Bobby Edwards (seen here in a self-portrait from 1917) gave his own history of the “Greenwich Village Epic” in that quintessential Village journal, The Quill, in the November 1917 issue:

“Down in dear old Greenwich Village,” or, as the Bard sings, “Way Down South in Greenwich Village,” originated in Polly’s about four years ago. Lucy Huffaker, Jack McGrath and Polly herself concocted a verse to which George Baker improvised music. The ravages of time have nearly destroyed the original version and, as I remember it, it was not a parlor song, though very funny.

About a year later, the troubadour, who was then confining himself to Italian, improvised a few verses at the Dutch Oven to entertain Ernest Holcombe, Harry Kemp, A. Boni and others. Whereupon the Bard, elated at the applause of his distinguished audience, sang the verses day and night to everyone and added more until the rhymes to village were exhausted.

In the meantime low persons made vulgar parodies in imperfect meter. These Bacchic efforts were not incorporated into Mr. Edwards’ repertoire. But a Village publisher at the time scented folklore in the Village, and being so thrilled by his discovery he overlooked the lack of subtlety in these bucolic imitations of the true version and published a leaflet confusing these spurious verses with the innocent compilations of the Bard, to whom credit for the whole mess was generously given. Much opprobrium thereupon descended upon the innocent head of the Bard.

After that the Village Orpheus sang only his own stuff and sternly resented any interpolation or even suggestion.

(Posted by Doug Skinner)