"Shuffle Off to Buffalo"

Betty Ann Barr

 

Retold by Doug Boilesen, son of Betty Ann Barr Boilesen.

There wasn't a phonograph in their home when Mom was growing up in rural Nebraska but in the 1930's she did get to occasionally listen to the radio if the windcharger had fully charged the radio's batteries.

There was one song that she particularly remembered, probably because of the reaction it got from Betty's mother and her Aunt Tay. It was titled "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" and it was written for the 1933 production "Forty-Second Street." To my grandmother and aunt it was the most shocking song of its time. When I'd ask my mom for details, she would sing the scandalous lines:

"I'll go home and get my panties,
You go home and get your scanties,
And away we'll go;
Mm, off we're gonna shuffle,
Shuffle off to Buffalo.

 

"Shuffle Off to Buffalo" from Forty Second Street, M. Witmark & Sons, New York, 1932 (Courtesy Baylor University Digital Collections).

The full text for the American sheet music version goes:

 

Verse:

Now that we have had the rice and flowers,
The knot is tied;
I can visu'lize such happy hours
Close by your side.
The honeymoon in store
Is one that you'll adore,
I'm gonna take you for a ride;

Chorus 1 & 2:

I'll go home and get my panties,
You go home and get your scanties,
And away we'll go;
Mm, off we're gonna shuffle,
Shuffle off to Buffalo.
To Niag'ra in a sleeper,
There's no honeymoon that's cheaper,
And the train goes slow;
Ooh, off we're gonna shuffle,
Shuffle off to Buffalo.
Someday, the stork may pay a visit
And leave a little souvenir;
Just a little cute "what-is-it?"
But we'll discuss that later, dear.
For a little silver quarter,
We can have the Pullman porter
Turn the lights down low;
Ooh, off we're gonna shuffle,
Shuffle off to Buffalo.

 

Watch the movie excerpt from "Forty-Second Street" where "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" is performed. Lobby card from 1933 Warner Bros. Pictures. (Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions).

 

Screenshots from 1933 Warner Bros. Pictures "42nd Street".

 

Shuffle Off to Buffalo -- Fox-Trot, Decca Record, 1933, 78 RPM, 10" Shellac, Released in England, F.3529.

After High School in the early 1940's was Betty Ann ready to Shuffle off to Buffalo? Not unless her future husband Axel was on that train.

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