Banjo Dick Brown.

[Carl Anderton]

It sure would be great to know what ol' Banjo Dick Brown sounded like.  You all know the story, Brown was entertaining on stage at the Melodean in Deadwood SD in 1876, when Ed Shaughnessy threw an axe at him.  Brown drew his gun and killed Shaughnessy.  Apparently they were rivals for the affections of one Fannie Garretson.  

 

I found this song written for and sung by Brown in the mining camps, but alas, no dots.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=6hsTAAAAIAAJ&dq=banjo%20dick%2...

[John Masciale]

The song says it is a parody, the question is, a parody of what?  Probably something like this:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mussm&fileName=sm/s...

 

I'm not saying it is, but it is probably a place to start looking.

[John Masciale]

Well, here is a link for you...

http://books.google.com/books?id=AY7St4-8x10C&pg=PA586&lpg=...

[Carl Anderton]

Excellent sleuthing, John.  That first tune you gave fits the meter of the Brown words perfectly.

[Carl Anderton]

Isn't it interesting how we perceive "manliness" now, Dick Brown being an archetypical Western he-man, but he apparently sang rather effeminate songs like "My Little New Log Cabin in the Hills."

 

"Real Men sing about their tender feelings."

[Ian Bell]

Jack Hayes, a square dance caller, who was in his 70s when I worked with him in the '70s used to have a singing square dance call that was sung to this tune. Jack had been calling dances in and around Toronto since the late '20s.

[Christopher Penn]

Thanks for your interest. Unfortunately the reviews I have seen concentrate on Dick's 'exceptional' banjo skills and seldom mention his repertoire. "Home, Sweet Home" was a regular feature and "Days of Forty-nine" was often in demand. Another review from 1874 mentions his original song "The Beecher-Tilton Scandal" and a Cheyenne paper said "he sings all new songs, most of whyich are original with him, and are of a comic nature such as would take well in any place...." Another original was "The Black Hills, " a copy of which was auctioned recently (http://www.cowanauctions.com/auctions/item.aspx?ItemId=102132)

There's a lot more to Dick's story than the celebrated Deadwood incident and I mean to write him up one day - but I really need to discover his fate before I do so!