Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown (What You Goin' to Do When the Rent Comes 'Round?)

DESCRIPTION: "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown, What you goin' to do when the rent comes round? What you goin' to say, How you goin' to pay?" As Rufus knocks on the door, the singer complains about Rufus's lack of sense and inability to maintain a decent home
AUTHOR: Words: B. Sterling Andrew / Music: Harry von Tilzer
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes campsong
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 149, "A Medley" (1 text, 1 tune, starting with the chorus of "Sweet Adeline," then "The Old Oaken Bucket," "In the Evening by the Moonlight," "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown," and "Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground")
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 169, 253, 314, "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown/What You Gonna Do When the Rent Comes Round" (notes only)
SAME TUNE:
Tall Girls, Short Girls (Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 169)
NOTES [161 words]: A thoroughly racist piece, this nonetheless had some popularity because of the excellent Harry von Tilzer melody. According to Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America, p. 309, von Tilzer also supplied the key concept of the song; he claimed to have heard the actual line on the platform of a train station in Miami. One has to suspect he improved the character's name, though.
Andrew B. Sterling is best known for writing the words to "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" and "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie"; also "On the Shores of Havana," "Strike Up the Band (Here Comes a Sailor)," and others. - RBW
Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 271, estimates that this was the eleventh most popular song in America in 1905, peaking at #4 in November 1905 (#1 for the year being Harry H Williams and Egbert Van Alstyne's "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree"). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: RcRuRaJB

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