[Dixielandjazz] Any ideas about the origins of "Move the Body Over"?

[Dick Baker]

Colleagues,

P. T. Stanton's Stone Age JB recorded this title for Stomp Off in 
1975, with composer credit to good old "traditional."  My only other 
recordings of it are by English bands (also credited to "trad."), but 
I just learned that it was recorded by George Lewis's New Orleans 
Stompers in the 1950s, so maybe the British bands got it from Lewis.

Does anybody have any idea as to its derivation?  While the title 
makes it look like a spiritual, the clever, flirtatious lyric ("Move 
the [your] body over so I can hold your hand") strikes me as a lyric 
written by somebody currently known as "unknown" but whose identity 
could be revealed with a little effort.

I've placed a copy of a version with vocal on my website at

         http://dickbaker.org/stompoff/Move_the_Body_Over_Norrie_Cox.mp3 
(those are underscores between words in title)

Any ideas where this came from?




--Dick Baker
Working on an updated version of the Stomp Off Records Tune Titles 
and Composers Index
See working draft at http://dickbaker.org/stompoff/index.pdf