A Bad Rap
Michael O'Malley, Associate Professor of History and Art History, George Mason University
Assignment
Background | Reading a 19th-century Music Sheet Cover
Scroll over the image below and click links to reveal more information:
A historian would want to know how much real choice Cook and Dunbar had when they wrote their lyrics. Clearly they had to "pander," to some extent, to what white people thought was "real" African American culture. The lyrics may make modern readers cringe. But Cook had an African American audience as well, and he also wanted to write music that genuinely expressed something of African Americna culture. Remember that Cook himself was a middle class, educated man of rare talent and experience. He would have been distant, in many ways, from the people he wrote about.
How would you judge these lyrics to “Darktown is Out Tonight”?
1. Hey dere Sal, come on gal! Jine dis promenade!
2. Tek mah ahm, What's de harm? Needn't be afraid!
3. Dar's old Dan, watch that man, comin' down the line
4. Dat 'ol coon, Hot-tah'n June, Longin' sweatin' time
5. Howdy do? Hope dat you, Joy yo-se'f immense!
6. Reckon Bess, got dat dress, Off Miss Lucy's fence
7. Clear de paf! Needn't laf! Dat'll be alright!
8.White fo'ks yo' got no sho'; Dis heh's Darktown night, And there'll be
Chorus
1. Warm coons a prancin' Swell coons a dancin'
2. Tough coons who'll want to fight
3. So bring 'long yo blazahs, Fetch out yo razahs
4. Darktown is out tonight!
1. Watch dat pair, dey 'doan care, how dey lif dere feet
2. Gracus me, Jul'us he, nevah could be beat!
3. Whah's dat Lize? I'se surprise! Rekon she can't come
4. Neveh know, her so slow, Jinin' in de fun.
5. Yondah's Lize, wid heh size, What's she spec to do?
6. Needn't grin, she can't win, thought she'd wa'k wid you
7. Bless de lam! Heh come Sam, Wid Clorinda too!
8. Now's de time, Git in line, Sho' what you kin do. For there'll be
Chorus
Cook's song makes extensive use of dialect, as did all minstrel show tunes. Sometimes the dialect was an attempt to convey African American accents acurrately; other times it served merely to demonstrate "ignorance." For example, "sho" for "show" in line eight of the first verse. The dialect spelling reflects how everyone pronounces "show." Similarly, "laf" for "laugh" in line seven:"laf" is an accurate description of how the word sounds when properly pronounced.
The song also makes frequent reference to "coons." Before the Civil War the word was used to describe young men of all races, especally fancy-dressed men out for a good time. In the minstrel show it gradually came to be identified soley with African Americans. "Darktown" was also a popular word used to describe any African American neighborhood: it appears in many minstrel songs
Though Cook did not avoid the almost obligatory description of "razors"—a staggering number of minstrel tunes make reference to razors as weapons—he also, in line 8 of the first verse, makes a clear call to black pride, as it says "white folks got no show." The song, in the context of the times, is earthy, joyous, and celebratory. The music is infectious, optimistic, and triumphant, and the song was a big hit with both white and black audiences
Cook wrote this song as part of a operetta on African American themes called Clorindy, or the Origins of the Cakewalk. Cook wanted to make a musical that would combine the formal sophistication of Broadway with African American musical forms. Clorindy was produced in 1898, and met with great success. It was possibly the first time African Americans had appeared on Broadway, in the "legitimate" theater, as opposed to them minstrel stage. Cook remembered opening night this way:
"I was so delirious that I drank a glass of water, thought it wine and got glorious drunk. Negroes at last were on Broadway, and there to stay....We were artists and we were going a long way. We had the world on a string tied to a runnin' red-geared wagon on a down-hill pull. Nothing could stop us, and nothing did for a decade."
quotation from http://www.jass.com/wcook.html, copyright 1997 by Thomas L. Morgan
Cook, who had studied music formally at Oberlin College and then in Berlin, regarded his musical Clorindyas a breakthrough, a step away from the "ghetto" of the minstrel show and towards high culture and legitamacy. But when Cook's mother, a respectable, educated middle class woman, heard the songs, she cried, saying, "I've sent you all over the world to study and become a great musician and you return such a nigger!"
Unlike his Mother, who thought European classical music was the only form worth studying, Cook liked African American musical forms like the cakewalk and ragtime as much as he liked classical music. But to make his musical popular, Cook was forced to include degrading stereotypes like those shown on the left. He continued troughout his career to try to find a musical voice which was both true to vernacular African American culture and free of such stereotyping.
quotation from http://www.jass.com/wcook.html, copyright 1997 by Thomas L. Morgan
Cook was a volatile, proud man. Duke Ellington, who studied with Cook, recalled this story. In 1895 Cook had given a concert on the violin. The next day he went to see the reviewer. "Thank you very much for the favorable review," he said. "You wrote that I was the world's greatest Negro violinist." "Yes, Mr. Cook," the man said, "and I meant it. You are definitely the world's greatest Negro violinist." With that, Cook took out his violin and smashed it across the reviewer's desk. "I am not the world's greatest Negro violinist," he exclaimed. "I am the greatest violinist in the world!" Cook also published music which blurred the line between minstrel buffoonery and serious folk or spiritual music. For example, Swing Along (1912) was published with much greater dignity.
Swing along chillun, swing along de lane
Lif' yo' head an' yo' heels mighty high
Swing along chillun, 'taint a-goin' to rain
sun's as red as a rose in the sky
Come along Mandy, come along Sue
White folks watchin' an seein' what you do,
White folks jealous when you'se walkin' two by two
So swing along children, swing along.
Though these lyrics also contain dialect and stereotyping, they also convey a pride and optimism not found in the minstrel show.
Updated | April 2004