# "I's comin'. . ."

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [April 7, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646 "2000-04-07T19:14:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646/1 "2000-04-07T19:14:00Z")

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“. . .Though my head is hangin’ down. . . .”

What is this song that I know only from those lyrics as sung by famed crooners Buckwheat and Bugs Bunny?

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646/2 "2000-04-07T19:37:00Z")

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“Old Black Joe,” one of those late 19th-century songs about how happy and carefree the darkies were on the plantation, and how sorry they are that Mr. Lincoln turned them out:

I’se comin’, I’se comin’, but my head is bending low;  
I hear the gentle voices callin’ Old Black Joe.

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**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646/3 "2000-04-07T19:49:00Z")

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By Stephen Foster of “Camptown Races” and “I Dream of Jeannie” fame.

His songs were “sensitive” (i.e., maudlin), widely popular and concerned with the human condition, even of the “darkies”, but he was definitely a product of his times.

For an extreme example in this genre see the “Ode to Stephen Dowling Botts, Deceased” in _Huckleberry Finn_.

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**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646/4 "2000-04-07T19:56:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by pluto:  
> **His songs were “sensitive” (i.e., maudlin].**

ROFL…you mean like Elton John? 😉

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“That’s impossible! Cartman doesn’t know a rainforest from a Pop-Tart!”  
“Yes I do! Pop-Tarts are frosted!”

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**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646/5 "2000-04-07T20:09:00Z")

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More like Barry Manilow. (“Looks like we made it! Lost each other on the way to another world…”)

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**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2000, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-comin/15646/6 "2000-04-07T21:23:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by pluto:  
> **By Stephen Foster of “Camptown Races” and “I Dream of Jeannie” fame.**

Wow! Stephen Foster was on “I Dream of Jeannie”? I must have missed that episode.

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_God is my co-pilot. Blame Him._