Commence Ye Darkies All

 COMMENCE YE DARKIES ALL. Old-Time, Quadrille. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD. From the early blackface minstrel repertoire, composed by W. D. Corrister and published in 1849. Corrister was a guitarist and songwriter who played with numerous early minstrel troupes, including Charles White’s Serenaders, Birch’s Minstrels, the San Francisco Minstrels and Backus’ Original Minstrels. Following the Gold Rush, Corrister moved to San Francisco and continued to work with minstrel groups there [David K. Bradford]. Touch light the banjo string, "And rattle the old jawbone; Oh! Merrily sound the tambourine, And make that fiddle ring. Cho: Then commence, ye darkies all, As loud as ye can bawl, Commence, commence, ye darkies all, tonight. Printed source:'' Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 95.

X:1 T:Commence Ye Darkies All M:6/8 L:1/8 C:W.D. Corrister (1849) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A c/d/|e2e a2a|(e3 e2)c/d/|e2e a2a|(e3 e2)g/a/| g2f Bcd|f2e c2d|f2e dcB|(A3 A2)||e|efe c2e| efe c2e|efe dcB|(c3 c2)e|efe c2e|efe c2e|efe dcB| (A3 A2)||c/d/|e2e a2a|(e3 e2)c/d/|e2e a2a|(e3 e2) g/a/| g2f Bcd|f2e c2d|f2e dcB|(A3 A2)||d/e/|f2f g2g|a2a aba| e2e efe|b2a f2d/f/|f2f g2g|a2a aba|e2e egf|(d3 d2)||