Camptown Races - 2nd South Carolina String Band
2nd South Carolina String Band
•
3m 18s
This nonsense song ranks with "Oh! Susanna" as one of Foster's best. Not especially popular in its early days, "Camptown Races" earned Foster royalties of only $101.25 in its first seven years (representing a total sales of 5,000 copies at two cents apiece). Debuted by the ubiquitous Christy Minstrels in 1850, it didn’t take long before it became a staple of other minstrel groups throughout the land.
"Camp towns" were established near rail lines by migrant workers in the mid-1800's, and often situated between towns to facilitate travel back and forth between them. Workers would jump on the slow moving cars, going from town to town and job to job. The Camptown of the song (according to the popular 'authority': Wikipedia) was said to be located in northeastern Pennsylvania, roughly between Towanda, and Athens, where young Stephen attended school in 1840 and '41, while his elder brother, William, served an apprenticeship as an engineer. Some sources state that horse races were held at a racetrack near the schools. The distance between them? You guessed it - 5 miles.
Foster's "Camptown Races" has been contrasted with Emmett's "Old Dan Tucker;" the former being called "jaunty and tuneful," evolving toward a more "restrained and balanced kind of spectacle," while the latter is more "driven and aggressive."
Up Next in 2nd South Carolina String Band
-
The Glendy Burke - 2nd South Carolina...
This 1860 Stephen Foster 'plantation melody' was published in New York by Firth, Pond & Co. The song’s title is derived from the name of a 425 ton side-wheel packet steamer, the “Glendy Burke.” She was owned by the Vicksburg, Mississippi firm of Cobb & Nanlove, and plied the Ohio and Mississipp...
-
Jenny Get Your Hoecake Done
Pvt. John Dinkins, Co.C, 18th Mississippi Volunteer Infantry, described the march toward Sharpsburg in September of 1862, of McLaw's Division, which included Co. I, 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry. Dinkins recalled, "The men moved along at a lively gait. As night came on, we sang all kinds ...
-
McLeod's Reel - 2nd SC String Band
First referred to as “Miss MacLeod’s Reel” by a foreigner visiting Connacht, Ireland, in 1779, who wrote about taking part in a dance where the prize was a cake, or possibly heard as one of several pieces played by pipers in Galway. Either way, the tune stuck and became better known as simply “Mc...
