Camptown Races
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| "Gwine to Run All Night" ("Camptown Races") also known as 'Camptown Ladies' |
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| Written by | Stephen Foster |
|---|---|
| Music by | Stephen Foster |
| Lyrics by | Stephen Foster |
| Published | 1850 |
| Language | English |
| Original artist | Christy's Minstrels |
"Camptown Races", sometimes referred to as "Camptown Ladies", is a comic song in broad, stereotyped African American "dialect" 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.
It was 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.
The present day-version of the Camptown Races, a cross country foot race, is the region's oldest 10 K race and one of the most challenging. It's held every year, the first weekend in September and includes the community's annual Old Home Day celebration.
Contents |
[edit] Lyrics
- De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
- De Camptown race-track five miles long, Oh, de 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, de 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, de 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, de 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, de doo-dah-day!
- Den fly along like a rail-road car, Doo-dah! doo-dah!
- Runnin' a race wid a shootin' star, Oh, de doo-dah-day!
- Chorus
- See dem flyin' on a ten mile heat, Doo-dah doo-dah!
- Round de race track, den repeat, Oh, dedoo-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, dedoo-dah-day!
- Chorus
[edit] Regional variants
The melody of this song is used in a common pejorative song about police in Australia.
- What's the colour of a 2 cent coin? Copper, Copper!
With the "copper" part of the lyrics replacing the doo-dah part of the lyrics. The usage of the word 'copper' is a pun, referring to both the colour of the Australian 2 cent coin and a slang term for a Police Officer. The 2002 movie "The Hard Word" has a rendition of the song, sung by characters in the movie who are criminals locked in a jail cell.
[edit] References in popular culture
- In Holiday, while Lew Ayres is playing the banjo and singing with Katharine Hepburn, Jean Dixon and Edward Everett Horton.
- In Blazing Saddles, with the black railroad workers having sung I Get a Kick Out of You, the white railroad bosses attempt to cajole them into singing the song (called "De Camptown Ladies" in the movie), but the workers feign ignorance of it. Asking for "a real song," the white men break into "Camptown Races."[1]
- In the Bugs Bunny cartoon Fresh Hare, Bugs, facing a firing squad, is given a last wish by Mountie Elmer Fudd. Bugs, "wishes" he was in Dixie, singing a brief snippet of that song, before breaking into a full blown rendition of "Camptown Races" complete with Elmer and the other mounties accompanying him in blackface. This scene is generally edited out when shown on television. The same song is sung by Bugs, accompanied by Colonel Shuffle in Mississippi Hare.
- Looney Tunes character Foghorn Leghorn often hummed or sang variations of the song in many of his shorts.
- 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
- In episode 1 of series 2 of Fawlty Towers ('Communication Breakdown') Basil sings part of the song after winning a bet on a horse named Dragonfly. On seeing his wife Sybil (who disapproves of his gambling) enter he changes the last line of the chorus to part of My Way ('I did it my way'), though this fails to allay Sybil's suspicions.
- In the films The Stepfather and Stepfather II, the main character whistled Camptown Races. Most commonly done after he killed someone or killed a family.
- In the 1993 film Tombstone, "De Camptown Races" is mentioned by cowboy Billy Clanton in a drunken muse to Doc Holliday as Holliday plays a piano piece by Frédéric Chopin.
- This song has been referenced at least four times on The Simpsons:
- In the 2000 episode "Saddlesore Galactica", Milhouse Van Houten suggests the school band practice the song, but is immediately chastised by Nelson Muntz. [1]
- In the 1997 episode "Realty Bites", when Marge has a hard time remembering things for her real estate job, Lisa suggests making a song about it, because she made a song to the tune of Camptown Races to help her remember the Magna Carta, which went, "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, that goes, "Oh, on the closing day, the escrow agents pay, taxes, liens, and interests too, thanks to Fannie Mae!" [2]
- In the 2002 episode "Gump Roast", Ned Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy play "Camptown Races", however, the first time through, Lovejoy instead sings as the second line, "Homer Simpson's breath is strong, oh da doo da day!" Ned says to start over, but then Lovejoy starts the chorus with "Homer's breath smells bad!" [3]
- In the 1996 episode "Lisa the Iconoclast", when the group digs up Jebediah Springfield's skeleton to look for the silver tongue, Wiggum takes the skull and makes it sing "Camptown Races". [4]
- In the Camp Lazlo Episode "Burpless Bean," the bean scout choir tries to burp "Camptown Races," but Lazlo can't burp, and after reading some of Nina's comic books, is convinced that he cannot burp because he is a robot.
- In the Family Guy episode "Blind Ambition" Peter claims to play Camptown Races with the nickels in his stomach.
- In an episode of the 1988 revival of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Tom and Dick Smothers sing the song, but with Tom replacing the first two refrains with, "They do not, they do not," and "No, it's only three," and the last line of the chorus with, "Liar, liar, traitor," all due to being upset with Dick announcing he's leaving to host a game show, breaking up their comedy team.
- In the Doctor Who episode, 'The Unicorn and the Wasp', Donna Noble suggests 'Camptown races' when The Doctor is trying to mime that he needs a shock.
