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Words:James Weldon Johnson, Music:J. Rosamond Johnson and Bob Cole
Perhaps the most popular Cole and Johnson Brothers song, Under the Bamboo Tree is part of the score of Sally in Our Alley, which starred the famous Marie Cahill. The song was featured forty-two years later in Meet Me in St. Louis. J. Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson's names are not credited for Under the Bamboo Tree, which Rosamond explains in a note to Carl Van Vechten:
Dear Carl:
Had I known at the time that "Bamboo Tree" would become an international hit—I would have not objected to having my name appear on the copyright. Remember my telling you that the theme was an inversion of the old Negro spiritual, "Nobody Knows De Trouble I See" and I thought it below the dignity of a student of music at the Conservatory"
Yours in the regrets, J. Rosamond Johnson
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