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 fortunehunters 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 banjoplaying 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.