Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08
TYPES OF NEGRO SONGS
RAGTIME Is BUT CREATION OF
RECENT YEARS.
Not nj All Characteristic of the Race
Melodies That Are All but
Forgotten.

A|iu IL ever OCCUR 10 you tflal we nave
had In this country during a little more
than half century three distinct types of
negro songs?'
The speaker was a retired minstrel per-
former of the old school, who has been
spending few days in Washington.
Perhaps 1t would be more correct to say
two. for the so-called coon or 'ragtime'
songs are far from typical of the American
negro he continued. The first that
would speak of are the ante-bellum melo-
dies of the type composed by Stephen c.
Foster. old Black joe Down on the SUI
vance River 'Massas in the Cold. Cold
Ground off for Charleston So Early in
the Morhin,' Old Uncle Ned and Down
Mobile are of the class to which ! refer.
Tney are songs that depict 10 a consid-
cradle degree the conditions of the southern
negro in the days before the war or sug-
gest something of his feelings during that
period. The melodies of not a few of those
songs are, of course, familiar to the pres
ent generation. Fosters melodies will
never die-not because of the sentiments
expressed therein. but because of the sim
plicity of their tunefulness. There is moth
ing complex about them.
But particularly do / desire to speak of
the second type OF negro songs. which are
practically forgotten, and which are almost
absolutely unknown to the young men and
women who were born, say, since 1880.
1uey are lne songs tnat were INSPIRED by
the conditions obtaining during the recon-
struction period, and which met a hearty
response up to about the year I have men,
toned. Who of us older fellows won't
call with pleasure Ned Harrigans old
words with the sweet melody of the late
lamented Dave Braham?
'' 4 am thinking today
OF de years now passed away,
When afy aied ii Us uP Ir in S0Rdags long ago
1t were dere We separate.
And 1T filled our hearts with agony and Woe
There was a negro song of the period
that went far toward building the national
reputation that came to Harrigan & Hart.
The people of the north during the recon-
struction period were in mood for such
songs, and there was multiplicity of them,
just the same as there is a superabundance
of 'ragtime' songs today. Why, who of
the preceding generation doesn't remember
the time when, with rapturous pleasure, he
sat In the theater and listened to the old
Negroes plant, the chorus of which was:
:" Take back to old virginny.
Dere's where de corn and de sweet pertaters
Deres where de moon shine SO bright in my child
Dere's where dis poor old darkys heart am long
to 60.
1.-The melodies and the words were turned
out by song writers with rapidity, and
many of them were good and had remark
able sales. AS l said before, there was q
demand for them during the dozen or so
years following the civil war. Another
song that had a long run in the minstrel
shows of that period and was played by
bands and orchestras and whistled in the
streets was that in which an aged darby
was depicted as recalling former days on
de OIL plantation / remember one verse,
and remember what hit 1t made when it
had its initial production in the first part
of our show. 1t went:
In de evenin' by de moonlight.
When dis darky's work ober,
We would sit aroun' de freside
TIL de hOecake 1t done;
After dat we'd eat supper,
After dat we'd clear de kitchen;
Twas de only time used to hab
To hab little fun
Uncle Gabe would take de banjo down
Which hang upon de wall,
While de moon was shinin' brightly all de time.
How de oil folks would enjoy 1t;
Dey would sit all night an listen
As we sang in de evenin' by de moonlight
1.-THE old-time minstrel fellows, some of
whom are still at work amusing the public,
will recall with no little pleasure the hits
that were made with this second class of
negro songs to which L refer. And L be-
lfeve that revival of the songs of the
reconstruction period would be a grand,
good thing, as showing to the present gen
Grafton what then obtained in the way of
negro melodies. Nearly all of them depicted
the aged darby as being away from home
and longing to go back. More often it was
Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky or OF Vir-
ginny,' with an occasional Tennessee, the
writer's of the words finding the names Of
these states more rhythmical than Texas,
Louisiana or some of the other slave-hold-
Ing states. Why, from 1870 to 1850 no min
strel show would think of going out with
out first-class old man darby sketch in
Its olio and some of the best black-faced
comedians in the country made their repu-
tations with such songs as L have men
toned
las 1 believe / said in the beginning
those of the generation of today, and |
think may speak as a whole more par
ucularly of people who live north of the
long-since oblterated Mason and Dixon
line, have listened attentiVely during the
last few years to coon and 'ragtime' melo-
dies evidently believing that the music and
words OF these peculiar and hybrid songs
are typical OF the negro race that has a
large representation In our country Moth
Ing could be further from the case They
are a creation dating back only a few
years. Might as well say that the music
of the 'hoochie coochie' dance or the war
Whoop of the Indian is the music of the
American negro. And, understand me. the
two first named types of songs are neither
the native music of the American negro
He has type that is peculiarly his own,
and very few persons on the stage have at
tempted to introduce 1t. There have been
about the country during the past twenty
years several troupes of colored Jubilee
singers that have given the true negro
music of religious character"