Annotation:Dora Dean

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 DORA DEAN. Old-Time, Country Rag. F Major ('A' part) & D Minor ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB'. This 'raggy' melody was composed by the great African-American entertainer and comedian Bert Williams (1874-1922) and published in 1896 ("Oh have you seen Miss Dora Dean, She's the sweetest gal you ever seen"). The song was composed in honor of vaudeville entertainer named Dora (Babbage) Dean, an African-American woman who possessed great style, poise and personality. Along with her partner, Charles Johnson, she is credited with helping to popularize the Cakewalk dance. Mark Wilson remarks that it was a popular piano piece around the turn of the 20th century. It is, however, a version of "I Don't Love Nobody." Fiddle versions are usually sourced to the playing of regionally influential Eastern Kentucky/W.Va. itinerant fiddler Ed Hayley (1883-1951).  Source for notated version:  Printed sources:  Recorded sources: Tom, Brad & Alice.

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