[DISCLAIMER: This song contains antiquated racial language. It is presented here for historical and educational purposes only.]
A popular song from 1906. Words by James O’Dea. Music by Anna Caldwell.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. Erastus Henry Johnson kept
A-getting poor and thin
He thought some wicked coon
Had put a hoodoo on to him
So he went to see a Voodoo
Who could drive the spell away
Sh! Sh! So the niggers say
The Voodoo said a rabbit’s foot
You need to set you right
So she took him to the graveyard
In the middle of the night
Just as the clock was striking twelve
A bat flew round his head
Sh! Sh! Then the Voodoo lady said
Chorus
“Don’t you hear that plinky plunky tune
Played by the ghost of the Banjo Coon
Catbirds call and sleepy whippoorwill
Hears the tune as the moon goes behind the hill
Bullfrogs croak, and the dogs begin to howl
Treetoads chirp and a-hootin’ goes the owl
Spooks rise up and all begin to croon
‘Cause they know it’s the ghost of the Banjo Coon”
2. Erastus said he seen the spooks
A sittin’ on the stones
And ev’ry time the wind would blow
It rattled all their bones
And as there he shook and shivered
List’ning to the ghostly song
Sh! Sh! A rabbit came along
Erastus for that rabbit quickly
Took it on the run
He had to catch it with his hands
He didn’t have a gun
He grabbed it by the leg, at last
But all his courage fled
Sh! Sh! When the rabbit turned and said
Sung here by Fred Feild: