James Taylor sings 'Oh, Susanna' from his 1970 Warner Bros. album 'Sweet Baby James'. This 1848 Stephen Foster song is one of the most popular of all time. The song lyrics are listed below with notes about Taylor, the song and the album.
[Vinyl/12-Images/WAV]
Oh, Susanna
Singer - James Taylor
Well, I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
And I'm bound for Louisiana
My own true love for to see
It did rain all night the day I left
The weather was bone dry
The sun was so hot I froze myself
Susanne, don't you go on and cry
I said, oh, Susanna
Now don't you cry for me
As I come from Alabama
With this banjo on my knee
Well I had myself a dream the other night
When everything was still
I dreamed that I saw my girl Susanne
She was comin' around the hill
Now the buckwheat cake was in her mouth
The tear was in her eye,
I said that I come from Dixieland
Susanne, don't you break down and cry
I said, oh, Susanna
Now, don't you cry for me
Cause I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
Songwriter: Stephen Foster
[Lyrics adapted from Wikipedia entry on song]
Wikipedia states:
"Oh! Susanna" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster (1826-1864), first published in 1848. It is among the most popular American songs ever written. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The song blends together a variety of musical traditions. The opening line refers to "a banjo on my knee", but the song takes its beat from the polka, which had just reached the U.S. from Europe. Glenn Weiser suggests the song was influenced by an existing work, "Rose of Alabama" (1846), with which it shares some similarities in lyrical theme and musical structure. The lyrics are largely nonsense, as characterized by lines such as "It rain'd all night the day I left, The weather it was dry, The sun so hot I froze to death...".
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Sweet Baby James is the second album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, and his first release on Warner Bros. Records. Released in February 1970, the album includes one of Taylor's earliest successful singles: "Fire and Rain", which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself reached #3 on the Billboard Album Charts. Sweet Baby James made Taylor one of the main forces of the ascendant singer-songwriter movement. The album was nominated to a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1971. The album was listed at #103 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
