Sarah Vaughan - Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home (Live from Sweden) Mercury Records 1964

"(Won't You Come Home) Bill Bailey", originally titled "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" is a popular song published in 1902. It is commonly referred to as simply "Bill Bailey".

Its words and music were written by Hughie Cannon (1877--1912), an American songwriter and pianist. It is still a standard with Dixieland and traditional jazz bands. The simple 32-bar chord sequence of its chorus also underpins many other tunes played mainly by jazz bands, such as "Over the Waves", "Washington and Lee Swing", "Bourbon Street Parade", "My Little Girl", and the final themes of "Tiger Rag" and "The Beer Barrel Polka".

Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 -- April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century." Nicknamed "Sailor" (for her salty speech), "Sassy" and "The Divine One", Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner. The National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz", the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989.

Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, a carpenter by trade who played guitar and piano, and Ada Vaughan, a laundress who sang in the church choir, migrants from Virginia. The Vaughans lived in a house on Brunswick Street in Newark for Vaughan's entire childhood. Jake was deeply religious. The family was active in New Mount Zion Baptist Church at 186 Thomas Street. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir, and played piano for rehearsals and services. Sarah and her family were all registered Democrats.

She developed an early love for popular music. In the 1930s, she frequently saw local and touring bands at the Montgomery Street Skating Rink. By her mid-teens, she ventured illegally into Newark's night clubs and performed as a pianist and singer at the Piccadilly Club and at Newark Airport.

Vaughan attended East Side High School, then transferred to Newark Arts High School, which opened in 1931. As her nocturnal adventures as a performer overtook her academic pursuits, she dropped out of high school during her junior year to concentrate more fully on her music.

In 1989, Vaughan's health began to decline, although she rarely revealed any hints of this in her performances. She canceled a series of engagements in Europe in 1989, citing the need to seek treatment for arthritis of the hand, although she was able to complete a series of performances in Japan. During a run at New York's Blue Note Jazz Club in 1989, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and was too ill to finish the last day of what would turn out to be her final series of public performances.

Vaughan returned to her home in California to begin chemotherapy and spent her final months alternating stays in the hospital and at home. She grew weary of the struggle and demanded to be taken home, where at the age of 66 she died on the evening of April 3, 1990, while watching Laker Girls, a television movie featuring her daughter.

Her funeral was held at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. Following the ceremony, a horse-drawn carriage transported her body to Glendale Cemetery, Bloomfield.

Sarah's accompanied by Kirk Stuart (piano), Charles "Buster" Williams (bass), and Georges Hughes (drums). Recorded in Sweden, 1964. (Mercury Records)

A Won't you come home Bill Bailey
Please come home
She moans the whole night long
I'll do the cookin honey I'll pay the rent
I know I've done you wrong

'Member that rainy eve' when I put you out
With nothin but a fine tooth comb oh yea
I know I'm to blame but ain't that a shame
Bill Bailey come on home

Come home Bill Bailey
Come on home
She moans the whole night long
I'll do the cookin honey
I'll pay the rent
I know I've done
I know I've done you wrong

'Member that rainy eve' when I put you out
With nothin but a fine tooth comb oh yea
I know I'm to blame
Well ain't that a shame
Bill Bailey come on home
Come on home Bill Bailey come on home

She moans the whole night long
I'll do the cookin honey
I'll pay the rent
I know, I know, I know I've done

'Member that rainy eve' when I put you out
With nothin but a fine tooth comb oh yea
I know I'm to blame
But ain't that a shame
Bill Bailey come on home
Bill Bailey come on home
Bill Bailey come on home
Come on

I'll do the cookin honey I'll pay the rent
I know, I know, I know, I know I've done you wrong

'Member that rainy eve' when I put you out
With nothin but a fine tooth comb oh yea
I know I'm to blame but ain't that a shame
Bill Bailey come on home

Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home Bill Bailey
Come on home
Come home

Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Come home, come home
Bill Bailey come on home
Come on home