[WARNING: racial stereotypes. These lyrics do not represent Sheet Music Singer’s attitude. This song is presented in its original form as a part of music history.]
an 1898 popular song
words and music by George M. Cohan
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The sheet music:
Accompaniment:
Lyrics
1. A coon he left his happy home
To go upon the stage
He joined a colored minstrel troupe
He thought he’d be the rage
He left the nicest little gal in Memphis Tennessee
And just because an actor man dis coon desired to be
He thought he was a corker, dat Williams and Walker
Would soon have to take off their hats and salaam
In a town they landed, troupe disbanded
Coons all stranded, empty handed
Big black actor said to him
“What will you do now Sam?”
He sighed and cried and then he replied
Chorus
Well I guess I’ll have to telegraph my baby
I need the money bad, indeed I do
For Lucy is a very gen’rous lady
I can always touch her for a few
I find the Western Union a convenience
No matter where I roam
I’ll telegraph my baby, she’ll send ten or twenty maybe
Then I won’t have to walk back home
2. He telegraphed and waited for an answer all in vain
He didn’t get no reply at all, the coon near went insane
He tried to jump his hotel bill
The landlord had him clinched
The bellboy got the Sheriff
And they had dis darkey pinched
In a cell he was a-walkin’, to himself he was a-talkin’
Said he, “No more troupin’ or travellin’ in mine”
Before the judge he had to trudge
He didn’t budge, the landlord’s grudge
Brought sentence for two years in jail
Or twenty dollars fine
He sighed and cried and then he replied
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Sung here by Fred Feild: