[WARNING: This song contains racial stereotypes. It is not our intention to spread hatred. It is being presented in its original form for the sake of music history.]
a great 1900 song
words by Gene Jefferson
music by Leo Friedman
It is unfortunate that great music like this which was associated with African-Americans came with such tasteless comic lyrics. It was a sign of the times and was not fully eradicated until the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
1. Although it’s not my color
I’m feeling mighty blue
I’ve got a lot of trouble
I’ll tell it all to you
I’m certainly clean disgusted
With life, and that’s a fact
Because my hair is woolly
And because my color’s black
My gal, she took a notion
Against the colored race
She said if I would win her
I’d have to change my face
She said if she should wed me
That she’d regret it soon
And now I’m shook, yes, good and hard
Because I am a coon
Chorus
Coon, Coon, Coon
I wish my color would fade
Coon, Coon, Coon
I’d like a different shade
Coon, Coon, Coon
Morning, night and noon
I wish I was a white man
‘Stead of a Coon, Coon, Coon
2. I had my face enameled
I had my hair made straight
I dressed up like a white man
And certainly did look great
Then started out to see her
Just shortly after dark
But on the way to meet my babe
I had to cross a park
Just as I was a-thinking
I had things fixed up right
I passed a tree where two doves
Sat making love at night
They stopped and looked me over
I saw my finish soon
When both those birds said good and loud
“Coo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oon”
Sung here by Fred Feild: