| Show The Original I Coon Song 11 Genuine Plantation Melodies Are Vastly Different From the Modern May Irwin Brand I I Any one who knew the souththe land mouth ot Inon aM Dixon line and th Ohio river between I the Site slpll 1 and tile Atlnntl2 or 30 Yearn ago before the flavor or antebellum days ha < 1 i assed away and Indeed they I l113to < till well along In the eighties Is I perfectly well aware that the so call I ea I coon song In tie present day of I the vaudeville halls ard the extraneous I sconei or the light comic operas no morn presents African melody words or sentiment than It does the poetry of the Inhabitant of Mara Today there la Ito I-to much of American and Irish hu nor clothed In supposed necro dialect posing > as the elaboration ot a class that lever made i retei se to the possession 0 if any such mental characteristics The old time genuine mlodle or the tie green were always the composition or tho whites but tortured Into almost an absolute lack ot Identification by the verbal variations ot the then slave The original musical Idea of the Aid Can Wa 11 simple ehantnothlne more Uut even this was an Inculcated precept he erlved from listening to the sing Inlt it the whites at their camp meet I ngs The picturesque ballad of the black were written at first principally b > y Stephen C Foster and It is I the lovely airs the slow measured rhythm Me homely pathos and the American feeling In Old Folks at Home Massas In the Cold Cold Ground My Old Kcnlucls Home Nelly Diy Old Uncle Nedthough 1U higher musical abilities resulted In such impositions as Come Where My Love Lies Dreaming Jennie With the LUhtllrowtiHuIr etc that mad then tamou B8 Concert and parlor songs Many of these are little Known In I the south and hardly at all to the colored population Constant repetition of word phrase and musical accent Is I the basis of the true negro song There Is much of the da capo In their vocalism and then the-n e Idea Is entirely adagio Dar U a tavern In dtt townla OH town nor my loa goes an sits lain I Uuiwielt him down with a never ending crescendo represent repre-sent the alpha and omega of their lions accomplishment lly the way though the writer las Been Several thouan oxlan be never hoar a negro Say lub And set that orlhogriphlc form I a eagerly seized upon by every com paper who Is I supposed to be Inditing their exact phraseology The fact Is I that African dialect In tho south arles as much as do the Cau clan localisms of Maine and Virginia Vir-ginia Colonel Hithard Malcolm John ton coul1 prepare a lengthy and un doubttdly Interesting article on the dif terenc alone between the opesch No latlons of th black In northern and In southern Ccorgli Go through southern Mars land the Carolina I Alabma Arkansas and < Lou Island even and It you hear n genuine negro melody It will be similar to theo couplets Carl one momln 00 mymassas rm Cut lot pigeon wIng Ilav Janet 1 dem hlolos a alarm SIako i 0 fell Miss Mvin a eflann Shake so feet nlssers It 11 soon bo day hhoot along Iiiein M us IJzy J me Mama Uttih t ui ilai < Ill I 9 rr I bo to pay I We got to Mir four ait lite flat corn lilt l oJaQ FI h1110 lAzy aja7 oJ letter bo luiniln coz It soon be Shake dat ba rnnrnl IJlY Janet This Is I an autleiitlc plantation song but the negrq pt today will rut the Original mehodr Into scrappy discards I and minor I notes As lie I been Sold I rAther coarsely iy a humorist Ito I knolia the ralP mell A ngo had I mlher rtrilce a minor note than to rub the WimtbaM or his pants against a net I filled tahl le to eat Here Is I another gem 1 Yo calnt gueat what wo had roo supper ICum a roPtrollbotlle Mlstah Kin DIU 1 Itnc Y7t vw s M bread an buffer Cum a roptrollIWc I I1tab Kimble Derotk Im no mutton ehon Cum a ropstropbottlA KtUtah Klmblet I M 1 lake a nlerer lips ffo Hipp t Hop Cum an rop strop bottle 2i rl tall 16 in blot And after each verse the chorus recmo fclmo klliro I a role ro-le r Ilro lIora HopIroll I periwinkle little 3 tier boocer Cum a rOItrol i > bottle MUtuh Klmblel It li not Pretty and certainly not in Testing I except to a depraved musical 11 te tl r fe I ante but there Is a jingle a sort of ong and dance movement In the air hat happily expresses the Joy of doing nit athlng Sung to the loud twanging of n-it banjo It represents the outre melody t he true virove of the much lauded Aid rc rOu t rih a an musical Intuition 1 which I lit I truth i ever existed Neltl er Stanley nor I Iv i ngstone nor any other explorer of the i dark continent was ever cheered or mused with melodious acclaims from the I savages Imply bcaus the talent I a not a native one with the rc Their religious hymns are usually Indicative I In-dicative of their best efforts For In Itanc Methodls I Met odis Is I my llglon Methodls till I die I ve been baptized In d MethodU faith And live on de Methodls aide with the chorus I Aln t dm hard trials 1 Oreat rlbulatlon Aint dom i hem times Im swlo to lei tina ill worl I a variation of the last line being Im Methodls till I die The vocal frenzy or 11 arty focusing In bass baritone tenor and soprano on that word trlbultlon Is I one of the weirdest effects for their voices collectively collec-tively sound as clear an i bells and the combination is I Intensely < harmonious Many of their choruses are the unison uni-son or refrains from Pence < arranged by I rome whlto composer or tho north or south The writer of this article 10 years AgO deliberately and with mal Ice rethought combined twoeach In different keys and has since heard them hundred of times sung by ne erroes trolllng about the lanes and streets or southern tons and cities after nightfall They are Adieu oOlel1 my frensl Adieu adlul I kill no longer star wid jo mid yo Ilut Ill hang my 1 arp on A willow tree I An bid din worl go well wld tl eel and Fare sn wn I mus leave yo Ic o not let my pnrtin grieve 3 ol Fare W welllltnuleave Y I 1 are so welll with the last stani repeated and Sometimes an almost endless repetition of the phrases Frequently a Spoken line which Is I ther own Improvisation will add to the quaintness of the chant But the Present song or the minstrel stage and concert hall whether pretty refined humoruu pathetic ttupi or vulgar as It occasionally lo I Is n delu Stan when supposed to rei recent any original musical proclivity of the negro of the south He can sing though Individually or singly his voice la I rarely ever leasing lie can I lay the banjo and dance a double dou-ble shuffle or a Jig like an expert but he Is I Just as goo < 1 at repeating the famed fam-ed alliterative verse 11 Did you ever see a possum in a pawpaw patch a p ckln up paw i aw tan t-an puttln em In his pocket Ll make a pawpaw pie for his Papa vfhlch to him Is I often a source of perfect content The race would lather sing pIn and dance OH would many vvl hlle people than burden then elves with work Their sentiments are fully Illustrate In the word or a slave or the ancien retime who wllh a six Inch grin on his te so Id 31assa do Ns day ub do old nigger life am djne gone but when I think ob de good ole times we had befo de wal ee bon ob mine Elts sourig an I wants to gt light t up and hit I de Jig ttep ngen like I uiel ler do Al ni ItT 1 SOUTHS |
