NOTE: In a 2004 comment that I wrote on in the Mudcat thread http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=73087&messages=19 "Lyr Add: Raise a Ruckus Tonight" , I made a mistake when I wrote that "Raise a Rucus is an opened ended dance song dating from at least 18th century Southern United States slavery. This song makes use of a varied number of floating verses that can be found in a number of other secular slave songs." end of quote. The corrected sentence is "Raise a Rucus is an opened ended dance song dating from at least the 19th century Southern United States slavery. This song makes use of a varied number of floating verses that can be found in a number of other secular slave songs."

end of quote

I believe that "Raise A Ruckus Tonight" probably predates the early 20th century as a result of reading this passage from the Thomas W Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes:

"A few of the Rhymes bear the mark of a somewhat recent date in composition. The majority of them, however, were sung by Negro fathers and mothers in the dark days of American slavery to their children...The little songs were similar in structure to the Jubilee Songs, also of Negro Folk origin. [page 229; Kennikat edition, 1964]

I apologize for my mistakes in my previous comment which I notice is also quoted in part elsewhere on this thread, and Lord knows may be quoted elsewhere.

Best wishes,

Azizi