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High Brown Songs

sung from African-American sheet music

High Brown Songs

Nothin’ Doin’ What You’re Thinkin’ Bout

[WARNING: This song contains antiquated racial stereotypes. It is presented here for historical and educational purposes only.]

A Ragtime Fantasy from 1912.
Words by John G. Knight.
Music by S. E. Morris.

The sheet music:

Nothin-Doin-What-Youre-Thinkin-Bout – Sheet MusicDownload

Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:

Nothin_Doin_What_Youre_Thinkin_Bout – MIDIDownload

The Songs

  • A Coon Serenade
  • A Dead Fly Coon
  • A Fat Li’l’ Feller Wid His Mammy’s Eyes
  • A Holiday in Dixieland
  • A Hot Time in the Old Town
  • A Nice Quiet Day
  • A Rag-Time Table D’Hote
  • A Ragtime Jubilee
  • A Royal Coon
  • A Simple Melody
  • A Soldier in de Colored Brigade
  • A Totally Different Rag
  • Abraham
  • Abraham Lincoln Jones
  • Aggravatin’ Papa
  • Ain’t Dat a Shame
  • Ain’t I Yer Honey Boy No More
  • Ain’t It a Shame
  • Alabama
  • Alabama Ball
  • Alabama Joe
  • Alabama Jubilee
  • Alabama Lullaby
  • Alabama Moon
  • Alabama Sam
  • Alexander
  • Alexander’s Back From Dixie
  • Alexander’s Bag-Pipe Band
  • All Aboard For Dixie Land
  • All Aboard For Monkey Town
  • All Coons Look Alike To Me
  • All I Wants Is Ma Chickens
  • An Awful Wicked Nigger
  • And They Called It Dixieland
  • Andy Veto
  • Angelina Baker
  • Any Rags
  • At a Georgia Camp Meeting
  • At the Coffee Cooler’s Tea
  • At the Dixie Military Ball
  • At the High Brown Babies’ Ball
  • At the Honky-Tonk Steppers Ball
  • At Uncle Tom’s Cabin Door
  • Aunt Hagar’s Children Blues
  • Aunt Jemima’s Lullaby
  • Auntie Skinner’s Chicken Dinner
  • Away Down Souf
  • Babe, It’s Too Long Off
  • Be Ma Honey Gal
  • Beale Street
  • Bedelia
  • Believe Me
  • Belle ob Baltimore
  • Below the Mason-Dixon Line
  • Bess You Is My Woman
  • Big Boy
  • Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home
  • Billy Barlow
  • Black America march
  • Black Balled In de Lime Kiln Club
  • Black Bottom
  • Bless dat Lubly Yaller Gal
  • Bluin’ the Blues
  • Bon Bon Buddy
  • Bring de Banjo, Ebenezer
  • Brown Skin
  • Bully Song
  • By the Watermelon Vine
  • Camp Meetin’ Coons
  • Camp Meeting Band
  • Carolina Dinah
  • Carolina Sunshine
  • Carry Me Back To Old Virginny
  • Carry Me Back To Ole Virginny
  • Celebratin’ Day In Tennessee
  • Charleston Charley
  • Chicken Reel song
  • Chili Sauce
  • Ching a Ring Chaw
  • Chummy Chum Chum
  • Cinderella White
  • Cindy, I Dreams About You
  • Clare de Kitchen
  • Cleanin’ Silber in de Kitchen
  • Climbing Up De Golden Stairs
  • Coal Black Rose
  • Coal-Black Mammy
  • Coax Me
  • Coleville Coon Cadets
  • Colored Romeo
  • Come Along My Mandy
  • Coo-Coo Jim
  • Coon Coon Coon
  • Coon Hollow Capers
  • Coonology
  • Coontown Capers
  • Corn Field Green
  • Cotton Hollow Harmony
  • Crazy Blues
  • Crazy Over You
  • Creole Belle song
  • Croon, Croon, Underneat de Moon
  • Cross the Mason-Dixon Line
  • Cudjos Wild Hunt
  • Cupid Might Have Been a Little Coon
  • Daisy Donahue
  • Dan Dan Dan-u-el
  • Dance, Little Lady
  • Dancing Down In Dixie Land
  • Dancing the Jelly Roll
  • Dandy Broadway Swell
  • Dandy Jim from Caroline
  • Dar’s Ragtime in de Moon
  • Darktown Barbecue
  • Darktown Dancin’ School
  • Darky Sam
  • Darling Nelly Gray
  • Dat Ain’t Nothin’ But Talk
  • Dat Coon’s Got a Soft Spot Fo’ Me
  • Dat Lovin’ Rag
  • Dat Possum Rag
  • Dat Yaller Gal By My Side
  • Dat’s Harmony
  • Dat’s Ma Honey Sho’s Yo’ Born
  • De Banks ob de Ohio
  • De Boatmen’s Dance
  • De Bogie Man
  • De Bully’s Weddin’ Night
  • De Color’d Fancy Ball
  • De Floating Scow ob Ole Virginia
  • De Goblin’s Glide
  • De Leader of de Company B
  • De New York Gals
  • De Ole Time Cake Walk
  • De Ole Umbrella
  • De Pullman Porters Ball
  • Dear Old Southland
  • Dem White Pants
  • Dinah Crow
  • Dinah Doe
  • Dis Ain’t No Time For an Argument
  • Dis Pos Zes Means Move
  • Dixie
  • Dixie Dan
  • Dixie Is Dixie Once More
  • Dixie Lou
  • Do Your Honey Do
  • Dolcy Jones
  • Dolly Day
  • Don’t Argify
  • Don’t Be What You Ain’t
  • Don’t Bet Your Money On de Shanghai
  • Don’t Mess With Me
  • Don’t Tell Your Monkey Man
  • Don’t You Never Take No Ten Cent Drink On Me
  • Don’t You Think You’d Like To Fondle Me
  • Dora Dean
  • Double Crossin’ Papa
  • Down Among the Cane Breaks
  • Down Among the Sugar Cane
  • Down At Jasper Johnson’s Jamboree
  • Down Georgia Way
  • Down Home In Tennessee
  • Down in Alabam’
  • Down In Dear Old New Orleans
  • Down in Honky Tonky Town
  • Down In Melody Lane
  • Down in Sunny Alabama
  • Down Kentucky Way
  • Down on de Banks ob de Mississippi Ribber
  • Down on the Brandywine
  • Down On the Levee
  • Down Where the Tennessee Flows
  • Down Yonder
  • Dusky Dudes
  • Dusky Stevedore
  • Easy Steppers Ball
  • Eli Green’s Cake Walk
  • Enjoy Yourselves
  • Enuff
  • Europe’s Ragtime Band
  • Ev’ry Darkey Had a Raglan On
  • Ev’ry Little Bit Helps
  • Ev’ry Morn I Bring Her Chicken
  • Ev’rybody Calls Me Honey
  • Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon
  • Everybody Has a Whistle Like Me
  • Everybody’s Pickin’ On Me
  • Everybody’s Crazy ‘Bout the Doggone Blues
  • Everything Is Rag Time Now
  • Excuse Me Boss I Thought It Was Mine
  • Excuse Me, But Isn’t Your Name Johnson?
  • Fare-Thee Honey Blues
  • Fas’ Fas’ World
  • Fever’s On
  • Fi Hi Hi
  • Five Little Piccaninnies
  • Floatin’ Down To Cotton Town
  • Floating Down the River
  • Frisco’s Kitchen Stove Rag
  • Georgia Moon
  • Get Your Money’s Worth
  • Gimme Ma Money
  • Ginger Blue
  • Give Me Back My Husband
  • Go Way Back and Sit Down
  • Going, Going, Gone
  • Good Bye Eliza Jane
  • Good Bye Linda Love
  • Good Enough
  • Good Morning, Carrie
  • Good-bye, Old Gal, Good-bye
  • Goodbye Alexander, Goodbye Honey-boy
  • Goodnight Angeline
  • Got To Cool My Doggies Now
  • Grizzly Bear
  • Gumbo Chaff
  • Handle Me With Care
  • Hannah Won’t You Open That Door
  • Hannibal
  • Happy and Go-Lucky In My Old Kentucky Home
  • Happy Days in Dixie
  • Happy Hottentots
  • Happy Hottentots (1916)
  • Happy Little Coons
  • Hear That Steamboat Whistle Blowing
  • Heebie Jeebies
  • Hello! Ma Baby
  • Henrietta! Have You Met Her?
  • Here Comes the Show Boat
  • Herman, Let’s Dance That Beautiful Waltz
  • Hesitate, Mr. Nigger, Hesitate
  • High Brown Blues
  • Hindenburg Blues
  • His Rag-Time Walk Won the Prize
  • Hold Dat Train
  • Hollyhock
  • Home Sweet Home Sounds Good To Me
  • Hoo-Doo Moon
  • Hot Tamale Alley
  • How I Love My Lu
  • I Ain’t a-Goin’ To Weep No More
  • I Ain’t Going To Mat-a-Loo-Loo
  • I Ain’t Gonna Give Nobody None O’ This Jelly Roll
  • I Ain’t’en Got’en No Time To Have the Blues
  • I Am Thinking of My Pickaninny Days
  • I Belong To the Government Now
  • I Don’t Like No Cheap Man
  • I Got All I Can Do To Keep My Hands Off You
  • I Got Mine
  • I Guess I’ll Have To Telegraph My Baby
  • I Guess That Will Hold You For Awhile
  • I Likes the Place So Much I Hates To Leave
  • I Live in Lazyland
  • I Love the Land of Old Black Joe
  • I Makes Mine Myself
  • I May Be Crazy, But I Ain’t No Fool
  • I Natur’ly Loves That Yaller Man
  • I Seen Her At de Window
  • I Thought My Troubles Were Over
  • I Want Dem Presents Back
  • I Want To See Old Dixieland Once More
  • I Want Yer, Ma Honey
  • I Wonder What is That Coon’s Game
  • I Wonder Where My Easy Rider’s Gone
  • I’d Leave Ma Happy Home For You
  • I’d Rather Have Folks Say
  • I’ll Be Your Baby Vampire
  • I’ll Do as Much For You
  • I’ll Sing You a Song
  • I’m Alabama Bound
  • I’m Crazy ‘Bout Your Lovin’
  • I’m Goin’ To Live Anyhow Till I Die
  • I’m Going To Exit
  • I’m Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston
  • I’m Livin’ Easy
  • I’m Sailin’ on de Old Canal
  • I’m the Warmest Member In the Land
  • I’m Tired of Dodging dat Installment Man
  • I’ve Been Hoodoo’d
  • I’ve Got a Feelin’ For You
  • I’ve Got a Little List
  • I’ve Got de Blues
  • I’ve Got My Habits On
  • I’ve Got Troubles Of My Own
  • I’ve Said My Last Farewell
  • Ida Sweet as Apple Cider
  • If I Can’t Sing About My Mammy
  • If Money Talks, It Ain’t On Speaking Terms With Me
  • If That’s Your Dream You’d Better Wake Up
  • If The Man In The Moon Were A Coon
  • In de Wild Raccoon Track
  • In Dear Old Tennessee
  • In My Old Home
  • In the Evening By the Moonlight
  • Is Everybody Happy
  • It’s Nobody’s Business But My Own
  • It’s Getting Dark On Old Broadway
  • It’s Right Here For You
  • Jasper Don’t You Hear Me Calling You
  • Jazz Me Blues
  • Jazzin’ the Cotton Town Blues
  • Jenny Get Your Hoe Cake Done
  • Jim Along Josey
  • Jim Brown
  • Jim Crack Corn
  • Jim Crow
  • Joe Turner Blues
  • Johnny Get Your Gun
  • Jonny Boker
  • Julianna Johnson
  • Julius’ Bride
  • Just Because She Made Dem Goo-Goo Eyes
  • Just Kiss Yourself Good-bye
  • Keemo Kimo
  • Keep Your Eye On the Old Back Seat
  • Keep Your Eye on Your Friend Mister Johnson
  • Kentucky Babe
  • Kentucky Sue
  • Kingdom Coming
  • Kinky
  • Kinky Koo
  • La Pas Ma La
  • Lam’, Lam’, Lam’
  • Land of Cotton Blues
  • Laughing Song
  • Let It Alone
  • Let Miss Lindy Pass
  • Li’l Liza Jane
  • Li’l Rosebud Joe
  • Lime Kiln Club
  • Lina, My Jet Black Queen
  • Lindy
  • Listen To That Dixie Band
  • Little Black Baby
  • Little Black Me
  • Little Topsy’s Song
  • Little Wheel a-Turnin’ in My Heart
  • Liza
  • Liza Skinner
  • Lonesome Walls
  • Long Gone
  • Long Tail Blue
  • Long Time Ago
  • Looking For a Coon Like Me
  • Lou’siana Belle
  • Louisville Lou
  • Lovie Joe
  • Lovin’ Sam
  • Lubly Dine
  • Lubly Fan
  • Lucinda’s Ragtime Ball
  • Lucy Long
  • Lucy Neal
  • Lyin’ Papa Blues
  • Ma Caroline
  • Ma Curly-Headed Babby
  • Ma Dandy Soldier Coon
  • Ma Lady Lu
  • Ma Little Banjo
  • Ma Loosiana Coon
  • Ma Mississippi Babe
  • Ma Tiger Lily
  • Maid of Timbuctoo
  • Make Way Foh Dis Broadway Coon
  • Mamie
  • Mammy Blossom’s Possum Party
  • Mammy Jinny’s Jubilee
  • Mammy’s Carolina Twins
  • Mammy’s Chocolate Soldier
  • Mammy’s Lit’l Choc’late Cullud Chile
  • Mammy’s Little Bright Eyed Coon
  • Mammy’s Little Sugar Plum
  • Mammy’s Shufflin’ Dance
  • Mandy Lou
  • Marching Through Georgia
  • Massa’s in de Cold Ground
  • Meet Me In de Lane
  • Melinda May
  • Melon Time In Dixieland
  • Miss Hannah From Savannah
  • Miss Julia Is a Handsome Gall
  • Miss Nancy Paul
  • Mississippi Mamie
  • Mississippi Mud
  • Mississippi Splash
  • Missouri Waltz
  • Mistah Police Don’t ‘Rest Me
  • Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose
  • Molasses Candy
  • Money
  • Money Was Made For Coons To Spend
  • Moving Day
  • Muscle Shoals Blues
  • My Blushin’ Rosie
  • My Brudder Gum
  • My Charcoal Charmer
  • My Coal Black Lady
  • My Coal Black Queen
  • My Dusky Lou
  • My Dusky Ola
  • My Gal Is a High Born Lady
  • My Heart’s Desiah Is Miss Mariah
  • My Honolulu Lady
  • My Little China Doll
  • My Little Zulu Babe
  • My Lubly Dinah Mae
  • My Old Aunt Sally
  • My Old Kentucky Home
  • My Ole Gal Done Flew
  • My Ole Man
  • My Sambo
  • My Sunflower Sue
  • My Susie-anna From Louisiana
  • My Swanee Home
  • My Syncopated Gypsy Maid
  • My Zulu Prince
  • Navajo
  • Neath the Dixie Moon
  • Nelly Bly
  • Nelly Was a Lady
  • Never Raise A Razor Less You Want To Raise A Row
  • Nigger Put Down Dat Jug
  • No Coon Can Come Too Black For Me
  • No Coons Allowed
  • No One Loves a Fat Man
  • Nobody
  • Nobody Has More Trouble Than Me
  • Nothin’ Doin’ What You’re Thinkin’ Bout
  • Now I Wants Ma Pay
  • O Death Where Is Thy Sting
  • Oh Boys, Carry Me ‘Long
  • Oh dem Golden Slippers
  • Oh Lemuel
  • Oh Susanna
  • Oh, I Don’t Know
  • Oh! Mr. Coon
  • Ol’ Car’lina
  • Ol’ Man River
  • Old Aunt Jemima
  • Old Black Joe
  • Old Dan Tucker
  • Old Folks at Home
  • Old Uncle Ned
  • Old Virginia State
  • Ole Man Moon
  • Ole Pee Dee
  • Ole Shady
  • Ole Tare River
  • Ole Virginy Break Down
  • On Emancipation Day
  • On Mobile Bay
  • On The ‘Gin ‘Gin ‘Ginny Shore
  • On the Mississippi
  • Out of the Frying Pan
  • Parthenia Johnsing
  • Pensacola Pickaninny
  • Pick Me Up and Lay Me Down in Dear Old Dixieland
  • Pick Me Up and Lay Me Down in Dear Old Dixieland
  • Pickaninny Dreams
  • Pickaninny Mose
  • Pickaninny Sam
  • Pickaniny Nig
  • Polly Wolly Doodle
  • Pompy O’ Smash
  • Pop Goes the Weazel
  • Possum
  • Prohibition Blues
  • Pullman Porter Man
  • Put Me Off At Buffalo
  • Put Me Wise
  • Rastus Johnson, U. S. A.
  • Rastus Thompson’s Rag-time Cake Walk
  • Read ‘Em and Weep
  • Ridin’ on de Golden Bike
  • Ring de Banjo
  • Roll On, Missouri
  • Roll Out Heave dat Cotton
  • Roll Them Roly Boly Eyes
  • Rosa Lee
  • Sam Johnson’s Colored Cake Walk
  • Sambo and Dinah
  • Sarah Dear
  • Satisfied
  • Say, Lize, Will You Be My Honey?
  • Settin’ on a Rail
  • Shake Yo’ Dusters
  • Shake, Rattle and Roll
  • Shaking the Blues Away
  • Shaky Eyes
  • Shame On You
  • She Certainly Looks Good To Me
  • She’s Getting More Like the White Folks
  • Shew Fly, Don’t Bother Me
  • Shoeboot’s Serenade
  • Short’nin’ Bread
  • Shufflin’ Along
  • Sich a Gitting Up Stairs
  • Silver Swanee
  • Simple Little Tune
  • Sing a Good Old Ragtime Song
  • Sing, Sing, Darkies, Sing
  • Skidmore Guard
  • Slip Your Glad Rags On and Come With Me
  • Smile an’ Dry Yo’ Eyes
  • Snoring Sampson
  • Snowball Sammy
  • Somebody’s Done Me Wrong
  • St. Patrick’s Day is a Bad Day for Coons
  • Stagolee
  • Stay in Your Own Backyard
  • Stewin’ De Rice
  • Stop That Rag
  • Strut Miss Lizzie
  • Struttin’ School
  • Suke of Tennessee
  • Summer Time in Dixie
  • Sweet Georgia Brown
  • Swingin’ in de Sky
  • Syncopated Sandy
  • Tain’t No Sin
  • Take Your Time
  • Tell Me Josey Whar You Bin
  • Ten Sweet Mammas
  • That Coontown Quartette
  • That Daffy Rag
  • That is a Habit I Never Had
  • That Kickapoo Indian Man
  • That Nigger Treated Me All Right
  • That Ragtime Chicken Rag
  • That’s Where My Money Goes
  • That’s Where She Sits All Day
  • That’s Why They Call Me Shine
  • That’s the Good Old Sunny South
  • The American Serenade
  • The Argentines, the Portuguese and the Greeks
  • The Aunt Jemima Slide
  • The Basement Blues
  • The Bee-Gum
  • The Black Man’s Kissing Bug
  • The Boogie Boo
  • The Bowery
  • The Bull-Frog and the Coon
  • The Cat Came Back
  • The Coon That Wore the First Shirt Waist
  • The Coontown Billionaire
  • The Cootie Crawl
  • The Darktown Strutters’ Ball
  • The Dirty Dozen
  • The Dogin’ Rag
  • The Ghost of the Banjo Coon
  • The Ghost of the Goblin Man
  • The Gibson Coon
  • The Glendy Burk
  • The Goona Goo
  • The Hesitating Blues
  • The Hootchee-Kootchee Dance
  • The Jolly Raftsman
  • The Kinky Kids’ Parade
  • The Laughing Little Red-Head Coon
  • The Lily of Laguna
  • The Little Old Cabin in the Lane
  • The Log House
  • The Luckiest Coon in Town
  • The Mad House Rag
  • The Memphis Blues
  • The Midnight Choo-Choo
  • The Minstrel Parade
  • The Mississippi Barbecue
  • The Moon, The Coon, and The Little Octoroon
  • The Mormon Coon
  • The New Orleans
  • The Nicodemus Two-Step
  • The Old Calliope
  • The Ole Grey Goose
  • The Oriental Coon
  • The Phrenologist Coon
  • The Preacher and the Bear
  • The Rabbit’s Foot
  • The Ragtime Dance
  • The Right Church But the Wrong Pew
  • The Sheath Gown In Darktown
  • The Swanee River Bend
  • The Wedding of the Chinee and the Coon
  • The Whistling Coon
  • The Witch Behind the Moon
  • The Yaller Gal That Winked at Me
  • The Yellow Rose of Texas
  • There’s a Corner Up in Heaven
  • This Sporting Life is Certainly Killing Me
  • Throw Down dat Key
  • Throw Him Down McCloskey
  • Turkey in the Straw
  • U Need Some Loving
  • Uncle Remus Said
  • Under a Panama
  • Under the Bamboo Tree
  • Underneath the Cotton Moon
  • Underneath the Dixie Skies
  • Unexpectedly
  • Virgie, From Virginia
  • Virginia Blues (1922)
  • W’en de Colo’ed Ban’ Comes Ma’chin’ Down de Street
  • Waco Blues
  • Wait Until Your Daddy Comes Home
  • Walk Along John
  • Walk That Broad
  • Walk, Jaw Bone
  • Walking for dat Cake
  • Walking For the Sugar-Coated Cake
  • Watermelon am Good Enough For Mine
  • Way Down in Ca-i-ro
  • Way Down in Cotton Town
  • What am You Gwine to Tell Massa Peter?
  • What You Goin’ To Do When the Rent Comes Round?
  • What’s The Matter Now?
  • When Chloe Sings a Song
  • When De Chickens Homeward Fly
  • When I Do the Hoochy Coochy in the Sky
  • When I Marry Miss Dina Lee
  • When It’s Night Time in Dixie Land
  • When Mister Shakespeare Comes To Town
  • When My Dark Diana Dreams of Me
  • When Ragtime Reaches Heaven
  • When Sousa Comes To Coon-Town
  • When the Robert E. Lee Arrives in Old Tennessee
  • When the Sun Goes Down In Dixie
  • When the War Breaks Out In Mexico
  • When Uncle Joe Plays a Rag
  • When Uncle Joe Steps Into France
  • When You Ain’t Got No Money
  • Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go?
  • Who Do You Love?
  • Why Adam Sinned
  • Wild Cherries
  • Wing Lee’s Ragtime Clock
  • Without a Song
  • Yellow Dog Blues
  • Yer Baby’s a-Comin’ To Town
  • You Can Have It I Don’t Want It
  • You Can’t Shake That Shimmie Here
  • You Can’t Fool All the People All the Time
  • You Look Better Goin’ Then You Do a Comin’
  • You May Go, But This Will Bring You Back
  • You Were Never Introduced To Me
  • You’re Gwine To Get Somethin’ What You Don’t Expect
  • Zip Coon

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