The Fourth of July is the Independence Day in the USA, and this year it is 250 years since 13 American colonies were declared free from British rule. This year, same date, it is also 200 years since Stephen Foster was born. I must admit I pay more attention to that than the ongoing circus over there.
Up through the years, I've read and heard several times that Stephen C. Foster isn't worth a cent. The vignette picture here, a postage stamp from 1940, should counterprove it, but he was a controversial person already in his time, for his ways of writing lyrics. But there are a few facts that can't be denied. Many consider him being the greatest songwriter of the nineteenth century, he was the first full-time professional songwriter in America, he is the only person to have written two state songs (Florida and Kentucky) and he's even been called "Father of American Music". Most of all; there is no doubt he was a brilliant composer.
In my "Disclaimer" I've argued the term "American Music", and even questioned the existence of "United" States. Read it or leave it. Now back to the most important in the world, the music ...
Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864) managed to write more than 200 songs during his rather short career, starting at the age of 14. There is no evidence he was a racist, or had political convictions at all. He was simply a product of his time. And; really, are Americans much better nowadays, when it all comes down to dust?
There is no official biography; he left nothing himself, and his brother Morrison most probably shuffled things away for sheltering reasons. Among quite many varying efforts I found one from an academic point of view, "University of Pittsburgh". From the condition of that website, and the fact that I consider ALL .edu-sites on American servers being volatile due to the political situation, I ripped the text and put it HERE. Foster's icon at the bottom links to the original site, if still existing.
I've gathered a few of his songs, because I like them. They have penetrated songbooks of all kinds ever since they were published, and they still do. In public, I've preferred other songs, finding Foster a bit obsolete and suspicious, but now I'm old enough to admit I adore them, and really always have. Except for one: I hate "Oh! Susannah", an early effort to write minstrel songs. The melody is walking up and down the major pentatonic scale besides being a theft, and the "lyrics" are whoopiecrap. The forty-niners grabbed it and turned it into a western standard, and jeeez ... well, even God made mistakes. Many. Foster only once.
My exclusive selection are these four classics:
Beautiful DreamerAgainst my normal habit (skipping most signs and capitals except for names) I leave the lyrics exactly as I found them in the old Pittsburgh archive, because Foster was almost autistic in punctuation and spelling, and I respect him. I judge only the music. Don't shoot me; I'm only the guitar player.
