Laughing Song

DESCRIPTION: "As I was coming 'round the corner, I heard some people say, Here comes a dandy darky; here he comes this way. His heel is like a snowplow, And his mouth is like a trap, And when he open it gently you will see a fearful gap." Chorus is mostly laughing
AUTHOR: George W. Johnson
EARLIEST DATE: 1894
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad Black(s)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) US(Ro) Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland 171, "Laughing Song" (1 fragmentary excerpt)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #177, "The Laughing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Joe-Watson-AustralianTraditionalFolkSinger, [p. 17, page headed "After several social visits..."], "The Laughing Song" (1 text)
Roud #6352
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm Old But I'm Awfully Tough" (chorus)
NOTES [162 words]: Greenleaf/Mansfield-BalladsAndSeaSongsOfNewfoundland replaces the "dandy darky" reference by "laughing jackass" and uses elipses to give the impression that the chorus is just "Ha, ha ha ha ha ha, ha, ha, ha, Ha, ha," etc.
Johnson's chorus is
Then I laugh ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha,
I couldn't stop my laughing ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha,
I couldn't stop my laughing ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Johnson's sheet music and recording were an immediate hit "selling tens of thousands of records by 1894 alone" per "The Ragtime Ephemeralist" site. The text is on on the Archeophone Records site recording of the month for February 2002.
This song is sometimes confused with another laughing chorus song, Cal Stewart's 1901 "I'm Old But I'm Awfully Tough." - BS
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah's text also reduces the chorus to a dozen "ha's." I wonder if this might not have been the way some popular performer presented the song. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.5
File: GrMa171

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