"My Little Zulu Babe" Williams and Walker = Bert Williams & George Walker (1901) Jas. T. Brymn

Down in sunny Africa among the jungle and the burr there lives
a Zulu gal close by the Nile, and I’ve named her Sadie Lee, and
she’s goin’ to marry me, and the wedding will be in the Zulu style.

How the kings and queens will celebrate this ostentatious fete.
‘Twill be the grandest meet of Africa’s elite.
There’ll be no gorgeous constumes, but the leaves
worn will be fine the day I make this little Zulu mine.

She is my little Zulu baby
A perfect lady although she’s shady
Fresh from the jungle is my Sadie
A full fledged foreign gal is she
My little Zulu babe

She’s the Princess Talmajoes--sports the royal blood,
you know. And when I marry her, I’ll be a king.
Then you’ll hear the people say “Been a ruler made
today.” In Africa I’ll be the only thing.

Then when I sit upon my throne up in a cocoanut tree,
‘twill be a sight to see--when my babe make love to me.
I know that there’ll be an awful time down in Zulu
land the day my babe and I will take command.

Released in 1901

Victor Monarch 1086

Lyrics by W. S. Estren

Music by Jas. T. Brymn (James Timothy Brymn lived from 1881 to 1946)

"Down in sunny Africa, 'mong the jungle and the burr...She is my little Zulu baby..."

In 1901, on three occasions, Bert Williams and partner George Walker attended recording sessions for the Victor Talking Machine Company. The first session was on October 11, 1901.

They performed 14 numbers during these three session--sometimes one sang as a solo artist, but other times the two sang duets.

Piano accompaniment was not credited at that time, but C. H. H. Booth was present at most Victor sessions at that time.

Bert Williams was born Egbert Austin Williams in New Providence, Nassau, British West Indies, on November 12, 1874. He became an important star in vaudeville and broke color lines when he worked with white performers on Broadway.

Before his teen years, Bert and his family moved to Riverside in southern California.

Eventually Bert moved to San Francisco and joined a West Coast traveling minstrel show called Martin and Selig’s Mastodon Minstrels.

In 1893, Bert met George William Walker, who was born in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1873.

The two men developed a vaudeville act, using burnt cork to make their faces look like the white men who worked as minstrel performers. Onstage, Williams played a buffoon whereas Walker’s character was a scheming dandy.

In 1900, they enjoyed great success with a show called "Sons of Ham." This was at the Star Theatre on Broadway, which ran for two years. This show provided the songs that would be recorded by the duo in 1901.

George Walker died in 1911.

Bert Williams died in New York on March 4, 1922.