Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By HowardWeeden

1674 The Banjo of the Past

YOU ax about dat music made

On banjos long ago,

An’ wants to know why it ain’t played

By niggers any mo’.

Dem banjos b’longed to by-gone days

When times an’ chunes was rare,

When we was gay as children—’case

We did n’t have a care.

But when we got our freedom, we

Found projeckin’ was done;

Our livin’ was to make—you see,

An’ dat lef’ out de fun.

We learned to vote an’ read an’ spell,

We learned de taste ob tears—

An’ when you gets dat ’sponsible,

De banjo disappears!