Annotation:Rosa Lee
X:1 T:Rosa Lee M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Air B:Gumbo Chaff - The Complete Preceptor for the Banjo (1851, p. 8) N: A later edition of the earliest known banjo tutor, published in 1848. N:It was written by Elias Howe, whose pseudonym Gumbo Chaff N:is taken from Thomas Dartmouth Rice's 1834 blackface character. N:The 1851 edition was published in Boston by Oliver Ditson. N:In 1850 Howe sold some of his works to Ditson (this one among N:them) and agreed not to publish similar works for ten years. Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G2 G/B/d/d/|ee d2|ed BG|BA A2|G>B dd|ee d2|ed BG|BA G2|| gf ed|ed B2|ed c/B/A/G/|A<G E>B|gf ed|ed B>d|!fermata!ed BG|B>A A2|| G>Bdd|ee d2|edBG|BA A2|G>B dd |ed !fermata!g2|b>g d>B|B>A G2||
ROSA LEE. AKA and see "Boatman's Dance (2)," "Polka (29)." American, Song Air (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC. An anonymous blackface minstrel song first published in 1847. It was a hit song for the Ethiopian Serenaders, Christy's Minstrels, and other troupes. Researcher Conor Ward finds a version of the tune as an untitled polka in the 1883 music manuscript of County Leitrim musician Stephen Grier (see "Polka (29)"), and in print as "Boatman's Dance (2)" in James S. Kerr's Merry Melodies vol. 2 (Glasgow, c. 1880's).
