Sayers used the song in the troupe's 1891 production Tuxedo, a minstrel farce variety show, in which "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" was sung by Mamie Gilroy.

[2][3] Sayers later said that he had not written the song, but heard it performed in the 1880s by a black singer, Mama Lou, in a well-known St. Louis brothel run by "Babe" Connors.

With new words by Richard Morton and a new arrangement by Angelo A. Asher, she first sang it at the Tivoli Music Hall on The Strand in London in December 1891 to an enthusiastic reception.

[5] Within weeks, she included it in a pantomime production of Dick Whittington[3] and performed it to great acclaim in the 1892 adaptation of Edmond Audran's opérette, Miss Helyett.

According to reviews at the time, Collins delivered the suggestive verses with deceptive demureness, before launching into the lusty refrain and her celebrated "kick dance", a kind of cancan.

[citation needed] Various editions of the music credited its authorship to various persons, including Alfred Moor-King, Paul Stanley,[10] and Angelo A.

[1][11] Around 1914, activist Joe Hill wrote a version that tells how poor working conditions can result in workers "accidentally" causing their machinery to have mishaps.

[15] In 1954, John Serry Sr. recorded an easy listening arrangement with two accordions, vibes, string bass, guitar, drums and piano for RCA Thesaurus.

[26] From 1974 to 1988 the Disneyland park in Anaheim, California, included a portion of the song in their musical revue attraction America Sings, in the finale of Act 3 – The Gay 90s.