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). Furthermore, Conor compares the first strain with the first strain of the German song "Wenn der Schaefer scheren will" (When the shepherd wants to shear), which suggests that the minstrel song/tune was informed by the earlier German song. As with many songs, various tunes were used as the vehicle for the words; this melody has been identified as Dutch[1].
