ROSE OF ALABAMA

Published in 1846, by G.P. Reed of Boston, and is credited as follows on the original sheet music: “Words by S.S. Steele, sung by A.F. Winnemore & His Band of Serenaders.” The song became popular among the thousands of fortune-hunters heading to California looking to strike it rich during the 1849 Gold Rush. “The Rose of Alabama” lyrics tell a light, good humored tale about a banjo-playing young black man, who sneaks away on a moonlit night from the slave quarters on his plantation to court his sweetheart, Rosie (the “Rose” of the song), an enslaved young black girl on her plantation across the river. Everything is going ‘swimmingly’ until suddenly his banjo falls in the river! From that point on, the song seems to be more about a lost banjo than a lost love.