by African American, Sheet Music
[African American] [Sheet Music]. "Water Boy: A Negro Convict Song". Arranged by Avery Robinson. Boston, Mass: The Boston Music Co., 1922. As Sung by Mr. Roland Hayes, an American lyric tenor and composer. 7 pages. Measures 9" x 12". "Waterboy" (a.k.a. "The Water Boy") is an American traditional folk song. It is built on the call "Water boy, where are you hidin'?" The call is one of several water boy calls in cotton plantation folk tradition. Numerous artists have written and/or recorded their own versions of this African-American traditional song, including Avery Robinson, who wrote this edition and who popularized "Water Boy" as a jazz song in the 1920s. The opening call to the "water boy" has been said to bear a resemblance to melodies found in classical works by Cui, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt, as well as a Jewish marriage song and a Native American tune. The first melody of the subsequent refrain is similar to the old German tune "Mendebras," used for the hymn "Oh Day of Rest and Gladness." Mad epopular by African American songwriter, singer and composer Roland Hayes. Hayes taught at Black Mountain College for the 1945 Summer institute where his public concert was, according to Martin Duberman, "one of the great moments in Black Mountain's history" and after this concert, in which unsegregated seating went well, the school had its first full-time black student and full-time member of the faculty. Staple bound and in very good condition. Pencil signature of a noted film scholar, "Thomas Curtiss" is in the upper front corner. Overall, in very good condition.
(Inventory #: 20465)