Song of the Day 2/8: Pete Seeger, “Old Dan Tucker”

With all the controversy over blackface this past week, I thought I’d demonstrate that minstrelsy is anything but gone. Given that it was the most popular form of live entertainment in this country for nearly a century, eradicating it entirely would be impossible, because many of its songs and traditions permeated society so long ago that their roots in minstrel shows have disappeared. This song might be the best example ever.

“Old Dan Tucker” was first published in 1843, and is thought to have been adapted from “folk” songs — that is to say, slave songs — by Dan Emmett of the Virginia Minstrels, a group famous for being the first to employ blackface for the entire band instead of one or two characters. It quickly became the most popular tune on the minstrel circuit, which at the time was centered in the North.

Over time, as blackface (slowly) disappeared, it became popular with country singers and, as this clip shows, folk music revivalists like Seeger. Bruce Springsteen included it in concerts during his Seeger period. Because it’s a comic song, it’s now even considered children’s music. When the Wiggles perform it — yes, they do, and give thanks that I didn’t post that version — the silliness is no longer being attributed to a comic black character but a comic character in general.

You can remove the burnt cork and greasepaint, but the minstrelsy tradition in this country is bone-deep.

For those interested in the tune, here’s the 2nd South Carolina String Band performing a longer version. There’s no such thing as a “complete” version, because performers were accustomed to making up new verses as they saw fit.