Camptown Races

"Camptown Races", sometimes referred to as "Camptown Ladies", is a comic song in broad, stereotyped African American "dialect". It was written in 1850 by Stephen Foster (1826 – 1864), known as the "father of American music", who was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. The song's official title was "Gwine to Run All Night", and it is also known as "De Camptown Races".

History

"Campton Races" was published in 1850 in Foster's Plantation Melodies (Baltimore: F. D. Benteen; New Orleans: W. T. Mayo, 1850). The Camptown of Foster's own experience was in Pennsylvania, but a camptown, or tent city, was a temporary workingmen's accommodation familiar in many parts of the United States, especially along the rapidly expanding railroad network. The rag-tag mix of horses that are racing, and the disorder of the racing conditions at the ramshackle camptown track, provide the fun, with the usual unspoken undercurrent of superiority among the entertained hearers.

Camptown, Pennsylvania hosts an annual 10K cross country foot race called Camptown Races. It's held the first weekend in September and coincides with the community's annual Old Home Day celebration.

Lyrics

De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

De Camptown race-track five miles long, Oh, doo-dah day!

I come down dah wid my hat caved in, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

I go back home wid a pocket full of tin, Oh, doo-dah day!

Gwine to run all night!

Gwine to run all day!

I'll bet my money on de bob-tail nag,

Somebody bet on de bay.

De long tail filly and de big black hoss, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

Dey fly de track and dey both cut across, Oh, doo-dah-day!

De blind hoss sticken in a big mud hole, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

Can't touch bottom wid a ten foot pole, Oh, doo-dah-day!

Chorus

Old muley cow come on to de track, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

De bob-tail fling her ober his back, Oh, doo-dah-day!

Den fly along like a rail-road car, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

Runnin' a race wid a shootin' star, Oh, doo-dah-day!

Chorus

See dem flyin' on a ten mile heat, Doo-dah doo-dah!

Round de race track, den repeat, Oh, doo-dah-day!

I win my money on de bob-tail nag, Doo-dah! doo-dah!

I keep my money in an old tow-bag, Oh, doo-dah-day!

Chorus ^[1]

Popular culture

The song has made countless appearances in popular media. In the film Blazing Saddles, the stereotypes are reversed when a group of white men sing the song in the traditional way, and the black protagonist, Bart (Cleavon Little), pronounces the song's title in standard English and claims not to know it.

The main character in the movie The Stepfather and its sequel whistles to the tune of the song.

In Warner Brothers "Merrie Melodies" cartoon series, The Foghorn Leghorn character would hum if not sing variations of this song during so many of his appearances it almost seemed to be his theme. He would typically be mid-song whenever his character first shows up on the screen.

In the 1938 film "Holiday", with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, one scene features Hepburn, Edward Everett Horton, Jean Dixon and Lew Ayres singing this song together in the "playroom" of a Fifth Avenue mansion.

In the Fawlty Towers episode "Communication Problems" when Basil has won some money on the horse, he stands in the kitchen singing "Everybody sing this song - do dah do dah" and when Sybil comes in quickly ends the song with "I did it my way..." and complains that he never really liked Sinatra.

The song can be briefly heard in the film Night at the Museum. After dark, when all the museum's relics have come to life, Larry, the night watchman, hears the minatures inhabiting the American West diorama singing the song.

References

1. ^ University of Toronto: lyrics and information about the song

External links

• "Camptown Races" sung in the minstrel style by Billy Murray and chorus (1911)