The Minstrel Show

Songs

I Want To See A Minstrel Show - 1913 - Leighton Brothers & Shields

    Well into the era after the First World War the minstrel show remained popular. As vaudeville, the Broadway stage and later movies became the craze, touring minstrel shows gradually faded and became more local and presented by small town entertainment groups such as church or club associated talent most often to raise money for their organization. There is a nostalgic nature of the lyrics: "I want to see a minstrel.I want to hear the endmen sing that song about Old Black Joe. I want to hear the tenor sing that ballad so sweet and low."  Within a couple of generations the Minstrel Show was replaced by other forms of entertainment. In its time it served to entertain the American public, both Black and White, and gave numerous Afro-Americans their chance to enter the world of American show business.

     Grand Minstrel Opening Chorus - 1878 - Geo. Rowe

   Most minstrels now were very developed with larger troupes. They usually began with a 'grand opening,' which showed the troupers capabilities and versatility. The sheet music cover states: "This is the only original genuine minstrel opening chorus ever published. It begins with a 'fanfare-like' section of 4 bars and continues with a tutti ensemble section for band and vocal chorus. After the first section in 3/4, the 2^nd section, marked allegro, is in 2/4 meter.

    Coal Black Rose - 1829 - W. Snyder   

    This song was introduced as "the first burnt-cork song of comic love," and is said to have been 'appropriated from an old ballad.' Its 'presenter' was George W. Dixon, one of the most successful of the early blackface entertainers. One narrative states that the composer Henry Russell was playing the "Vesper Hymn" and began to play it faster and it became "Coal Black Rose."

     Clare de Kitchen - 1832 - Salomon   

     Popularized by "Daddy" Rice, the text is close to the tradition of Negro humor. In a succession of nonsense verses we meet various animals, an old blind horse; a joy bird sitting on a hickory limb; a bull frog dressed in soldier's clothes; and a little whip-poor-will whose sad fate is to be eaten. The tag "I wish I was" was destined to become a stock item in minstrel songs and folk music.

    George Nichols was the first to sing "Clare" in public and is said to have adapted it from a melody which Nichols had heard sung by Negro fireman on the Miss. River. Stephen Foster's family musical group, the "Thespian Company" sang this on their programs. The song uses the cakewalk rhythm in its melody.

     Zip Coon - 1834 - J. F. Magruder   

    Better know as "Turkey In The Straw" Zip Coon was one of the most successful of the early minstrel songs. It is said to have been an early adaptation of a Scotch-Irish descent. It became a favorite fiddle tune. The famous America composer Henry Gilbert used the melody in his symphonic work "Americanesque."

    Jim Crow

     Jim Along Josey - 1838 - An eminent Professor     

    The melody uses only 5 notes of the pentatonic scale. The song itself is followed by a lively 'dance' in which the comic actor had a chance to 'do his stuff.' The popularity of the song was doubtless due in large measure to the catchy tune of the chorus. The song became used as a 'play party song' in the Middle West and was admitted as a game even among those stricter sects that prohibited dancing.

     Ghost of Uncle Tom - Hutchinson Family - 1846 -           Martha Hill

During this era of American popular music there were numerous singing families in America, the most prominent being the Hutchinsons. There were usually four in the group - two playing violin and cello. They were concerned with bringing music to 'the masses.' They would represent what today we would call 'protest singers,' having in their repertoire protest songs (temperance, women's suffrage, and especially abolition), religious songs, minstrel songs and even some humorous songs.

     Dolly Day - 1850 - Stephen Foster

   Written for the Christy Minstrels, Stephen Foster is today a legend of American popular music of the pre-Civil War period. His songs are timeless and are still known in our day. Foster wrote 100's of songs, many used in the minstrel shows of his era. Only a handful of his songs are known however. Dolly Day was written in 1850 and was used by the Christy Minstrels. Its chorus was sung by a vocal quartet, which was often used in performing minstrel shows, most minstrels having a vocal quartet within its troupe. "Dolly" is a simple melodic and rhythmic song without syncopation and included the typical dance section of 8 bars, with 3 additional verses. It was called a plantation melody.           

     FEW DAYS - 1854 - Jenny Lind   

     Jenny Lind was brought to America by P. T. Barnum in 1850. She was a great success and became a household name. While basically an opera singer, she composed and sang on her concerts some Ethiopian songs - composing one  - "Few Days" that became very popular. The lyrics are by the famous Lucy Long, the first line being "Come darkies all, we'll sing a song, few days, few days. Subjects within the lyrics contain ideas on Afro-Americans, political platforms and parties, progress and the know-nothing party. When used by the Know Nothing Union the words state: "Our country now is great and free, few days, few days," and include subjects as patriotism pride, and political platforms. It became a United American song with lyrics: "a subtle foe has plotted along, few days, few days and contained lyrics on campaigns, battles, political elections, ballots and patriotism.

     The Black Brigade - 1863 - Dan Emmett   

     Written by Dan Emmett, the song is notated as a "plantation song & dance." Emmett was one of the original members of the Virginia Minstrels and later joined Bryant's Minstrel Troupe and wrote minstrel songs for them.

    Happy Uncle Joe - 1867 - J. G. Huntting

    Written by J. G. Huntting in 1867, Happy Uncle Joe is described as a song and chorus. It contains a section for male vocal quartet. During the 'group' era of minstrel development most every minstrel troupe featured a vocal quartet. The first section has some use of the cakewalk rhythm with a chorus of 8 measures. It is reminiscent of Stephen Foster's style of popular minstrel music.

     Deed I Has To Laugh - 1877 - J. P. Sousa

    Sousa is best known for his great marches but he also wrote opera and, strangely, minstrel songs. Sousa brought American negro cakewalks, rags and jazz to Europe and was the first to bring this Negro style music to the world. Sousa wrote, in 1877 "Deed I Has To Laugh" especially for Griffin and Rice of the Carncross & Dixey Minstrel troupe. The importance of these early minstrel tunes is that it brought to the general public the music of the Negro race and enabled the Negro to enter show business.

    Roll Out! Heave Dat Cotton - 1877 - Will S. Hays

    Written by Will S. Hays, a contemporary and rival of Stephen Foster. There is a section for male vocal quartet. The lyrics describe the details of a Negro stevedore as he hauls the cotton on board a steamer and then unloads the cargo. Hays was a very popular and prolific writer in the era of the minstrel show. He also wrote other types of popular music including the famous "Drummer Boy of Shiloh."

     Close Dem Windows - 1879 - James Bland

    James Bland is most famous for his songs: "In the Evening By the Moonlight," "Oh Dem Golden Slippers," and "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny." He wrote many other songs in Negro dialect which contain no syncopation. There is a verse and chorus for vocal quartet and ends with what is called 'a symphony' which is 8 bars in length. Other songs, many of which were heard in minstrel situations, that featured Bland as a performer.

    The Colored Band - 1881 - Chas. Dockstader

    Written by the famous minstrel Charles A. Dockstader, the lyrics describe a colored band and its instrumentation. It is also Foster like in melodic content and even contains a few measures that the performer whistles. There is some use of syncopation. It was published by the renowned music house of J. W. Pepper of Philadelphia.

    Dars a Lock on the Chicken Coop Door - 1884 - Sam           Lucas

    Minstrel Shows were the most popular form of American entertainment during the 1880's. One of the leading song-writers was Sam Lucas, also a minstrel performer. He gained national acclaim when he starred in the 1914 movie "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as Uncle Tom.

     He was 72 years old when he recreated his role as Uncle Tom from the earlier Broadway production. He is considered the first Afro-American actor to receive star billing in a major film, not little due to his popularity and fame from his early minstrel days. Lucas wrote an occasion song with no racial reference. Lucas became a partner with fellow song-writer Gussie L. Davis. Davis also an Afro-American also wrote popular music that were not racially specific, thus opening the door for the Afro-American composer to use the fame they had gained in the minstrels to more 'legit' endeavors in American popular music of a more gentile nature. Chris Smith wrote: "The Irish were Egyptians long ago" but Same Lucas was the pioneer.

Lucas wrote "Dar a Lock" in 1884. It begins with a 6 bar introduction followed by a 16 bar first section. The refrain is 8 bars and its concluding section, the chorus, is also 8 bars in length, but contains the same melody as the refrain. The melody reminds one of a Foster one and there are only a few bars using a cakewalk rhythm with no syncopation except for those few bars. Used in the minstrels there is use of the Negro dialect, a technique praised by James Johnson as an artistic attempt at preserving this dialect as part of early American Negro history.

     The Warmest Baby in the Bunch - 1897 - G. M. Cohan    

While George M. Cohan was best known for his many patriotic songs he also wrote in the idiom of the popular music of his day. Included in this group were Ethiopian melodies used in the minstrel show. Called an "Ethiopian Ditty" this song, written for the Broadway stage and used in his Minstrel troupe, it shows the evolution of the simple minstrel song of 1843 to the more sophisticated songs of the Broadway stage.

The Phrenologist Coon - 1901 - Ernest           Hogan/Williams & Walker

Ernest Hogan had earlier written a song in a style that became very popular in the American climate of the early 20^th century. Hogan had earlier written what was to become known as "Coon songs" which featured racial motivated lyrics but still in the melodic and rhythmic style of minstrel songs with little use of syncopation until later in his history. His "All Coons Look Alike To Me" became one of the hits of this era. Hogan wrote the lyrics and another Afro-American composer Will Accooe wrote the music. This song The Phrenologist Coon is a comic song and was introduced by the great, legendary and famous minstrel team of Bert Williams and George Walker. As a matter of interest a 'phrenologist' is one who studies personal characteristics from the shape of one's skull. The lyrics declare that: "an egg shaped head is a chicken stealer; a face like a frog head can't keep a secret. Many more examples are present in the lyrics of the song. The sheet music covers displays 6 such heads. The structure is similar to the songs presented so far with only a few examples of what might be called syncopation, more due to the difference in the lyrics of each verse having to fit with a melody.

The Countess of Alagazan - 1906 - Bob Cole -Dockstader's Minstrels

Many of the lyrics of the minstrel songs were written for laughs,, they were 'comic' lyrics and the minstrels now were spoofing (as in burlesque) established serious dramas, even Shakespeare was not spared. Minstrels were prominent on Broadway and they were evolving into what would be called vaudeville, and dropped the earlier traditional minstrel style. People were tiring of the minstrel traditional and from the section of our work on Broadway one can read of this falling of the minstrels from popularity on Broadway, which set the trends of show business. They would still travel the country but were now becoming so changed in character that they were now more of a revue than a minstrel show.

The "Countess" was written by the respectable Afro-American team of Bob Cole and Rosamond Johnson and presented by Dockstader's Minstrels. The music is presented in 6/8 and one can see that the minstrel songs of the era contained simple melodies, with little use of syncopation, but very rhythmic. From this song one can observe the importance of the lyrics. Most lyrics told a story and many, of course, were comical. The minstrel song had come a long way from its beginning style lyrics which were more sentimental in nature (ex: Foster's lyrics), and now were more racial in nature, making fun of the emphasized (in extreme) character of what was conceived of the Negro race.

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