Camptown Races

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"Camptown Races", sometimes referred to as "Camptown Ladies", is a comic song in broad, stereotyped negro "dialect" by Stephen Foster, published in 1850 in Foster's Plantation Melodies as sung by the Christy & Campbell Minstrels and New Orleans Serenaders, Written Composed and Arranged by Stephen C. Foster (Baltimore: F. D. Benteen; New Orleans: W. T. Mayo, 1850). Its official title was "Gwine to Run All Night", and is also known as "De Camptown Races". 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.

[edit] In pop culture

• In Blazing Saddles, white railroad bosses attempt to cajole black laborers to sing the song (called "Camptown Ladies" in the movie), but the workers feign ignorance of it.
• It is Foghorn Leghorn's favorite song.
• In the 1988 film Short Circuit 2, the main character - a sentient robot named Johnny 5 - is tricked into digging a tunnel under a main road in order facilitate a burglary. As he digs, Johnny 5 sings "Camptown robots sing this song...".
• On a 2000 Episode of Oz, Unit Manager Tim McManus sings the song at the funeral of an African American staff member, prompting the African American warden Leo Glynn to fire him immediately.
• The Squirrel Nut Zippers song "The Ghost of Stephen Foster" appropriately mentions "Camptown Races" and uses some of its lyrical structure.
• The Danish pop band Cartoons recorded a version of the song under the title "Doodah!", which reached the UK Top Ten charts, and even appearing on a game called Dance Maniax
• The song has been referenced at least three times in The Simpsons.
  • In the episode "Gump Roast", Ned Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy sing "Camptown Races"; however, Lovejoy butchers the lyrics. The first time, Lovejoy sings the second verse as "Homer's breath is really strong!" Ned tells him to start over, but the second time, Lovejoy begins the chorus with "Homer's breath smells bad!"
  • In another episode, "Lisa the Iconoclast", when the Jebediah Springfield parade digs up the grave to see the silver tongue, Chief Wiggum takes the skull and makes it sing Camptown Races.
  • Finally, in "Realty Bites", Marge is trying to become a real estate agent but she can't remember anything. Lisa tells her so come up with a song to remember it, because she made up a song about the Magna Carta to the tune of "Camptown Races" that goes, "In 1215 at Runnymede, doo dah, doo dah, the nobles and the king agreed, oh da doo da day!" In the next scene, Marge, Bart, and Lisa are seen singing a song about real estate to the tune of "Camptown Races" to Homer, that goes, "Oh, on the closing day, the escrow agents pay, taxes, liens and interest too, thanks to Fanny Mae!" To which he replies "You're all nuts."
• In Cartoon Network's show Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, in one episode in which Fankie, Mr. Herriman, and Bloo run for president, Frankie says in her debate, "You wanted the doorbell to play 'Campdown Ladies', you got it!"
• In Nickelodeon's Hey Arnold!, many references were made to the song. Most notably, in the episode "Fighting Families", the host's question is, "Name one song by Stephen Foster." Grandma starts singing the song out of nowhere, apparently not paying attention to the question, and they win the round.
• The song is sung a few times in another Cartoon Network show, Camp Lazlo, including an original rendition by a burping choir (from "Burpless Bean") and another version entitled "Go-Kart Racers" (from "Racing Slicks").

[edit] 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

[edit] Reference

• University of Toronto: lyrics and information about the song