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Oh Susanna
Popular minstrel song by Stephen Foster; Widely known
ARTIST: Written and Composed by Stephen Collins Foster, as sung by McTichner of the Sable Harmonists. This is one of the earliest known copies of the Peters edition (according to Saunders and Root, The Music of Stephen C. Foster: A Critical Edition, vol.1, p. 461). The title is simply "Susanna."
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
DATE: 1846;
RECORDING INFO: Leigh, Bonnie. Down in the Shady Grove, Maywind K56-03, CD (1998), cut# 7a. Maxson, Charles; and Karen Skidmore. From the Heartland of West Virginia. The Hammered & Plucked Dul, Peaceable 4, LP (1975), cut# 13. McCurdy, Ed. Children's Songs, Tradition TLP 1027, LP (1958), cut#A.11. Sweeney, Ed. American Sampler, North Star NS0033, Cas (1991), cut# 13b. Thrower, John `Doodle'. Georgia Folk. A Sampler of Traditional Sounds, Global Village SC 03, Cas (1990), cut#1.11a (Old Susannah). Woodhull's Old Tyme Masters. Square Dances, RCA (Victor) LPM-1238, LP, cut#B.01; Pete Seeger, "Oh, Susanna" (on PeteSeeger18); OTHER NAMES: Zack the Mormon Engineer ; Mormon Engineer ; Oh, California ; Susianna . SOURCES: A Fiddler’s Companion; Mudcat DT; Traditional Ballad Index; Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 9. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; pg. 21. Victor 36400A (78 RPM), Woodhull's Old Tyme Masters (N.Y.), 1941. RJackson-19CPop, pp. 152-155, "Oh! Susanna;" Silber-FSWB, p. 244, "Oh, Susanna;" PSeeger-AFB, p. 46, "Oh, Susanna;" Fuld-WFM, pp. 404-405, "Oh! Susanna"
NOTES: G Major. Standard. AB form. Kuntz: The original version was composed by Stephen Foster and became a popular song tune. It was cited as commonly played for Orange County, New York country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly) and was imported overseas where a jig version was used as a tune for a single step dance in the North-West England morris dance tradition. Richardson (1927, 1955) thinks the tune is the ancestor to "Bile Them Cabbage Down", which Bayard (1981) lukewarmly "supposes" is possible. The late Luther Davis, a fiddler from Galax, Va., had a version of the tune he often played.
In 1846, at age 20, Stephen Foster went to Cincinnati to work for his brother Dunning as a bookkeeper of the firm of Irwin & Foster. This position he held only two years, being very unhappy in this work. Foster was known to hum tunes and scribble words while perched on his high stool at the office of Irwin & Foster. While Mr. Irwin fretted about “Stephie’s writing another song,” Dunning feared his brother would never make a business man. Foster finished only two songs during his musical bookkeeping days in Cincinnati. “Down South Where the Cane Grows” was entered in a contest for minstrel songs, but did not win a prize. The second, “Oh Susannah,” was considered a lesser effort and not considered very successful at all. Foster was delighted for eventually receiving $100 for the song.
This song is one of the best examples of Foster's bad luck as a businessman. The first (unauthorized) printing never mentioned Foster's name, though it associates the song with the Christy Minstrels. Foster then gave the piece away; the next printing had his name on it, but if he received any money at all, it was a flat up-front fee.
The University of Pittsburgh, Center for American Music site has the words, dated 1848 (same as those from the Songs of the Sable Harmonists). In the index it is listed as "Oh! Susanna," but at the head of the lyrics, it is simply "Susanna." The verse about New Orleans may have been added later, but in the same year (for a trip to New Orleans by the Christy Minstrels). (The Christy Minstrel sheets do not mention Foster as composer).
The sheet music of the version "written by Wells", 1850(?), pub. by Benteen in Baltimore, has the New Orleans verse. More than one rewrite by various lyricists came out in 1848-1849, illustrating the popularity of the song. The Christy edition, published by C. Holt Jr. in 1848, is Richard Jackson's Stephen Foster Song Book (Dover, 1974, pp. 88-91). The title is "Oh! Susanna," and it has the "I soon will be in New Orleans" stanza. There's no mention of Foster on the sheet.
The early popularity of this song seems to be indicated by the existence of a Gold Rush version, a fragment of which is quoted by Laura Ingalls Wilder in Little House in the Big Woods (chapter 13):
Oh, Susi-an-na, don't you cry for me,
I'm going to Cal-i-for-ni-a,
The gold dust for to see.
The melody has spawned other songs. Here’s info about Zack, the Mormon Engineer/Oh! Susanna (tune): Zack, the Mormon engineer, has a wife in every town along the D&RG, and so refuses to change lines. Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 444, "Zack, the Mormon Engineer" (1 text, 1 tune) L. M. Hilton, "Zack, The Mormon Engineer" (on LMHilton01) Art Thieme, "Zack, The Mormon Engineer" (on Thieme03) Notes: Said to be based, loosely, on the life of one Zack Black who worked on the Denver and Rio Grande railroad. The tune is loosely based on "Oh, Susanna."
Here’s info about Prospecting Dream/Oh! Susanna (tune): The singer, a prospector, tells of dreaming that he had lost his equipment and provisions, struck a rich lead, written home bragging of his find, and blown all his money on a spree. He hires out as a hardware clerk, gets fired, and is caught stealing. Chorus: "Oh what a miner, what a miner was I/All swelled up with scurvy so I really thought I'd die" Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "Propsecting Dream"
Here are the lyrics to "Susanna" from S.C. Foster 1848 version:
SUSANNA- 1848 version
Written and Composed by S.C. Foster
I come from Alabama with my Banjo on my knee
I's gwine to Lou'siana, My true lub for to see,
It rain'd all night de day I left, De wedder it was dry;
The sun so hot I froze to def-- Susanna, dont you cry.
CHORUS
Oh! Susanna, do not cry for me,
I come from Alabama, Wid my Banjo on my knee.
I jump'd aboard the telegraph and trabbled down de ribber,
De lectrick fluid magnified, and kill'd five hundred Nigga.
De bulgine bust and de hoss ran off, I really thought I'd die;
I shut my eyes to hold my bref-- Susanna, dont you cry.
(CHORUS)
I had a dream de udder night, when ebry ting was still;
I thought I saw Susanna dear, a coming down de hill,
De buckweat[sic] cake was in her mouf, de tear was in her eye,
I says, I'se coming from de souf,-- Susanna, don't you cry.
(CHORUS)
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