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'{{Infobox song | name = Gwine to Run All Night, or<br>De Camptown Races | cover = | alt = | type = | artist = [[Christy's Minstrels]] | album = | EP = | written = | published = February 1850 | released = | format = | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = | length = | label = | writer = [[Stephen Foster]] | composer = | lyricist = | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | title = | next_title = | next_year = }} "'''Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races'''" (popularly known as "'''Camptown Races'''") is a minstrel song by [[Stephen Foster]] (1826–1864). ({{audio|Camptown Races.mid|Play}}<ref>Humphries, Carl (2010). ''The Piano Improvisation Handbook'', p. 199. {{ISBN|978-0-87930-977-0}}.</ref>) It was published in February 1850 by [[F. D. Benteen]] of [[Baltimore, Maryland]], and Benteen published a different version with guitar accompaniment in 1852 under the title "'''The Celebrated Ethiopian Song/Camptown Races'''". The song quickly entered the realm of popular Americana. In 1909, composer [[Charles Ives]] incorporated the tune and other vernacular American melodies into his orchestral [[Symphony No. 2 (Ives)|Symphony No. 2]].<ref>https://performingarts.georgetown.edu/Charles-Ives-America Georgetown University:"Charles Ives's America"</ref><ref>J. Peter Burkholder, '[https://www.jstor.org/stable/746629 "Quotation" and Paraphrase in Ives' Second Symphony'], ''19th Century Music, ''Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 3-25. [accessed 26 July 2013]</ref> == First stanza == {{Wikisourcehas|1=the complete original lyrics to|2=[[s:Camptown Races|''Camptown Races'' (1850) by Stephen Foster]]}} {{poemquote|Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-dah! doo-dah! Camptown race-track five miles long, Oh, doo-dah day! I come down dah wid my hat caved in, Doo-dah! doo-dah! I go back home wid a pocket full of tin, Oh, doo-dah day! Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day! I'll bet my money on de bob-tail nag, Somebody bet on de bay.}} he a bitch he once said and invented Gucci. == Reception == [[File:Christy Minstrels (Boston Public Library).jpg|right|thumb|"Camptown Races" was introduced by the [[Christy's Minstrels]].]] Richard Jackson was curator<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2012/02/03/century-music-new-york-public-library|title=A Century of Music at The New York Public Library|author=|date=|website=The New York Public Library|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref> of the Americana Collection at [[New York Public Library]]; he writes: <blockquote>Foster quite specifically tailored the song for use on the minstrel stage. He composed it as a piece for solo voice with group interjections and refrain… his dialect verses have all the wild exaggeration and rough charm of folk tale as well as some of his most vivid imagery…. Together with "[[Oh! Susanna]]", "Camptown Races" is one of the gems of the minstrel era."<ref name=jackson>Richard Jackson (ed.). 1974. ''Stephen Foster Song Book: original sheet music of 40 songs''. Courier Dover Publications. p. 174.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://store.doverpublications.com/0486230481.html|title=Stephen Foster Song Book|author=|date=|website=store.doverpublications.com|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o97PjZJTTYwC&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=Jackson|title=Stephen Foster Song Book: Original Sheet Music of 40 Songs|first1=Stephen Collins|last1=Foster|first2=Richard|last2=Jackson|date=7 September 1974|publisher=Courier Corporation|accessdate=7 September 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref></blockquote> In ''The Americana Song Reader'', William Emmett Studwell writes that the song was introduced by the [[Christy Minstrels]], noting that Foster's "nonsense lyrics are much of the charm of this bouncy and enduring bit of Americana", and the song was a big hit with minstrel troupes throughout the country. Foster's music was used for derivatives that include "Sacramento", "A Capital Ship" (1875), and a pro-Lincoln parody introduced during the 1860 presidential campaign.<ref>William Emmett Studwell. ''The Americana Song Reader''. Psychology Press. p. 63.</ref> Richard Crawford observes in ''America's Musical Life'' that the song resembles [[Dan Emmett]]'s "[[Old Dan Tucker]]", and he suggests that Foster used Emmett's piece as a model. Both songs feature contrast between a high instrumental register with a low vocal one, comic exaggeration, hyperbole, verse and refrain, call and response, and syncopation. However, Foster's melody is "jaunty and tuneful" while Emmett's is "driven and aggressive". Crawford points out that the differences in the two songs represent two different musical styles, as well as a shift in minstrelsy from the rough spirit and "muscular, unlyrical music" of the 1840s to a more genteel spirit and lyricism with an expanding repertoire that included sad songs, sentimental and love songs, and parodies of opera. Crawford explains that, by mid-century, the "noisy, impromptu entertainments" characteristic of Dan Emmett and the [[Virginia Minstrels]] were passé and the minstrel stage was changing to a "restrained and balanced kind of spectacle".<ref>Richard Crawford. 2001. ''America's Musical Life: a history''. W. W. Norton. pp. 210–11.</ref> [[File:Camptown Keystone Marker.jpg|thumb|right|Keystone Marker for Camptown, 4.2 miles north of [[Wyalusing, Pennsylvania]]<ref>{{cite web | title =Camptown Races Historical Marker | work = | publisher =WITF-TV and Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission | date = | url =http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2FA | accessdate = 29 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bradfordhistory.com/index.asp?pageId=106|title=Bradford County Historical Society|author=|date=|website=www.bradfordhistory.com|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref>]] Historians cite the village of [[Camptown, Pennsylvania]] as the basis for the song, located in the mountains of northeast Pennsylvania. The races were resumed nearby in 1965. The Pennsylvania Historical Society confirmed that Foster traveled through the small town and afterwards wrote the song. The Bradford County Historical Society documents Foster attending school in nearby Towanda and Athens in 1840 and 1841. The schools were located five miles from the racetrack. The current annual running of the Camptown Races was replaced by a 6.2-mile track covering rough lumbering trails.<ref name="upi">{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/09/10/Another-Doo-dah-day-in-Camptown/8031400478400/|title=Another 'Doo-dah-day' in Camptown|author=|date=10 September 1982|website=upi.com|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref> The song was the impetus for renaming Camptown, a village of [[Clinton Township, Essex County, New Jersey]]. When the new ballad was published in 1850, some residents of the village were mortified to be associated with the bawdiness in song. The wife of the local postmaster suggested [[Irvington, New Jersey|Irvington]], to commemorate writer [[Washington Irving]], which was adopted in 1852.<ref>{{cite web |last = Siegel |first = Alan A. |title = History of Irvington |publisher = Township of Irvingon |date = |url = https://irvington.net/township/history/ |accessdate = 21 January 2018}}</ref> == Recordings == In one of the most widely familiar uses of "Camptown Races" in popular culture, the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' and ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoon character [[Foghorn Leghorn]] frequently hums the tune to himself (breaking into song only for the "Doo-Dah" refrain) in most of the 28 cartoons the character appears in, produced between 1946 and 1963. Notably, Leghorn was not based on a minstrel character, but on [[Kenny Delmar]]'s popular radio character, the overbearing Southerner [[Senator Claghorn]].<ref>""It's a Joke, Son!"", AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States 1, University of California Press, 1971, p. 1190, {{ISBN|9780520215214}}</ref> The song was revived on a number of occasions in the twentieth century with recordings by [[Bing Crosby]] (recorded December 9, 1940),<ref>{{cite web|title=A Bing Crosby Discography|url=http://www.bingmagazine.co.uk/bingmagazine/crosby1bDecca.html|website=BING magazine|publisher=International Club Crosby|accessdate=August 5, 2017}}</ref> [[Johnny Mercer]] (1945),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Johnny-Mercer-And-The-Pied-Pipers-With-Paul-Weston-And-His-Orchestra-Surprise-Party-Camptown-Races/release/3295886|title=Johnny Mercer And The Pied Pipers With Paul Weston And His Orchestra - Surprise Party / Camptown Races|author=|date=|website=Discogs|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref> [[Al Jolson]] (recorded July 17, 1950),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jolson.org/|title=Al Jolson Society Official Website|author=|date=|website=www.jolson.org|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref> [[Julie London]] (included in her album ''[[Swing Me an Old Song]]'' - 1959), and [[Frankie Laine]] (included in his album ''Deuces Wild'' - 1961).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Frankie-Laine-Deuces-Wild/master/642785|title=Frankie Laine - Deuces Wild|author=|date=|website=Discogs|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref> Country music singer [[Kenny Rogers]] recorded the song in 1970 with his group The First Edition on their album [[Tell It All Brother]] under the title of "Camptown Ladies." == In popular culture == ===TV=== *In 1963 on ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'' (Season 13 Episode 20), Jack Benny plays Stephen Foster as he tries to write some of his famous songs. The episode features Connie Francis as Foster's wife, who inadvertently helps Foster break his writer's block by commenting on unusual events around their home. "Camptown Races" begins to play on a bullet-riddled player-piano<ref>{{cite web|title=Internet Movie Database|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0613732/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd|website=imdb.com|accessdate=December 11, 2018}}</ref> *"Camptown Races" was performed at the end of the TV-series ''[[30 Rock]]'', Season 6, Episode 1 by Kara Oates.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm3UZgaOxcY|title=Camptown Races (30 Rock Version)|author=|date=|website=youtube.com|accessdate=7 September 2018}}</ref><ref> http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/features/2012/best_tv_2012/best_tv_2012_30_rock_and_america_s_kidz_got_singing.html</ref>.<br/> *"Camptown Races" was performed in the TV-series ''[[All in the Family]]'', Season 4, Episode 9 by character Michael "Meathead" Stivic, played by ''[[Rob Reiner]]''. *In ''[[Unikitty!]]'', the main characters sing this in a Halloween themed episode, "Scary Tales". *"Camptown Races" was sung in the TV-series ''[[Futurama]]'', Season 7, Episode 18 by Miners trapped in a helium mine on the sun. *In ''[[Cars Toon]]'' Guido sings the song in Season 1, Episode 8 *In ''[[Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories]]'', Sauce Boy episode, Mama Pantone sings the song with the help of the Cinco MIDI Organizer. ===Film=== *1938 ''[[Holiday (1938 film)|Holiday]]'' – played on banjo by [[Lew Ayres]] and Sung by Lew Ayres, [[Katharine Hepburn]], [[Jean Dixon]] and [[Edward Everett Horton]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/soundtrack|title=Holiday (1938)|author=|date=|publisher=|accessdate=7 September 2018|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> *1939 ''[[Swanee River (film)|Swanee River]]'' *1950 ''[[Riding High (1950 film)|Riding High]]'' – sung by Bing Crosby, [[Coleen Gray]], [[Clarence Muse]], and children *1969 ''[[The Reivers (film)|The Reivers]]'' *1974 ''[[Blazing Saddles]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071230/soundtrack|title=Blazing Saddles (1974)|author=|date=|publisher=|accessdate=7 September 2018|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> *1987 ''The Stepfather''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094035/soundtrack|title=The Stepfather (1987) - soundtrack|author=|date=|publisher=|accessdate=7 September 2018|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> ::The tune is a [[leitmotif]] of the eponymous character *1989 ''Stepfather II''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098385/soundtrack|title=Stepfather II (1989)|author=|date=|publisher=|accessdate=7 September 2018|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> *1992 ''Stepfather III''{{cn|date=September 2018}} *1999 ''[[Passion (1999 film)|Passion]]'' – sung by two characters then played on piano by [[Richard Roxburgh]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0148583/|title=Passion (1999)|author=|date=|publisher=|accessdate=6 October 2018|via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> == See also == {{wikisource}} == References == {{Reflist|40em}} == External links == * [https://archive.org/details/CamptownRacesByBillyMurray1911 "Camptown Races"] by [[Billy Murray (singer)|Billy Murray]] and chorus (1911), sung in the minstrel style {{Stephen Foster}} [[Category:1850 songs]] [[Category:American folk songs]] [[Category:Blackface minstrel songs]] [[Category:Songs written by Stephen Foster]] [[Category:Public domain music]]'