)—Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia.
• "Hot Time (Cheer, Boys, Cheer!)", University of Wisconsin Marching Band
  University of Wisconsin Marching Band
  The University of Wisconsin Marching Band is the marching band for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was formed with 11 members in the fall of 1885 to support the military battalion. Today, it has grown to over 300 members and performs at all Badger home football games.-History:The...
  
  .
• YouTube video of song being performed