{"id":461,"date":"2018-09-03T00:07:51","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T00:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/?page_id=461"},"modified":"2023-05-16T12:23:07","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T12:23:07","slug":"darktown-strutters-ball","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/darktown-strutters-ball\/","title":{"rendered":"The Darktown Strutters&#8217; Ball"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">[WARNING: derogatory racial stereotypes were accepted as comedy entertainment in the early days. No hatred is intended here.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A great dance party song from 1917 by a black songwriter<br>words and music by Shelton Brooks<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s a bit about this song from the book America&#8217;s Songs II written by Michael Lasser: &#8220;There was such a ball every year in Chicago. The prostitutes would wear elegant gowns and the pimps turned out in white tie, spats, and top hats. &#8230; Brooks &#8230; told where the song came from and how he transformed a story he heard into the song: &#8220;Now I heard about this working man &#8230; He gets an invitation to an affair to be given by the local pimps. A Big Ball. All a mistake and he should never have been asked.&#8221; The song turns the pimps into the vaguer &#8220;strutters&#8221; to make the evening more universal in its appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sheet music:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Darktown-Strutters-Ball.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Darktown Strutters&apos; Ball - Sheet Music.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-2720d6d9-f317-41f2-bd7a-242d50733fde\" href=\"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Darktown-Strutters-Ball.pdf\">Darktown Strutters&#8217; Ball &#8211; Sheet Music<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Darktown-Strutters-Ball.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-2720d6d9-f317-41f2-bd7a-242d50733fde\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Accompaniment:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-4559cac0-772a-46e2-bb02-c312c8f41eda\" href=\"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Darktown-Strutters-Ball.mid\">Darktown Strutters Ball &#8211; MIDI<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Darktown-Strutters-Ball.mid\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-4559cac0-772a-46e2-bb02-c312c8f41eda\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lyrics<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">1. I&#8217;ve got some good news, Honey<br>An invitation to the Darktown Ball<br>It&#8217;s a very swell affair, all the &#8220;high browns&#8221; will be there<br>I&#8217;ll wear my high silk hat, and a frock tail coat<br>You wear your Paris gown, and your new silk shawl<br>There ain&#8217;t no doubt about it babe<br>We&#8217;ll be the best dressed in the hall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chorus<br>I&#8217;ll be down to get you in a Taxi honey<br>You better be ready about half past eight<br>Now dearie, don&#8217;t be late<br>I want to be there when the band starts playing<br>Remember when we get there, Honey<br>The two steps I&#8217;m goin&#8217; to have &#8217;em all<br>Goin&#8217; to dance out both my shoes<br>When they play the &#8220;Jelly Roll Blues&#8221;<br>Tomorrow night at the Darktown Strutters&#8217; Ball<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">2. We&#8217;ll meet our high-toned neighbors<br>An exhibition of the &#8220;Baby Dolls&#8221;<br>And each one will do their best, just to outclass all the rest<br>And there&#8217;ll be dancers from every foreign land<br>The classic, buck and wing, and the wooden clog<br>We&#8217;ll win that fifty dollar prize<br>When we step out and &#8220;Walk the Dog&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sung here by Fred Feild:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Vrpb-LbaS0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[WARNING: derogatory racial stereotypes were accepted as comedy entertainment in the early days. No hatred is intended here.] A great dance party song from 1917 by a black songwriterwords and music by Shelton Brooks Here&#8217;s a bit about this song from the book America&#8217;s Songs II written by Michael Lasser: &#8220;There was such a ball &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/darktown-strutters-ball\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Darktown Strutters&#8217; Ball&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-461","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/Pa3ZiQ-7r","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3906,"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/461\/revisions\/3906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheetmusicsinger.com\/highbrownsongs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}