Stephen Foster's Oh Susanna (by Samm Bennett)

[mewnadja]

not bad not bad : 3 

[weegingayin]

I was so taken by your singing of this song and this morning I recorded my own version. Not the knee slapping hoe-down minstrel song but more of a Randy "louisiana 1927" Newman version. I think Newman has a strange affection for the south just like Foster, and I was somehow mindful of how mournful and sad he sung about the mississippi floods

All the best.

[whistlingdust]

It's strange how this song comes across in pop culture as an upbeat song for children, but it really is mournful lyrically.

[polarityrecords]

@whistlingdust - Good point. The melody is sprightly, and that's what's made it the perennial good-time and/or kid's favorite that it is, but indeed, the words of the second verse in particular are, yes, somewhat mournful. It's that poignantly sad and rather mysterious part of it, in fact, that makes me love it so, that makes me want to sing it. And I love that Foster wrote about a dream. I'd think that was a bit unusual for a song written in the 1840