[DISCLAIMER: This song contains antiquated racial language. It is presented here for historical and educational purposes only.]
A popular song from 1897.
Words and music by Ned Wayburn and Stanley Whiting.
Lyrics
1. There’s a high-tone colored gent
A coon without a cent
His cash for clothes he spent
To outshine all coons he meant
He’s the swellest thing that walks Broadway
The fo’ hundred they ain’t half so gay
They always turn their heads his way
And this is what they say
Chorus
Syncopated Sandy, the darktown dandy
A happy and contented coon
Without a care or strife
As swell as he can be, the best we ever see
A coon that leads a really reckless life
2. On a night way late last Fall
The coons they hired a hall
And gave a fancy ball
There were niggers short and tall
The cake walk there that night was led
By a dead swell coon with stately tread
When the judges their decision read
These were the words they said
Sheet music found at Brown University:
https://repository.library.brown.edu/studio/item/bdr:23244/
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Sung here by Fred Feild: