Oh! Susanna

S. Foster

Key

G

Time

2/4

Tempo

♩=132

AO focus

AO3

Form

Minstrel song — two verses + chorus. Foster's first popular hit (he sold the rights for $100). Known nationwide within months of publication; one of the founding songs of the American popular tradition.

Teaching points

• Folk-rounded melody — G major pentatonic, stays in a singable octave
• Verse / chorus structure — predates and predicts Tin Pan Alley's standard form
• AO3: minstrel-show context — Foster wrote for a tradition with serious racial-history baggage. Discuss the modern reception of these songs