Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1850
Angelina Baker
Buy Angelina Baker now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
"'Angelina Baker'", sometimes sung as "'Angeline the Baker'" (Roud 18341) is a song written by Stephen Foster for the Christy Minstrels, and published in 1850. The original laments the loss of a woman slave, sent away by her owner. The lyrics have been subjected to the folk process, and some versions have become examples of the "Ugly Girl" or "Dinah" song.
Music historian Ken Emerson noted that controversy over free and slave states, as well as Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, were hotly debated topics at the time of the song's composition. According to Emerson, Foster's lyrics obliquely acknowledge these controversies. Uncertain of the reception his blackface songs would receive, he temporarily abandoned the genre.Ken Emerson. 1998. '[https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Doo_dah/n4oHAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Doo-dah!:%20Stephen%20Foster%20and%20the%20rise%20of%20American%20popular%20culture Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the rise of American popular culture]'. Da Capo Press. p. 162.
Fiddle tune
An instrumental version, as collected by John A. Lomax under the title "Angelina the Baker"
is a popular fiddle or banjo tune, and differs from the Stephen Foster melody. It is part of the old time fiddle canon, but is also played by bluegrass musicians. This old-time tune was also played as bluegrass by Stuart Duncan at the 2007 Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival.NBB at the 2007 Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival. For more info, visit www.delawarevalleybluegrass.org
Lyrics
According to Lyle Lofgren, writing for 'Inside Bluegrass', publication of the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association, "Foster published Angelina Baker in 1850, and it was featured on stage by the original Christy Minstrels." The melody and lyrics are as follows:
Notable performers
*John Nicholas Hendershot and The Memphis Birdmen
*Dry Branch Fire Squad
*Crooked Still
*The Norfolk Broads
References
Buy Angelina Baker now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1850