Coal Black Rose [364] (274)

This little work song, a halyard chantey, was learned by Stan Hugill from Harding. It is another one of those chanteys which can be presumed to be developed from a snatch of a popular minstrel song. In this case, the song "Coal Black Rose" is believed to be one of the earliest minstrel songs, popularized by George Washington Dixon by 1829 and henceforth part of the standard repertoire of blackface performers. A copy of the sheet music to the song can be seen here:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Coal_Black_Rose_sheet_musi...

The opening phrases, especially about the banjo, with the onomatopoeia (as well as some of the melodic contour, I think) are similar enough to make it probable the chantey is derived from the popular song.

Beyond these features though, the chantey is not much like it. However, that is the way with chanteys--they so often grab a phrase or turn of speech, a little refrain from current songs. Usually, the refrain phrase has nothing to do with the solo verses! It is sometimes funny to see people trying to make "sense" out of these phrases. Their true sense often lies simply in that they "sound good" or that they are familiar from an earlier song.

Please check out the whole chanteys project playlist, at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=58B55DD66F22060C

Category:

Music

Tags:

• minstrel
• banjo
• sea
• chantey
• shanty
• work
• song
• coal
• black
• rose