Annotation:Jim Brown
X:1 T:Jim Brown M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Minstrel tune B:Elias Howe – Second Part of the Musician’s Companion (1843, p. 57) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G G/A/|B/G/G/G/ B/G/G/G/|dA/F/ D>D|D/E/F/G/ A/B/c/A/|B/G/A/F/ G:| |:D|G/B/d/f/ gg/g/|g/d/B/G/ D>D|D/E/F/G/ A/B/c/A/|B/G/A/F/ G:|
JIM BROWN. American, Minstrel Air (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB.
The figure depicted in the cover the to the sheet music to the left is dressed in a band costume. It has been suggested that the cover caricatures African-American bandleader, composer, violinist and keyed-bugle player Francis Johnson (1792-1844), who led a very successful band of African-American musicians in Philadelphia, and who had an international reputation for his music (see Annotation:Philadelphia Fireman's Cotillion (The)). The cover also depicts the man as a variant of the black 'dandy' (albeit in uniform rather than evening-dress), a stereotypic figure in the minstrel era that started early with such songs as "Zip Coon" and "Long Tail Blue."
