Oh! Susanna

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This article is about the song "Oh! Susanna". For the Canadian singer Oh Susanna, see Suzie Ungerleider. For the television series "Oh, Susanna", see The Gale Storm Show. For the Canadian improv variety show, see Oh Susanna!

"Oh! Susanna" is a song written by Stephen Foster in 1847. Popularly associated with the California Gold Rush, it is probably based on a Scottish marching song, as the melody can be carried on the chanter of most bagpipes. The lyrics include good examples of nonsense verse:

Oh I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee,

I'm going to Louisiana, my true love for to see

It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry

The sun so hot I froze to death; Susanna, don't you cry.

Oh, Susanna, don't you cry for me

For I come from Alabama,

With my banjo on my knee.

I had a dream the other night when everything was still,

I thought I saw Susanna coming up the hill,

The buckwheat cake was in her mouth, the tear was in her eye,

I said I'm coming from Dixieland, Susanna don't you cry.

I soon will be in New Orleans

And then I'll look around

And when I find my gal Susanne,

I'll fall upon the ground.

The song was originally written in a thick mock African-American dialect ("I'se gwine to Lou'siana my true lub for to see"), reflecting the minstrel show tradition that Foster worked in. Foster's version included another verse that is rarely sung today because of its "violently racist" content:

I jump'd aboard the telegraph and trabbled down de ribber,

De lectrick fluid magnified, and kill'd five hundred Nigga.

De bulgine bust and de hoss ran off, I really thought I'd die;

I shut my eyes to hold my bref -- Susanna don't you cry.[1]

[edit] Instrumentation

Traditionally the song is sung by a tenor voice and accompanied by a guitar and a melody instrument, most often a harmonica. Other instruments used include piano, saxophone and other jazz and dixieland instruments.

[edit] Cultural Reference

The tune of "Oh! Susanna" was used in the JibJab flash parody "Big Box Mart" which spoofed and criticized the large retailer Wal-Mart.
Snoopy, while dressed up like Santa Claus, plays "Oh! Susanna" on the accordion to raise money for charity in Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales
In the Viva Piñata episode "Soil and Green", Wendell Whirlm sings "D-d-dig dig dig d-dig dig dig d-dig dig dig dig dig!" to the sune of "Oh! Susanna", as he digs and plants his garden.

The song is frequently parodied when an ersatz folk song is needed. For example:

In the film Duck Soup, the Marx Brothers sing a quick verse, "Oh, Freedonia, oh don't you cry for me, 'cause I'm comin' round the mountain with a banjo on my knee."
In the cartoon The Wacky Wabbit, Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny sing a variation that ends, "Oh, Susanna, don't you cry for me, 'cause I'm going to dig up wots of gold, 'V for Victowy'!"
In the film Paint Your Wagon, part of the shivaree is the quick verse, "Oh, Susanna, he's happy as can be, for he's got him somethin' better than a banjo on his knee!"