CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

On a Little Bamboo Bridge

song performed by Louis Armstrong

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 1, 2024
Entity authorityQ16947620 ↗
Source-derived summary

"On a Little Bamboo Bridge" was a hit song in 1937 for iconic band leader Louis Armstrong. Music and Lyrics were written by Al Sherman and Archie Fletcher who were frequent collaborators. The copyright is held by Joe Morris Music Company, Incorporated.

Trivia

Years later, in the 1960s, Armstrong recorded two songs written by Al Sherman's sons, Richard and Robert Sherman. Those songs were "'Bout Time" and "Ten Feet off the Ground", originally from the Walt Disney musical film, The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band.

On a little bamboo bridge

By the waters of Kalua

Beneath Hawaiian skies

I fell in love with you

Literary Sources

Sherman, Robert B. Walt's Time: from before to beyond, Santa Clarita: Camphor Tree Publishers, 1998.

Editorial summary

“On a Little Bamboo Bridge” enters the record as song performed by Louis Armstrong. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Little, Bamboo and Bridge can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1937, 1998—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Little, Bamboo and Bridge.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“On a Little Bamboo Bridge” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Little, Bamboo and Bridge provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 1, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q16947620. The first chronological checks are 1937 and 1998.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “On a Little Bamboo Bridge”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow On a Little Bamboo Bridge primary sources, On a Little Bamboo Bridge archive and Little research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “On a Little Bamboo Bridge”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “On a Little Bamboo Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.