{{More citations needed|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox song | name = The Japanese Sandman | cover = Japanese Sandman.pdf | alt = | caption = | type = | written = | published = | artist = Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra | album = | B-side = Whispering | released = September 1920<ref>{{Cite web|title=Original versions of The Japanese Sandman by Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra {{!}} SecondHandSongs|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/276900|access-date=2021-08-02|website=Secondhandsongs.com}}</ref> | recorded = August 19, 1920<ref>{{Cite web|title=Victor matrix B-24390. The Japanese sandman / Ambassador Orchestra; Paul Whiteman - Discography of American Historical Recordings|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/700009601/B-24390-The_Japanese_sandman|access-date=2021-08-02|website=Adp.library.ucsb.edu}}</ref> | studio = Victor Studios, Camden, New Jersey, U.S. | venue = | genre = Jazz, Big band | length = | label = Victor 18690 | writer = | composer = Richard A. Whiting | lyricist = Raymond B. Egan | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Wang Wang Blues | next_year = 1920 | misc = center<br />An instrumental version of "The Japanese Sandman", being performed by Paul Whiteman and His Ambassador Orchestra in August 1920. }}
'''"The Japanese Sandman"''' is a song from 1920, composed by Richard A. Whiting and with lyrics by Raymond B. Egan.<ref>{{cite book|title=Michigan History Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBIUAAAAYAAJ|volume=85|year=2001|publisher=Michigan Department of State|page=53}}</ref><ref name="Atkins1983">{{cite book|author=Irene Kahn Atkins|title=Source music in motion pictures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeUIAQAAMAAJ|date=1 February 1983|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|isbn=978-0-8386-3076-1|page=63}}</ref> The song was first popularized in vaudeville by Nora Bayes, and then sold millions of copies as the B-side for Paul Whiteman's song "Whispering".<ref name="PaymerPost1999">{{cite book|author1=Marvin E. Paymer|author2=Don E. Post|title=Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs, 1920-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_MNtkSqYzpoC&pg=PA11|year=1999|publisher=Noble House Publishers|isbn=978-1-881907-09-1|page=11}}</ref>
==Content== {{Multiple image |image1="The Japanese Sandman" by Nora Bayes and the Charles A. Prince Orchestra.mp3 |caption1= "The Japanese Sandman", being performed by Nora Bayes and the Charles A. Prince Orchestra in 1920. |image2="The Japanese Sandman" (1920), by Richard Armstrong Whiting.mid |image3="The Japanese Sandman", Fox-Trot played by John Milton Delcamp (1920).oga |caption3=1920s piano roll of "The Japanese Sandman" as played by the pianist John Milton Delcamp. |caption2=An instrumental rendition of "The Japanese Sandman", being performed on a synthesized piano. |caption4=Olive Kline performing "The Japanese Sandman" in 1920, with Josef Pasternack conducting. |image4="The Japanese Sandman" (1920), by Olive Kline and Josef Pasternack.oga |image5= |caption5=Red Nichols and His Five Pennies performing "The Japanese Sandman" {{circa}} 1928. |image6= |caption6="The Japanese Sandman" being played by Frank Trumbauer & His Orchestra with Bix Beiderbeck in October 1928. |image7="The Japanese Sandman" (1920) 1920s dance band music for flappers Harry Raderman's Novelty Orchestra.opus |caption7="The Japanese Sandman" played by Harry Raderman's Novelty Orchestra {{circa}} 1920. |image8=Roaring 1920s- Isham Jones' Rainbo Orch. - Japanese Sandman, 1920.opus |caption8="The Japanese Sandman" played by Isham Jones' Rainbo Orchestra in 1920. |image9= |caption9=The Japanese Sandman" played by Fred Rich's Orchestra in 1932. | direction = vertical |align=left }} Apart from the original instrumental version, there are songs of the same name, and at a minimum, two entirely different lyrical arrangements, and musical arrangements that in turn give very different impressions, so are distinct from each other. For example, the version by Willard Robison Deep River Orchestra, with vocals by Annette Hanshaw, with the lyrics about a sandman from Japan, who exchanges yesterdays for tomorrows. By doing so he "takes every sorrow of the day that is through" and "he'll bring you tomorrow, just to start a life anew."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thejapanesesandman.html|title=THE JAPANESE SANDMAN - Lyrics - International Lyrics Playground|website=Lyricsplayground.com|access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref> The number has an Oriental atmosphere, and is similar to many other songs from the interwar period that sing about a dreamy, exotic setting. Whereas in a version by The Cellos there are East Asian tropes of pronunciation "you lookie like a Japanese Sandman", and the use phrases such as "I wear a pinstripe jacket made of chunky foo yang/ Polka dot shoes made of yang sang" <ref>{{Citation |title=The Masked Marauders – I Am the Japanese Sandman (Rang Tang Ding Dong) |url=https://genius.com/The-masked-marauders-i-am-the-japanese-sandman-rang-tang-ding-dong-lyrics |access-date=2026-01-14}}</ref>
Nora Bayes made a popular recording of the song in 1920. In the same year, the song was released as the B-side of Paul Whiteman's first record, "Whispering.” It has been subsequently performed by several musical artists like Art Hickman, Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke, Artie Shaw, Earl Hines, Paul Young, Django Reinhardt, the Andrews Sisters, Freddy Gardner, and in 2010, a high-fidelity recording of Whiteman's historic arrangement, by Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra.
Additionally, the song was recorded by the Nazi German propaganda band, Charlie and his Orchestra. For propaganda reasons, the lyrics were changed through references to the Japanese Empire.
==In popular culture== *A version of the song was often used in North American cartoons in the 1940s, such as 1942's ''The Ducktators'', usually to mock Japanese characters, due to the attack upon the U.S. by Japan. *An orchestral version is heard in the musical film ''Rose of Washington Square'' (1939), starring Alice Faye.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlwtLzSZuFE&index=7&list=PLBohJ-Mq5mXziu3MJZ-E_WDxC7OrBCGvc "The Japanese Sandman" orchestral recording], audio file only, from ''Rose of Washington Square'' (1939) on YouTube</ref> *In the 1947 Disney cartoon "Cat Nap Pluto," both Pluto and Figaro are visited by figurative "sandman" likenesses of themselves in coolie hats, seeking to bring on sleep. These references are purely visual, however, as the Whiting song is not heard. *The Japanese-American boxer, Shoji "Harold" Hoshino, was nicknamed "The Japanese Sandman" in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal | title = Boxing: Harold Hoshino, the Japanese Sandman | journal = Journal of Combative Sport | date = June 2002 | first = Joseph R. | last = Svinth| url = http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_0602.htm | access-date = 2011-03-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_0602.htm | title=JCS: Harold Hoshino : Svinth }}</ref> *In 1944 a version of the song plays out the submarine's speaker system to the crew in ''Destination Tokyo''. *Hoagy Carmichael performed the song on ukulele in the 1952 film, ''Belles on Their Toes''. *A version of the song appears towards the end of the overture to the 1967 film ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'', despite not appearing anywhere else in the theatrical release. *Whiteman's original can also be heard in the 1969 film, ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' and on ''The Masked Marauders'' album from the same year. *A version was featured in the 1999 Martin Scorsese film Bringing Out the Dead. *A version also appears in the 2009 fantasy film ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus''. *Instrumental covers performed by Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks Orchestra appeared in almost every one of the first five episodes of the HBO series ''Boardwalk Empire''; a version with lyrics was featured in an episode aired on October 24, 2010. *The Caretaker sampled the song for his track "The Weeping Dancefloor" in ''We'll All Go Riding on a Rainbow''.
==The Cellos version== In 1957, the American doo-wop band The Cellos recorded "Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am the Japanese Sandman)",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/master/1004115-The-Cellos-Rang-Tang-Ding-Dong-You-Took-My-Love|title=The Cellos - Rang Tang Ding Dong / You Took My Love|access-date=21 February 2022|website=Discogs.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-cellos-mn0000156001/biography|title=The Cellos Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic|access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref> which features the same character, but with different lyrics. Frank Zappa quoted from The Cellos' lyrics in his song "A Little Green Rosetta", from ''Joe's Garage'' (1979).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.donlope.net/fz/notes/Joe%27s_Garage.html#Rosetta|title=Joe's Garage Acts I, II & III: Notes & Comments|website=Donlope.net|access-date=21 February 2022}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Music}} *"Afghanistan", contemporaneous song with a similar premise
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2003-1/thismonth/featureb.php "The Japanese Sandman"] at the Parlor Songs Academy
{{Nora Bayes}} {{Sandman navbox}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Japanese Sandman, The}} Category:1920 songs Category:Fictional Japanese people Category:Songs about Japan Category:Songs about East Asian people Category:Songs about fictional male characters Category:Songs with music by Richard A. Whiting Category:Songs with lyrics by Raymond B. Egan Category:Works based on European myths and legends Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture Category:Sandman Category:Lullabies