In anticipation of the release of my new CD, American Songs vol. 2, I've been giving away a free "sneak preview" song each week. I hope you've enjoyed Oh Sister and Unclouded Day. This week's song is one of the most famous American folk songs of all time. I'm willing to bet you've heard it once or twice. :)Please spread the word: all I ask in return for these free songs is that you please send them on to others who might enjoy them as well! Click here to email this post to a friend.
Here's a quick preview:
Story behind the song: Usually, you hear "Oh Susanna" performed as an upbeat, rousing, clap-along kind of song. Which I love. But I also love the poignancy of the melody and the very real heartbreak and longing that are in the lyrics. I wanted to find a way to really bring out the story of this song...the traveler returning from a long absence (likely from fighting in the Civil War) doing everything he can to drag himself home to his true love, knowing that even with all his effort he may very well never see her again. The way I hear the song, the singer is trying to cover up some of this sadness and fear with gaiety (the banjo) and bravado (The sun so hot I froze to death, Susanna don't you cry) in order to convince himself and his love that everything will, truly, be all right in the end. So in my version, you will hear a different kind of "Oh Susanna"...the version that maybe he would have sung to himself at night when he doesn't think anyone else is around. Please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it.
A note on the songwriter: Stephen Foster was 21 when he wrote "Oh Susanna" in 1847, and it was almost immediately a hit. It became a theme song for the gold rush era (they sang "I'm goin' to California with my washpan on my knee!"), and has since been performed countless times all over the world. Stephen Foster was a meticulous and prolific songwriter (he wrote over 200 songs in his short life of 38 years). His melodies are timeless, and his manuscripts show that he put a lot of effort into creating lyrics that were both precise and emotionally gripping. And yet, many of his songs pose a problem to modern listeners and performers. In many of his works, including "Oh Susanna," Stephen Foster wrote in imitation of the dialect of African-American slaves which is at times shockingly condescending, over-simplified, and cartoonish. At the same time, he also wrote songs that depicted slaves as human beings with very real feelings of pain, love, and sorrow, which was not a particularly common view at the time. Here are some interesting links:
- The original verses of "Oh Susanna" in dialect
- Stephen Foster's manuscript pages
- Stephen Foster page at University of Pittsburgh's Center For American Music
- Stephen Foster's biography on PBS' I Hear America Singing
Lyrics (click on the title to download the free song):
Oh Susanna by Stephen Foster
I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee
I'm goin' to Lou'siana my true love for to see
It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry
The sun so hot I froze to death, Susanna don't you cry
Oh Susanna, oh don't you cry for me
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee
I had a dream the other night when everything was still
I dreamed I saw Susanna a-comin' down the hill
A buckwheat cake was in her mouth, a tear was in her eye
Says I, I'm comin' from the South, Susanna don't you cry
Oh Susanna, oh don't you cry for me
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee
I soon will be in New Orleans, and then I'll look around
And when I find Susanna, I'll fall onto the ground
And if I do not find her, then surely I will die
But when I'm dead and buried, Susanna don't you cry
Oh Susanna, oh don't you cry for me
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee
