The Irish standard., 1900-11-17
Dynasties Of the Comic Song.

have often wondered that no his
torian seems to have been found as yet
for the popular comic song, says Justin
Mccarthy in the Saturday Evening
Post There are dynasties of popular
comic songs. Old men and women in
English country Villages are fond of
retracing the succession of their past
years by telling of the royal person
ages through whose reigns they lived
aud moved and worked and wranglcd.
1t has many times occurred to me
that one might, if in properly con-
templatiye mood, retrace the years of
bis life not less satisfactorily by his
association with the reigns of success
sive comic songs. My own earliest
recollectiOns are of the era when the
immortal Jim Grow ruled over the
comic theaters and the music halls
such music halls as then existed-of
the English-speaking world. From
morning till night, and often indeed
through the night till the morning, Jim
Crow echoed through every street and
every drinking shop and every resort
of men where the comic song was
shrieked or shouted or whistled or
hummed. The listener then, whether
a willing listener or not, was inces-
sanity invited to "Wheel about and
turn about and jump Jim Crow"
There used to be painted wooden
figure of Jim Crow standing outside a
tobacconist's shop on the right side Of
Broadway in New York as you go up
town, and, for aught know, it may
be standing there still, but have not
been in New York for some years, and
during my later residence there the
figure had passed somehow out of my
notice. / am afraid that Jim Grow
must have passed out of the notice Of
most people long before this. and /
wonder whether the younger genera
ton will have the least idea as to what
am writing about when l mention
the dusky hero's once famous name.
The reign Of Jim Grow was succeed
ed, so far as my recollection tells me, by
"Jim Along Josey"-Jim the second let
us call hinl-and he, too, was a popular
monarch while he reigned, but his do
main never spread quite so far, nor did
his flag count so many devoted follow
ers as did the reign and the flag Of
Jim the first Grow. Then we had
in England a very popular sovereign of
the singing saloon and the street, of
whom 1 cannot say with certainty
whether he ever spread his rule over
any part of America-I mean Billie
Barlow. King William Barlow was,
during his time, a very popular mon
arch in England. He used to appear
on the comic stage and on the plat
form of a singing saloon in the UMPIRE
tentious costume of crossing-sweeper
with his broom over his shoulder, and
it was the fashion of Billie Barlow to
throw himself into the spirit of any
great popular movement going on ut
the time and to represent himself as
having taken a leading part in it. Some
other sovereigns, we know, used to do
the same sort Of thing. George the
Fourth once appealed to the Duke of
Wellington to sustain him in the asser-
ton that he, George, had led the cav
airy charge at the battle of Waterloo,
and the duke discreetly replied, II have
more than once heard your majesty
say So" Billie Barlow / can distinctly
connect in memory with the revolu-
tionary era of 1S4S, for heard him
sing a song in which he described him
self as having taken a commanding
position during the struggle in the
streets of Paris, and he told us in song
how the moment he appeared in the
open air the soldiers and the people
united in shouting for General Bar
low
| think the next monarch of the mu-
Isle hall whose reign made an impress