|
Subject: Lyr Add: DE CAMPTOWN RACES From: Nigel Parsons Date: 21 Jan 03 - 07:28 PM This is in the DT as "Camptown Races" but in a shorter version, with no source quoted. There is also a version quoted by Pene Azul in This thread. As The Camptown Ladies. The following version, which differs slightly from that one, was sourced from the Stephen Foster Sesquicentennial Song Book" which includes a reproduction of one of the versions shown in the Levy collection. ^^ GWINE TO RUN ALL NIGHT or DE CAMPTOWN RACES (Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864)) De Camptown ladies sing dis song Doo-dah! doo-dah! De Camptown race-track five miles long Oh! doo-dah day! I come down dah wid my hat caved in Doo-dah! doo-dah! I go back home with a pocket full of tin Oh! doo-dah day! CHORUS: Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day! I'll bet my money on de bobtail nag - Somebody bet on de bay. De long tail filly and de big black hoss Doo-dah! doo-dah! Dey fly de track and dey both cut across Oh! doo-dah day! De blind hoss sticken in a big mud hole Doo-dah! doo-dah! Can't touch bottom wid a ten foot pole Oh! doo-dah day! (CHORUS) Old muley cow come on de track Doo-dah! doo-dah! De bob-tail fling her ober his back Oh! doo-dah day! Den fly along like a rail-road car Doo-dah! doo-dah! Runnin' a race wid a shootin' star Oh! doo-dah day! (CHORUS) See dem flyin' on a ten mile heat Doo-dah! doo-dah! Round de race track, den repeat Oh! doo-dah day! I win my money on de bob-tail nag Doo-dah! doo-dah! I keep my money in an old tow bag Oh! doo-dah day! (CHORUS) Notes: published in "The Stephen Foster sesquicentennial Song Book"(1976) The source is a copy of the sheet music published by F.D.Benteen of Baltimore and marked "Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1850 by F.D.Benteen in the clerks office of the District Court of Maryland" NP Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics for comparison. -Joe Offer- CAMPTOWN RACES (Stephen Foster) De Campptown ladies sing this somg, Doo-da, Doo-da De Camptown racetrack's two miles long Oh, de doo-da day cho: Gwine to run all night Gwine to run all day I bet my money on a bob-tailed nag Somebody bet on the gray. Oh, de long tailed filly and de big black horse, Doo-da, doo-da@00-da, Come to a mud hole and dey all cut across, Oh, de doo-da day. I wnt down South with my hat caved in, I came back North with a pocket full of tin. @horse @race filename[ CAMPTWN TUNE FILE: CAMPTWN CLICK TO PLAY RG PLEASE NOTE: Because of the volunteer nature of The Digital Tradition, it is difficult to ensure proper attribution and copyright information for every song included. Please assume that any song which lists a composer is copyrighted ©. You MUST aquire proper license before using these songs for ANY commercial purpose. If you have any additional information or corrections to the credit or copyright information included, please e-mail those additions or corrections to us (along with the song title as indexed) so that we can update the database as soon as possible. Thank You. And the entry from the Traditional Ballad Indes: Camptown RacesDESCRIPTION: "De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-da! Doo-da! De Camptown racetrack five miles long... Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day I'll bet my money on the bob-tail nag...." The singer describes the races and how he won a "pocket full of tin"AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster EARLIEST DATE: 1849 KEYWORDS: racing money nonballad horse FOUND IN: US(SE) REFERENCES (12 citations): RJackson-19CPop, pp. 39-42, "Gwine to Run All Night or De Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune) BrownIII 419, "Camptown Races" (1 fragment) Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 41-42, "Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune, plus the parody "'Lincoln Hoss' and Stephen A.") WolfAmericanSongSheets, #239, p. 17, "The Camptown Raxer, or, Gwine to Run All Night" (2 references) PSeeger-AFB, p. 40, "The Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune) Silber-FSWB, p. 34, "Camptown Races" (1 text) Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 477-478+496, "Camptown Races Arranged for the Guitar" (1 text, 1 tune, probably not arranged by Foster) Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 270, "Camptown Races" (1 text) Emerson, pp. 10-11, "'Gwine To Run All Night,' or De Campton Races" (1 text) Fuld-WFM, pp. 158-159, "(De) Camptown Races--(Sacramento)" DT, CAMPTWN* ADDITIONAL: Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, part III, p. 44, "Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune) ST RJ19039 (Full) Roud #11768 RECORDINGS: Kanawha Singers, "De Camptown Races" (Brunswick 337, 1929) Pete Seeger, "Camptown Races" (on PeteSeeger24) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." (tune) cf. "De Six-Bit Express" (tune) cf. "Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento)" (tune) cf. "The Du Dah Mormon Song" (tune) cf. "Du Dah Day" (tune) SAME TUNE: Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A. (File: SRW042) De Six-Bit Express (File: NiMo212) Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento) (File: E125) The Du Dah Mormon Song (File: Hubb236) Du Dah Day (File: Hubb237) NOTES: Spaeth (A History of Popular Music in America, p. 107) notes that a "folk-song" called "Hoodah Day" is very similar to this song, and speculates that it or "Sacramento" could have been the original of the Foster song. Fuld, however, notes that no verifiable printing of either piece predates the Foster song. Ken Emerson, Doo-Dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture, Da Capo, 1997?, reports an interesting bit of folk processing applied to this song in the late twentieth century: He came across a man who was singing the chorus, "Gwine to WORK all night, Gwine to WORK all day," which Emerson says suggests the laborer saw himself in the role of the (work)horse. According to Deems Taylor et al, A Treasury of Stephen Foster, Random House, 1946, p. 63, "Within a few years [of the publication of the song] the town of Camptown, New Jersey changed its name to Irvington. A newspaper writer suggested that Foster's race-track song had brought the New Jersey town so much notoriety that its citizens changed the name of their town in self-defense." This appears not to be the reason for the change, but it makes good folklore. - RBW Last updated in version 3.8 File: RJ19039 Go to the Ballad Search form Go to the Ballad Index Instructions The Ballad Index Copyright 2015 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: masato sakurai Date: 21 Jan 03 - 07:46 PM According to Saunders and Root's The Music of Stephen Foster, vol. 1 (pp. 477 and 496), this (from the Levy collection) is "The earliest known copy." Saunders and Root note: "Foster probably did not prepare this arrangement. His name does not appear anywhere on the songsheet....": Title: [Foster-Hall Reproductions]. The Celebrated Ethiopian Song. Camptown Races. Arranged for the Guitar. Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: [Stephen C. Foster]. Publication: Baltimore: F.D. Benteen, 1852. Form of Composition: strophic with chorus Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah! First Line of Chorus: Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day! ~Masato |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: masato sakurai Date: 21 Jan 03 - 08:00 PM Sorry, "The earliest known copy" means that guitar arrangement. The earliest edition ("Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races") is: Title: [Foster-Hall Reproductions]. Foster's Plantation Melodies. No.3. Gwine to Run All Night [Camptown Races]. Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: Written, Composed & Arranged by Stephen C. Foster. Publication: Baltimore: F.D. Benteen, 1850. Form of Composition: strophic with chorus Instrumentation: piano and voice First Line: De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah! First Line of Chorus: Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day! Performer: As Sung by the Christy & Campbell Minstrels, and New Orleans Serenaders. |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: GUEST,Q Date: 21 Jan 03 - 09:26 PM A facsimile of the 1850 edition does not have the statement "Foster's Plantation Melodies No. 3," but otherwise contains much the same information cited by Masato. The title sheet reads "Camptown Races - A Favorite Ethiopian Song" - Written and composed by S. C. Foster. Just published. By the same author as Dr. Lemuel - Dolly Day - Angelina Baker - Melinda May. Published by F. D. Benteen, Baltimore, W. T. Haye, New Orleans." The title with "Gwine to Run All Night" or De Camptown Races is on the first page of music; at the bottom of that page it has the "Entered....1850... District Court of Maryland" statement. All verses quoted by Nigel Parsons are included. Facsimile from "Three Centuries of American Music," vol. 1 (ed. Nicholas Tawa), American Solo Songs through 1865, pp. 79-83. This volume has a facsimile of "The Yellow Rose of Texas," another song often inquired about. |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: Nigel Parsons Date: 22 Jan 03 - 06:19 AM GuestQ: thanks for the input, but after some PMs passing back and forth between Masato and myself I think he has identified which is the earliest of the songsheets (of several marked 1850) in the Levy collection. I assume the version you quote cannot be the earliest as its cover includes the words "A Favourite Ethiopian Song", presumably meaning it has been in use and in print long enough to become a favourite. It is unfortunate that several of these bear the copyright date of 1850, but this is presumably just quoting when the song was originally submitted to the 'Clerk's Office'. Publication dates may spread over several years but not be quoted on the sheets. Nigel |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: masato sakurai Date: 22 Jan 03 - 08:54 AM "No. 3" is not written on the page and should be deleted (the description was copied and pasted from the Levy site). At least four editions were published in 1850 alone. The one linked to above (my second one; copyrighted Feb. 19, 1850) is the first edition and "the earliest known copy", according to Steven Saunders and Deane L. Root (The Music of Stephen Foster: A Critical Edition, vol. 1, Smithsonian Institution Press, p. 465), James J. Fuld (The Book of World-Famous Music, 4th ed., Dover, 1995, pp. 158-159), and John Tasker Howard (Stephen Foster, America's Troubadour, Tudor, 1934, pp. 179-181). Saunders and Root (p. 465) give this note: "Foster succeeded in having the names of the Campbell Minstrels and New Orleans Serenaders removed from the title pages of later copies of the song..., fulfilling a promise he had made to minstrel performer E.P. Christy (see America's Troubadour, pp. 179-82). Sometime after this change, the title page was again altered ...; this time the title was changed from GWINE TO RUN ALL NIGHT to CAMPTOWN RACES by burnishing and reengeraving the original plate. The caption title on page 3 of all Benteen impressions, "'GWINE TO RUN ALL NIGHT.' / or / DE CAMPTOWN RACES" was never altered." Foster's letter (on the change of the names; dated Feb. 23, 1850) is quoted also in Harvey B. Gaul's Minstrel of the Alleghenies (1934, p. 59) (Click here). For comparison, see other 1850 editions: Foster's Plantation Melodies. Camptown Races Publication: Baltimore: F.D. Benteen, 1850 Performer: As Sung by The Christy's Minstrels Title: Camptown Races. A Favorite Ethiopian Song Publication: Baltimore: F.D. Benteen, 1850. ~Masato |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: masato sakurai Date: 22 Jan 03 - 10:46 AM Foster's letter is quoted in full in Evelyn Foster Morneweck's Chronicles of Stephen Foster's Family, vol. II, 1944, p. 377. |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: GUEST,Q Date: 22 Jan 03 - 01:50 PM That pretty well ties it down, Masato. Unfortunately, "Three Centuries of American Music" is short on documentation. |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: masato sakurai Date: 22 Jan 03 - 07:00 PM The second edition from Richard Jackson's Stephen Foster Song Book at VARIATIONS Prototype: Online Musical Scores: Gwine To Run All Night (Foster's Plantation Melodies, As Sung by the Christy Minstrels, 1850) Another copy of the "Favorite Ethiopian Song" version (at American Memory): Camptown races : a favorite Ethiopian song / written & composed by S.C. Foster (1850) |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: greg stephens Date: 22 Jan 03 - 08:35 PM Sorry to divert from all this scholarly discussion, but I just come home from a cracking session at the Red Lion and many accordions, fiddles etc were playing the Camptown Races. Just to let you know, STEPHEN FOSTER LIVES. |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: alanww Date: 23 Jan 03 - 07:52 AM As a traditionalist, I sing this song regularly with the Shakespeare Mummers, which are based in Stratford-upon-Avon, as a finishing song to a mummers play. (As a singer of chorus songs with The Bold Heroes, I also occasionally sing it at pub bookings.) This was one of three songs which the Mummers use and which were used to be performed by the mummers sides in our area in the 1880s or so. The other two are: "Old Bob Ridley" and "Not For Joe". "... somebody bet on de bay!" Alan Captain of Mummers |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: Nigel Parsons Date: 23 Jan 03 - 07:59 AM Greg: don't worry about departing from scholarly discussion, this is a general forum. It's not as if I'd headed this DTStudy or anything. I know I can thread drift with the best. Oh. by the way..... Nigel |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: Charley Noble Date: 23 Jan 03 - 09:03 AM And we might mention the continuing question of which came first: "De Camptown Races" or the Gold Rush Era sea shanty "Californi-o" which has a similar melody. The first verse and chorus run: As I wuz rollin' down the street, Hoodah, hoodah, A charmin' gal I chanct to meet, Hoodah, hoodad, day. Chorus: Blow, boys, blow! For Californ-eye-o! There's plenty o' gold, So I've bin told, On the banks o' the Sacramento. I've reviewed the thread discussion on this question and Stan Hugill's discussion in SHANTIES OF THE SEVEN SEA. My general conclusion is that the "plantation song" or "Foster creation" came first, and was then adapted by the shantymen. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: Richie Date: 23 Jan 03 - 09:16 AM Here's more info: Some other names of Camptown Races are: "Hoodah Day," "Banks of Sacramento," "Gwine to Run All Night," Sacramento;" "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." "Ho! For Californ-I-O" "Bobtail Hoss/Horse" " Californio". Not to be confused with "New Camptown Races" composed by mandolinist Frank Wakefield about 1957 on Folkways FA 2492, New Lost City Ramblers - "String Band Instrumentals" (1964). NOTES: Wade's version is the famous Stephen Foster song melody translated to the North-West Morris tradition (for use with either a polka or single step). In America there is a singing call to the tune for square dancers. Apparently, the melody was collected as a sea shanty called "Banks of Sacramento," whose origins were in the California Gold Rush of 1849. This seems to predate the Stephen Foster copyright, but the relation, if any, between the two is unclear. Spaeth in a A History of Popular Music in America, p. 107 notes that a "folk-song" called "Hoodah Day" is very similar to this song, and speculates that it or "Banks of Sacramento" could have been the original of the Foster song. Same tune in "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." -Richie |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: Charley Noble Date: 23 Jan 03 - 09:24 AM Richie, Spaeth is also one of my favorite sources for musical research, and colorful footnotes. Does he print any lyrics to "Hoodah Day" in A History of Popular Music? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: GUEST,Q Date: 23 Jan 03 - 02:17 PM Rich r discussed the relationships of "Camptown Races," "Ho, For California," and "Hoodah Day" in thread 14644 (24 Oct. 99, 12:07AM). Apparently little new has been found since then. Hoodah Day In the same thread, Leslie N gives the lyrics of "Hoodah Day" from Boosey, ca. 1870, and there are interesting comments by Barry Finn. Two of Hugill's versions, "Banks of the Sacramento," are in the DT; one of these was also published as "Sacramento" in "Songs of the American West," by Lingenfelter and Dwyer. Also see thread 22289: Doo-Daa The Hoodah Day and Camptown threads should be noted at the head of this thread, rather than the other songs, related only in that they are by Foster. "Ho, For California," is not in the DT. Rich r gave part of it in the thread noted above. It appears in complete form in "Songs of the American West." |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: masato sakurai Date: 23 Jan 03 - 02:33 PM "Roll, Jordan, Roll" might have been related. See my post (Date: 22 Sep 01 - 05:28 AM) at this thread: Lyr Add: ROLL, JORDAN, ROLL. ~Masato |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: Mr Happy Date: 10 May 09 - 06:48 AM ...............'f course these days it'd be, 'somebody bid on e-bay!' |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: GUEST,phil Date: 14 Oct 11 - 09:00 PM Camptown, Irvington NJ freed slaves 1846 does the dialect infer that the people attending races/singing were black? I heard some one singing "going to run" rather than "gwine to run" in a play about Stephen Foster and wondered whether the decision to change the wording was because the use of dialect may be considered to be patronising? |
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: De Camptown Races From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 15 Oct 11 - 03:48 PM Phil No the people attending the races weren't necessarily black. Almost all early comic minstrel songs were written in the pseudo dialect, regardless of subject. The changing of the pseudo dialect is a very contentious subject being discussed currently in another thread. Regarding which came first, the Minstrel song or the chantey, the most likely is the minstrel song, as in many other cases. Most chanteys are adapted shore songs. |
| Share Thread: |
