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Goodbye Alexander, Goodbye Honey Boy
"Goodbye Alexander, Goodbye Honey Boy" is a World War I song describing an African American soldier going off to war and his girlfriend's reaction in his military service. The song is credited to Henry Creamer and Turner Layton, the writers of ''Sweet Emalina, My Gal'' and ''After You've Gone''. Themes The song mostly focuses on the words, actions, and feelings of Dinah Lee, girlfriend of the eponymous soldier Alexander Cooper, as he marches to a troop ship to embark for France to fight in the war. Written by famous African-American songwriters Henry Creamer and Turner Layton, the song bucks the contemporary popular trend of minstrel songs and coon songs. Instead black soldiers are portrayed similarly to white ones, as heroes going off to war and leaving loved ones behind. Several lines echo themes common to many World War I popular songs: the longing of those at home for the return of the soldiers ("I'll be waiting like Poor Butterfly"); pride in the soldiers' service ("Dresse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Creamer
Henry Sterling Creamer (June 21, 1879 – October 14, 1930) was an African American popular song lyricist and theater producer. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and died in New York. He co-wrote many popular songs in the years from 1900 to 1929, often collaborating with Turner Layton, with whom he also appeared in vaudeville. Career Henry Creamer was a singer, dancer, songwriter and stage producer/director. He first performed on the vaudeville circuit in the U.S. and in Europe as a duo with pianist Turner Layton, with whom he also co-wrote songs. Two of their most enduring songs, for which Creamer wrote the lyrics, are " After You've Gone" (1918), which was popularized by Sophie Tucker, and " Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (1922), which was included in the soundtrack for one of the dance numbers in the Fred Astaire / Ginger Rogers 1939 movie ''The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle''. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans became a hit again in 1959 when the rocked up recording by Freddy C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turner Layton
Turner Layton (July 2, 1894 – February 6, 1978), born John Turner Layton, Jr., was an African American songwriter, singer and pianist. He frequently worked with Henry Creamer. Life Born in Washington, D.C., United States, in 1894, he was the son of John Turner Layton, "a bass singer, music educator and hymn composer."Peterson, Bernard L. ''Profiles of African American Stage Performers and Theatre People, 1816-1890)'', Greenwood Press, 2000, p. 164 After receiving a musical education from his father, he attended the Howard University Dental School, later coming to New York City in the early 1900s, where he met future songwriting partner, lyricist Henry Creamer. Layton is best known for his many compositions with Creamer, the best known of which is the standard " After You've Gone", written in 1918 and first popularized by Sophie Tucker. Turner and Creamer had another hit with Way Down Yonder in New Orleans in 1922. It was recorded in 1927 by Frank Trumbauer (with Bix Beiderbeck ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslaved Africans who are from the United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African-American, the majority of first generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin. African Americans constitute the second largest racial group in the U.S. after White Americans, as well as the third largest ethnic group after Hispanic and Latino Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of West/ Central African with some European descent; some also have Native American and other ancestry. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minstrel Songs
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by mostly white people wearing blackface make-up for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows caricatured black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.The Coon Character , Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University. Retrieved 29 January 2016.John Kenrick < ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coon Songs
Coon songs were a genre of music that presented a stereotype of black people. They were popular in the United States and Australia from around 1880 to 1920, though the earliest such songs date from minstrel shows as far back as 1848, when they were not yet identified with "coon" epithet. The genre became extremely popular, with white and black men giving performances in blackface and making recordings. Women known as coon shouters also gained popularity in the genre. Rise and fall from popularity Although the word "coon" is now regarded as racist, according to Stuart Flexner, "coon" was short for "raccoon", and it meant a frontier rustic (someone who may wear a coonskin cap) by 1832. By 1840 it also meant a Whig as the Whig Party was keen to be associated with rural white common people. At that time, "coon" was typically used to refer someone white, and a coon song referred to a Whig song. it was only in 1848 when the first clear case of using "coon" to refer to a black person i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marion Harris
Marion Harris (born Mary Ellen Harrison; April 4, 1896 – April 23, 1944) was an American popular singer who was most successful in the late 1910s and the 1920s. She was the first widely known white singer to sing jazz and blues songs.Ward, Elijah (2005). ''Escaping the Delta''. . Early life She was born Mary Ellen Harrison on April 4, 1896, probably in Indiana. She sang in vaudeville and movie theaters in Chicago around 1914. The dancer Vernon Castle introduced her to the theater community in New York City, where she debuted in the Irving Berlin revue ''Stop! Look! Listen!'' in 1915. Recordings In 1916, she began recording for Victor Records, singing a variety of songs, such as "Everybody's Crazy 'bout the Doggone Blues, but I'm Happy", " After You've Gone", "A Good Man Is Hard to Find", "When I Hear That Jazz Band Play" and her biggest success, "I Ain't Got Nobody" (originally titled "I Ain't Got Nobody Much"). In 1920, after Victor prevented her from recording W.C. Handy's " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Records
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidiary called RCA Victor. Headquartered in Camden, New Jersey, it was the largest and most prestigious firm of its kind in the world, probably best known for its use of the iconic "His Master's Voice" trademark and the production, marketing, and design of the popular "Victrola" line of phonographs. After its merger with RCA in 1929, the company continued to make phonographs, records, radios and other products. History In 1896, Emile Berliner—inventor of the gramophone and disc record—contracted machinist Eldridge R. Johnson to manufacture his inventions.Gelatt, Roland, ''The Fabulous Phonograph: 1877–1977'', MacMillan, New York, 1954. Name There are different accounts as to how the "Victor" name came about. RCA historian Fred Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ada Jones
Ada Jane Jones (June 1, 1873 – May 2, 1922) was an English-American popular singer who made her first recordings in 1893 on Edison cylinders. She is among the earliest female singers to be recorded. Biography She was born in Lancashire, UK, but moved with her family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the age of six in 1879. She started performing on stage, including juvenile roles in the 1880s. She sang in a contralto, learning songs by ear, and lacked the ability to read music or play an instrument. Her repertoire included ballads, ragtime, vaudeville, and comedy in a variety of dialects. During 1893–1894, she recorded for Edison Records on wax cylinders, making her among the earliest female singers to be recorded. She sang with Billy Murray, Billy Watkins, Cal Stewart, Len Spencer, the American Quartet, and with her 12-year-old daughter Sheilah. Touring was made difficult due to epilepsy. In 1893 or 1894 she recorded some musical performances for the North American Ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the early record labels that pioneered sound recording and reproduction, and was an important player in the early recording industry. The first phonograph cylinders were manufactured in 1888, followed by Edison's foundation of the Edison Phonograph Company in the same year. The recorded wax cylinders, later replaced by Blue Amberol cylinders, and vertical-cut Diamond Discs, were manufactured by Edison's National Phonograph Company from 1896 on, reorganized as Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1911. Until 1910 the recordings did not carry the names of the artists. The company began to lag behind its rivals in the 1920s, both technically and in the popularity of its artists, and halted production of recordings in 1929. Before commercial mass-produced records Thomas A. Edison invented the phonograph, the first device for recording and playing back sound, in 1877. After patenting the invention and benefiting from the publicity and acclaim it received, Edison and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilbur Sweatman
Wilbur Coleman Sweatman (February 7, 1882 – March 9, 1961) was an American ragtime and dixieland jazz composer, bandleader and clarinetist. Sweatman was one of the first African-American musicians to have fans nationwide. He was also a trailblazer in the racial integration of musical groups.Berresford, Mark. ''That's got'em: the life and music of Wilbur C. Sweatman'', University of Mississippi Press, 2010 Early life Sweatman was born February 7, 1882 in Brunswick, Missouri to parents Matilda and Coleman Sweatman. Wilbur's father ran a barbershop in the riverside town to provide for his family, which also included daughters Eva and Lula. His mother was apparently of mixed racial background as she and the children were listed as mulatto on some census reports. While Wilbur was still a toddler his father abandoned the family, moving to St. Joseph, Missouri, and starting a new family. His mother persevered, continuing to operate the barbershop as well as taking in boarders. Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songs Of World War I
The music of World War I is the music which was composed during the war or which is associated with it. Music hall In 1914, music hall was by far the most popular form of popular song. It was listened to and sung along to in theatres which were getting ever larger (three thousand seaters were not uncommon) and in which the musical acts were gradually overshadowing all other acts (animal imitators, acrobats, human freaks, conjurors, etc.) The industry was more and more dominated by chains of theatres like Moss, and by music publishers, since selling sheet music was very profitable indeed—a real hit could sell over a million copies. The seats at the music hall could be very cheap and attracted a largely working class audience, for whom a gramophone would generally be too expensive. Although many ordinary people had heard gramophones in seaside resorts or in park concerts organized by local councils, many more would discover the gramophone while in the army, since gramophone m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
