Songster: The Barnum and Bailey Greatest Show on Earth Songster

Songster entitled The Barnum and Greatest Show on Earth Songster. The blue and red cover features a portrait of P.T. Barnum in the upper left corner and a portrait of J.A. Bailey in the lower right corner. The back cover is mostly red, and features a listing of the “Barnum and Bailey Official Concert Program” which lists the performers who participated in giving concerts after the primary circus performance. Unlike other songsters that feature only lyrics, this one has sheet music as well. The songs included are: “Follow the Crowd on a Sunday”; “You're the Flower of My Heart, Sweet Adeline”; “Good-Bye Little Girl, Good-Bye”; “'Cause I Only Had a Quarter to Ma Name”; “Somebody's Waiting 'Neath Southern Skies”; “Because You Were An Old Sweetheart of Mine”; “Song Bird”; “Don't Want Nuthin' But Sally”; “Good-Night, Beloved, Good-Night”; “Comes Down Ma Evenin' Star”; “Take Me Back to Old Virginia or My Dear Old Southern Home” and “All is Fair in Love and War”. Songs with lyrics only are “The Smile That Won't Come Off”; “Dolly My Dolly” “Listen to the Big Brass Band”; “Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry,” and “The Queen of the Zululand”. Songsters were booklets of popular song lyrics meant to be carried around, usually in the pocket, and were published as sheet music was. The booklets share a name with a traveling musician called a songster, an occupation usually held by African Americans traveling and playing music during the Reconstruction era (after the Civil War). These artists had a great influence on the eventual development of the blues. Barnum is best known for his involvement with the circus that bore his name, but his circus ventures came about when he was in his 60s. The first show was called P.T. Barnum’s Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus. Railroads propelled the circus to success, making it easier to reach a number of locations, and the intake was significant. Barnum then opened the New York Hippodrome with similar acts. In the 1880s, he encountered competition from other circuses. A merger between Barnum’s show and the Great London Show of Cooper, Bailey, and Hutchinson formed the Barnum and London Circus. Negotiations in 1887 formed the Barnum and Bailey circus. The name remained until 1919 when it became the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. It came to an end in May 2017 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus ceased performances after 146 years.