The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was introduced by Margaret Young and successful recordings in 1925 were by Ace Brigode; Gene Austin; Blossom Seeley; Ben Bernie; and Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra. Eddie Cantor recorded the song in 1930. It was later a hit for Ricky Nelson in 1960 and Frank Sinatra in the 1960s. The song has become a standard that has been recorded by over 100 artists in genres from jazz to rock, marimba and country. Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1956 for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings issued by Mosaic Records in 2009.James Booker covered the song on his album Classified: Remixed & Expanded. Harry Stewart's mock-Japanese novelty cover of the song earned a notorious reputation as one of the worst records ever made upon its release in 1953. Opening line of the chorus: "Yes sir, that's my ba - by, no sir, don't mean may - be, Yes sir, that's my ba - by now...." According to one source, the song was written when Donaldson and Kahn were visiting Eddie Cantor. Cantor's daughter Marjorie brought out one of her favorite toys, a walking mechanical pig. She wound it up and it started walking in rhythm while two notes kept coming from the little creature. Kahn was inspired and started working lyrics to these notes in rhythm with the pig, coming up with the title and opening line of the chorus in short order.
Film appearances
1942 Broadway
1944 Once Upon a Time – played often throughout the film
1949 Yes Sir, That's My Baby – sung during the montage with the kids.
A Yiddish version entitled "Yes Sir, Iz May Kalleh" was recorded by Peisachke Burstein. In German, the song was titled "Küss' mich, Schnucki-Putzi". The song was also sung by Jason Robards and Barry Gordon in the 1965 feature filmA Thousand Clowns. Bram Morrison and young singer Debbie Fruitman sing together on Sharon, Lois & Bram's album One Elephant, Deux Éléphants. The song was sung in Italian by Duo Fasano and the famous Italian singer Raffaella Carrà in 1973. The song was titled "Lola" and talks about a girl that the singer is convincing to dance the Charleston. It was also remade by a Czech group Verona in 2011 with completely new lyrics and named "Hey Boy", becoming a holiday hit on local radio stations. Czech and Slovak listeners know the song from the traffic-information program "Pozor, zákruta", which has been broadcast since 1966 by Czechoslovak Radio, which took the instrumental version of that song as its signature. With older Czech lyrics titled "Že se nestydíte" by Jan Werich this song was performed by the Karel Vlach orchestra in the Rokoko theatre. The Swedish band Onkel Kånkel recorded a version of the song called "Spetälske Leffe" for their 1990 album Kalle Anka Suger Pung. The song's title is the name of a spaceship in the John Scalzi book The Collapsing Empire, often referred to as "the Yes, Sir". A stylized Japanese parody of the song was recorded in 1953 by Harry Stewart.
