The Japanese Sandman

Art Shaw and his Orchestra : The Japanese Sandman

The song was often used during World War 2 in American cartoons in the 1940s to mock Japanese characters, due to the attack upon the United States by Imperial Japan.

Album:  
Side A: The Japanese Sandman
Side B: A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody

Style:  Fox Trot / Jazz

Date Recorded: June 11, 1936

Composer: Richard A. Whiting

Lyricist: Raymond B. Egan

Instrumentation:  

Charted: 

Wikipedia: The Japanese Sandman

Name: 

Art Shaw and his Orchestra

Label: Columbia

Won’t you stretch imagination for the moment and come with me
Let us hasten to a nation lying over the western sea
Hide behind the cherry blossoms here’s a sight that will please your eyes
There’s a baby with a lady of Japan singing lullabies
Night winds breath her sighs here’s the Japanese

Just as silent as we came we’ll leave the land of the painted fan
Wander lightly or you’ll wake the little people of old Japan
May repose and pleasant dreaming be their share while the hours are small
Like an echo of the song I hear the Japanese Sandman
Call new days near for all here’s the Japanese

Sandman sneaking on with the dew just an old second hand man
He’ll buy your old day from you
He will take every sorrow of the day that is through
And he’ll give you tomorrow just to start a life anew
Then you’ll be a bit older in the dawn when you wake
And you’ll be a bit bolder with the new day you make
Here’s the Japanese Sandman trade him silver for gold
Just an old second hand man trading new days for old.