Old Dan Tucker
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"Old Dan Tucker," also known as "Ole Dan Tucker," "Dan Tucker," and other variants, is an American popular song. Its origins remain obscure; the tune may have come from oral tradition, and the words m
This 1877 illustration from Scribner's Magazine shows the Dan Tucker character as a rural black man.
The Hutchinson Family Singers' "Get off the Track!" puts abolitionist lyrics to the tune of "Old Dan Tucker".
Dan Emmett said that he wrote "Old Dan Tucker" while a boy in Mount Vernon, Ohio, where he retired in his later years.
The graveyard where Daniel Tucker is buried in Elbert County, Georgia, is a tourist attraction due to the minister's possible connection to the song.
Turkey in the Straw
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"Turkey in the Straw" is an American folk song that first gained popularity in the 19th century. Early versions of the song were titled "Zip Coon", which were first published around 1834 and performed
Old Dan Tucker
…it has black influences. Its repetitive melodic idiom matches that of earlier minstrel standards, such as "Jump Jim Crow," "Coal Black Rose," and "Old Zip Coon." The song consists of 28 bars. It begins with a boisterous eight-bar introduction. Four bars follow to frame the coda. The remainder consists of sixteen…
Sheet music from 1899
Front cover of a 1834 sheet music for "Zip Coon" by George Washington Dixon
Phonograph record version by Clayton McMichen.