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[[Image:Gussie Davis.jpg|thumb|Gussie Lord Davis [n.d.]. Performing Arts Reading Room, [[Library of Congress]].]]
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'''Gussie Lord Davis''' ([[1863]] - [[1899]]) was an [[African-American]] [[songwriter]] from [[Ohio]]. Davis was one of America's eariest successful African-Americans, having been the first Black songwriter to acquire fame on [[Tin Pan Alley]] as a composer of [[Minstrel Show|minstrels]].


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'''Gussie Lord Davis''' (December 3, 1863 – October 18, 1899) was an American [[songwriter]] born in [[Dayton, Ohio]].<ref name=JasenJones/><ref name=BlackPerspect/> Davis was one of America's earliest successful African-American music artists, the first black songwriter to become famous on [[Tin Pan Alley]] as a composer of popular music.<ref name=Campbell/><ref name=Southern />
Some of his songs include:
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*''We Sat Beneath the Maple On The Hill''
⚫
*''In The Baggage Coach Ahead''
*''Footprints In The Snow''
⚫
*''My Creole Sue''
⚫
*''She Waited at the Altar in Vain''


==Early life==
⚫
Perhaps his most notable song, ''[[Goodnight, Irene]]'' (1886), entered the [[folk song]] repertoire albeit significantly altered in ''Negro Folk Songs as Sung by [[Leadbelly]]'' (1936), edited by [[John Lomax]] and [[Alan Lomax]].
Gussie Davis received musical training at the Nelson Musical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his application was rejected due to the color of his skin. Instead, he worked as a janitor at a low wage in exchange for private lessons.<ref name=Southern/> His first song was published in 1880, "[[We Sat Beneath the Maple on the Hill]]"; Davis published it himself, paying a local printer $20, and sold enough copies to make his money back plus a little more.<ref name=JasenJones/> He continued his songwriting efforts with increasing success, publishing many songs and attracting attention, including that of Cincinnati publisher and would-be lyricist, George Propheter.<ref name=Southern/>{{efn|According to one source, Propheter's publishing business was founded on Davis's talent.<ref name=Sanjek/>}}

==Career==
[[File:There'd never been no trouble if they'd kidnapped a coon (words by Tom Browne; music by Gussie L. Davis).jpg|thumb|Cover of sheet music for one of Davis' songs]]

In 1886, when Propheter branched out his business to New York and Tin Pan Alley, Davis went with him.<ref name=JasenJones/><ref name=Sanjek/> He worked steadily, performing as well as writing songs, and making a name for himself.{{efn|His profile was low enough, however, that some who saw only his name mistook him for a woman.<ref name=Sampson/>}} By 1895, he was sufficiently well known to be selected to compete in a contest sponsored by the ''[[New York World]]'' to find the ten best songwriters in the nation; he placed second with his song, "Send Back the Picture and the Ring", and won a prize of $500 in gold.<ref name=Sanjek/> He performed as a pianist in venues such as Bergen Star Concerts<ref name=BlackPerspect /> and toured with minstrel groups including his own Davis Operatic and Plantation Minstrels.<ref name=LibOfCong/>

Davis wrote a variety of musical forms, including sentimental ballads, comic minstrel songs, [[art songs]], and [[choral music]].<ref name=LibOfCong/> He was best known in his own time for his "tear-jerkers".<ref name=JasenJones/><ref name=Southern/> One of these was "Fatal Wedding" (1893), his first national hit; Davis composed the music, a waltz, while the words are credited to William H. Windom, a well-known ballad singer.<ref name=AbbottSeroff /> Another tear-jerker was "In the Baggage Coach Ahead", Davis's most commercially successful composition, selling over a million copies.<ref name=JasenJones/>{{efn|It is not clear how much Davis profited directly from this composition; some sources say he sold it for a bargain, others that he was fairly compensated.<ref name=Cohen/>}} The success of "In the Baggage Coach" was fueled by the popular female vaudeville singer, Imogene Comer, who made it part of her regular repertoire.<ref name=Southern /><ref name=Cohen />

==Death==
An April 1899 article in ''The Freeman'' reported that Davis had purchased a home in [[Whitestone, New York]] and that he was recovering from a serious illness.<ref name=BlackPerspect /> In August of that year, press releases indicated he would appear in ''A Hot Old Time in Dixie'', going on the road in the coming season; this musical farce was Davis's property with [[Tom McIntosh (comedian)|Tom McIntosh]].<ref name=BlackPerspect /> On October 18, 1899, Davis died at home in Whitestone.<ref name=BlackPerspect />

At the time of his death, Gussie Davis had published more than three hundred songs<ref name=BlackPerspect /> and certainly left more in manuscript.

==Selected songs==
⚫
*"We Sat Beneath The Maple on the Hill" (1880)
*"Light House by the Sea" (1886)
*"Little Footsteps in the Snow" (1886){{efn|Not the Bluegrass classic, but a different song.<ref name=OldTimeHerald/>}}
*"Wait Till the Tide Comes In" (1887), words by George Propheter
*"Why Does Papa Stay So Late?" (1889)
*"Fatal Wedding" (1893), words by William H. Windom
*"Only a Bowery Boy" (1894), words by Charles B. Ward
*"Down in Poverty Row" (1895), music by Arthur Trevelyan
⚫
*"In the Baggage Coach Ahead" (1896)<ref name=Cohen />
⚫
*"She Waited at the Altar in Vain" (1897)
*"Only a Nigger Baby" (1897)<ref name=baby>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/72c3a566-8563-9543-e040-e00a18064c0c#/?uuid=72c3a566-8564-9543-e040-e00a18064c0c|title=Only a nigger baby (1897)}}</ref>
⚫
*"My Creole Sue" (1898)
*"He Is Coming to Us Dead"{{efn|Also known as "The Express Office".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/R696.html|last1=Waltz|first1=Robert B.|last2=Engle|first2=David G.|title=Express Office, The (He Is Coming to Us Dead)|work=Folklore The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World|publisher=[[California State University, Fresno]]|year=2012|access-date=November 21, 2021|archive-date=November 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121202644/http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/R696.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>}} (1899)<ref name=Cohen />

⚫
Also notable is Davis's "Irene, Good Night" (1886), which entered the [[folk song]] repertoire, albeit significantly altered, as "[[Goodnight, Irene]]" in ''Negro Folk Songs as Sung by [[Lead Belly]]'' (1936).<ref name=AbbottSeroff/><ref name=WolfeLornell/>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=Campbell>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Michael |title=Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cf0JAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA29 |year=2012 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-133-71260-2 |page=29}}</ref>
<ref name=Southern>{{cite book |first=Eileen |last=Southern |title=The Music of Black Americans: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSvxJtF3_fUC&pg=PA242 |year=1997 |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-03843-9 |pages=221; 242–244; 302}}</ref>
<ref name=Sanjek>{{cite book |first=Russell |last=Sanjek |title=American Popular Music and Its Business: The First Four Hundred Years |url=https://archive.org/details/americanpopularm00san_hz5 |url-access=registration |year=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-504310-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanpopularm00san_hz5/page/282 282]–283}}</ref>
<ref name=OldTimeHerald>{{cite journal |last=Brooks |first=Julay |url=http://www.oldtimeherald.org/archive/back_issues/volume-13/13-4/Footprints%20in%20the%20Snow%20Notes.pdf |title=Footprints in the Snow: The Intercontinental Journey of a Song (Supplement: Songs that Aren't 'Footprints In The Snow') |journal=Old-Time Herald |volume=13 |issue=4 |date=December 2012 |access-date= 2014-12-25}}</ref>
<ref name=LibOfCong>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200152701/default.html |title=Gussie Lord Davis |encyclopedia=Performing Arts Encyclopedia |date=November 14, 2007 |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=2014-12-25}}</ref>
<ref name=JasenJones>{{cite book |last1=Jasen |first1=David A. |last2=Jones |first2=Gene |title=Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880–1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhzfAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-50972-9 |pages=17–21}}</ref>
<ref name=Sampson>{{cite book |editor-first=Henry T. |editor-last=Sampson |title=Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows |last=Foster |first=William |chapter=Colored Songwriters and Their Songs |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVsKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA235 |year=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-8351-2 |page=235}}</ref>
<ref name=AbbottSeroff>{{cite book |first1=Lynn |last1=Abbott |first2=Doug |last2=Seroff |title=Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889–1895 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPJZTJtz1IwC&pg=PA48 |year=2003 |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-60473-039-5 |pages=48–49; 327}}</ref>
<ref name=WolfeLornell>{{cite book |first1=Charles K. |last1=Wolfe |first2=Kip |last2=Lornell |title=The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly |date=7 May 1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJhS9BaFFjIC&pg=PA55 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-7867-5282-3 |pages=55–56}}</ref>
<ref name=BlackPerspect>{{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Gussie L. |last2=Wright |first2=Josephine R.B. |last3=Lucas |first3=Sam |title=In Retrospect: Gussie Lord Davis (1863–1899), Tin Pan Alley Tunesmith |journal=The Black Perspective in Music |volume=6 |issue=2 |date=Autumn 1978 |pages=188–230|doi=10.2307/1214174 |jstor=1214174}}</ref>
<ref name=Cohen>{{cite book |first=Norm |last=Cohen |title=Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AY7St4-8x10C&pg=PA306 |year=2000 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06881-2 |pages=304–307}}</ref>
}}


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/search?query=%2Bname:gussie%20%2Bname:davis&view=thumbnail&start=0 Library of Congress's electronic archive of Gussie Davis's sheet music]
*[http://memory.loc.gov/cocoon/ihas/html/ohio/ohio-minstrel.html Life in Nineteeth Century Ohio: Minstrel Songs]
*[http://www.wylieww.com/cowboy.html Wylie and the Wild West, Cowboy Ballads and Dance Songs]


{{commonscat}}
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[[Category:1863 births|Davis, Gussie L.]]
* {{Librivox author |id=2284}}
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[[Category:1899 deaths|Davis, Gussie L.]]
*[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/40140/Davis_Gussie_L._composer Early recordings of Gussie Davis songs], Discography of American Historical Recordings, University of California, Santa Barbara
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[[Category:American songwriters|Davis, Gussie L.]]
*[http://parlorsongs.com/issues/2001-10/thismonth/featurea.php "Tear Jerkers in American Song"], at The Parlor Songs Academy
*{{IMSLP|id=Davis, Gussie}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Gussie L.}}
⚫
[[Category:1863 births]]
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[[Category:1899 deaths]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Ohio]]
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[[Category:Blackface minstrel songwriters]]
[[Category:19th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:Musicians from Dayton, Ohio]]
[[Category:People from Whitestone, Queens]]
[[Category:Janitors]]

Latest revision as of 13:25, 30 June 2024

Gussie Lord Davis [n.d.]. Performing Arts Reading Room, Library of Congress.

Gussie Lord Davis (December 3, 1863 – October 18, 1899) was an American songwriter born in Dayton, Ohio.[1][2] Davis was one of America's earliest successful African-American music artists, the first black songwriter to become famous on Tin Pan Alley as a composer of popular music.[3][4]

Early life

[edit]

Gussie Davis received musical training at the Nelson Musical College in Cincinnati, Ohio, where his application was rejected due to the color of his skin. Instead, he worked as a janitor at a low wage in exchange for private lessons.[4] His first song was published in 1880, "We Sat Beneath the Maple on the Hill"; Davis published it himself, paying a local printer $20, and sold enough copies to make his money back plus a little more.[1] He continued his songwriting efforts with increasing success, publishing many songs and attracting attention, including that of Cincinnati publisher and would-be lyricist, George Propheter.[4][a]

Career

[edit]
Cover of sheet music for one of Davis' songs

In 1886, when Propheter branched out his business to New York and Tin Pan Alley, Davis went with him.[1][5] He worked steadily, performing as well as writing songs, and making a name for himself.[b] By 1895, he was sufficiently well known to be selected to compete in a contest sponsored by the New York World to find the ten best songwriters in the nation; he placed second with his song, "Send Back the Picture and the Ring", and won a prize of $500 in gold.[5] He performed as a pianist in venues such as Bergen Star Concerts[2] and toured with minstrel groups including his own Davis Operatic and Plantation Minstrels.[7]

Davis wrote a variety of musical forms, including sentimental ballads, comic minstrel songs, art songs, and choral music.[7] He was best known in his own time for his "tear-jerkers".[1][4] One of these was "Fatal Wedding" (1893), his first national hit; Davis composed the music, a waltz, while the words are credited to William H. Windom, a well-known ballad singer.[8] Another tear-jerker was "In the Baggage Coach Ahead", Davis's most commercially successful composition, selling over a million copies.[1][c] The success of "In the Baggage Coach" was fueled by the popular female vaudeville singer, Imogene Comer, who made it part of her regular repertoire.[4][9]

Death

[edit]

An April 1899 article in The Freeman reported that Davis had purchased a home in Whitestone, New York and that he was recovering from a serious illness.[2] In August of that year, press releases indicated he would appear in A Hot Old Time in Dixie, going on the road in the coming season; this musical farce was Davis's property with Tom McIntosh.[2] On October 18, 1899, Davis died at home in Whitestone.[2]

At the time of his death, Gussie Davis had published more than three hundred songs[2] and certainly left more in manuscript.

Selected songs

[edit]
  • "We Sat Beneath The Maple on the Hill" (1880)
  • "Light House by the Sea" (1886)
  • "Little Footsteps in the Snow" (1886)[d]
  • "Wait Till the Tide Comes In" (1887), words by George Propheter
  • "Why Does Papa Stay So Late?" (1889)
  • "Fatal Wedding" (1893), words by William H. Windom
  • "Only a Bowery Boy" (1894), words by Charles B. Ward
  • "Down in Poverty Row" (1895), music by Arthur Trevelyan
  • "In the Baggage Coach Ahead" (1896)[9]
  • "She Waited at the Altar in Vain" (1897)
  • "Only a Nigger Baby" (1897)[11]
  • "My Creole Sue" (1898)
  • "He Is Coming to Us Dead"[e] (1899)[9]

Also notable is Davis's "Irene, Good Night" (1886), which entered the folk song repertoire, albeit significantly altered, as "Goodnight, Irene" in Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Lead Belly (1936).[8][13]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ According to one source, Propheter's publishing business was founded on Davis's talent.[5]
  2. ^ His profile was low enough, however, that some who saw only his name mistook him for a woman.[6]
  3. ^ It is not clear how much Davis profited directly from this composition; some sources say he sold it for a bargain, others that he was fairly compensated.[9]
  4. ^ Not the Bluegrass classic, but a different song.[10]
  5. ^ Also known as "The Express Office".[12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Jasen, David A.; Jones, Gene (2013). Spreadin' Rhythm Around: Black Popular Songwriters, 1880–1930. Routledge. pp. 17–21. ISBN 978-1-135-50972-9.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Davis, Gussie L.; Wright, Josephine R.B.; Lucas, Sam (Autumn 1978). "In Retrospect: Gussie Lord Davis (1863–1899), Tin Pan Alley Tunesmith". The Black Perspective in Music. 6 (2): 188–230. doi:10.2307/1214174. JSTOR 1214174.
  3. ^ Campbell, Michael (2012). Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On. Cengage Learning. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-133-71260-2.
  4. ^ a b c d e Southern, Eileen (1997). The Music of Black Americans: A History. W.W. Norton. pp. 221, 242–244, 302. ISBN 978-0-393-03843-9.
  5. ^ a b c Sanjek, Russell (1988). American Popular Music and Its Business: The First Four Hundred Years. Oxford University Press. pp. 282–283. ISBN 978-0-19-504310-5.
  6. ^ Foster, William (2013). "Colored Songwriters and Their Songs". In Sampson, Henry T. (ed.). Blacks in Blackface: A Sourcebook on Early Black Musical Shows. Scarecrow Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-8108-8351-2.
  7. ^ a b "Gussie Lord Davis". Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Library of Congress. November 14, 2007. Retrieved 2014-12-25.
  8. ^ a b Abbott, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (2003). Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889–1895. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 48–49, 327. ISBN 978-1-60473-039-5.
  9. ^ a b c d Cohen, Norm (2000). Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong. University of Illinois Press. pp. 304–307. ISBN 978-0-252-06881-2.
  10. ^ Brooks, Julay (December 2012). "Footprints in the Snow: The Intercontinental Journey of a Song (Supplement: Songs that Aren't 'Footprints In The Snow')" (PDF). Old-Time Herald. 13 (4). Retrieved 2014-12-25.
  11. ^ "Only a nigger baby (1897)".
  12. ^ Waltz, Robert B.; Engle, David G. (2012). "Express Office, The (He Is Coming to Us Dead)". Folklore The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. California State University, Fresno. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  13. ^ Wolfe, Charles K.; Lornell, Kip (7 May 1999). The Life And Legend Of Leadbelly. Da Capo Press. pp. 55–56. ISBN 0-7867-5282-3.
[edit]
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