Buffalo Gals

Origination

Adaptations

• The English singing game "Pray, Pretty Miss" may have been an inspiration for the lyric, according to Frank Brown in "Collection of North Carolina Folklore." The tune is reminiscent of "Im Grunewald, im Grunewald ist Holzauktion," a music hall song from Germany that was however first published in 1892.
• A new set of lyrics to the same tune entitled "Dance with a Dolly " became a success in 1944 when it was recorded by a number of artists. Charted versions were by Russ Morgan, Evelyn Knight and Tony Pastor. In the decades since, versions in genres ranging from children's choir to disco have been recorded. Notable recordings have included Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, Bill Haley & His Comets and Damita Jo.
• A 1959 adaptation by Bobby Darin called "Plain Jane" went to #38 on the Billboard chart.
• A 1960 hit by Ray Smith, "Rockin' Little Angel" is based on the same melody.
• A 1961 album by The Olympics, Dance by the Light of the Moon includes the title song which borrows part of the melody and lyrics, reworking it into a doo-wop song.

  In popular culture

• The line "They danced by the light of the moon" shows up a little more than a quarter century later in Edward Lear's poem, "The Owl and the Pussycat," published in 1870.
• In Frank Capra's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life, Mary and George Bailey sing the song together in the scene where George "lassos" the Moon.