WA2K Radio is now on the air

WAITING FOR THE ROBERT E. LEE
(Music : Lewis F. Muir / Lyrics : L. Wolfe Gilbert)
Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland


Way down on the levy in old Alabamy
There's Daddy and Mammy
There's Ephraim and Sammy
On a moonlight night you can find them all
While they are waiting,
The banjos are syncopating
What's that they're saying?
What's that they're saying?
While they keep playing
A - humming and swaying
It's the good ship Robert E. Lee
that's come to carry the cotton away!
Watch them shuffling along,
See them shuffling along!
Go take your best gal, real pal
Go down to the levy, I said to the levy,
and join that shuffling throng
Hear that music and song!
It's simply great, mate, waiting on the levy
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee!
The whistles are blowing, the smokestacks are showing
the ropes they are throwing, excuse me I'm going
to the place where all is harmonious
even the preacher, he is the dancing teacher!
Have you been down there?
Were you around there?
If you ever go there you'll always be found there,
why, dog-gone, here comes my baby
on the good old Robert E. Lee!
Watch them shuffling along,
See them shuffling along
Go take your best gal, real pal
Go down to the levy, I said to the levy,
And join that shuffling throng
Hear that music and song!
It's simply great, mate, waiting on the levy
Waiting for the Robert E. Lee!

Henry William Thompson (September 3, 1925 – November 6, 2007), known professionally as Hank Thompson, was an American country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades.

Thompson's musical style, characterized as honky tonk Western swing, was a mixture of fiddles, electric guitar and steel guitar that featured his distinctive, smooth baritone vocals.

His backing band, The Brazos Valley Boys, was voted the top Country Western Band for 14 years in a row by Billboard. The primary difference between his music and that of Bob Wills was that Thompson, who used the swing beat and instrumentation to enhance his vocals, discouraged the intense instrumental soloing from his musicians that Wills encouraged; however, the "Hank Thompson sound" exceeded Bob Wills in Top 40 country hits.