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I Ain't Got Time to Tarry
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Wikipedia article
"'I Ain't Got Time to Tarry'", also known as "'The Land of Freedom'", is an American song written by blackface minstrel composer Dan Emmett. It premiered in a minstrel show performance by Bryant's Minstrels in late November 1858. The song was published in New York City in 1859.
The lyrics tell of a black man in the Northern United States who is homesick for the South. He decides to return to the South, as illustrated in the chorus:
:For I'se gwine home to Dinah,
:Yes, I am gwine home.
:Den I ain't got time to tarry, I ain't got time to dwell,
:I'm bound to de land of freedom, oh, niggars! fare you well.'Bryant's Power of Music', New York, 1859. Quoted in Nathan 354.
The pining ex-slave scenario was a common idiom of blackface minstrelsy during the 1850s. Emmett would repeat it in other songs, including "Johnny Roach" and "Dixie".Emmett's authorship of "Dixie" is contested; see "Dixie" (song).
Emmett's later "I'm Going Home to Dixie" reuses the tune to "I Ain't Got Time to Tarry".
Notes
References
* Nathan, Hans (1962). 'Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy'. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
Category:Blackface minstrel songs
Category:1858 songs
Category:Songs written by Dan Emmett
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