"Golden Slippers"

Although many believe that “Oh Dem Golden Slippers” was written by Stephen Foster, it’s actually the work of James Alan Bland. Also known as Jimmy Bland, he was an African-American musician, song writer, and minstrel performer. Bland was one of eight children born in Flushing, New York, to a free family. His father was one of the first African-Americans to graduate college (Oberlin College, 1845). The family lived in Philadelphia for a while when James was young and it was here that he purportedly first fell in love with the banjo after hearing an elderly black street musician playing one. Beginning with an $8 banjo purchased by his father, Jimmy, began performing professionally by age 14. Bland was one of the most prolific minstrel composers of all time. He is reputed to have written over six hundred songs, though only about fifty were published under his name. Often called "The World's Greatest Minstrel Man", Bland toured the United States, as well as Europe. Music historian Alec Wilder calls Bland the “black writer who broke down the barriers to white music publishers' offices.” Oh Dem Golden Slippers tells the story of a man obsessed with what we would today call materialism: his long tailed coat, long white robe, his banjo (the love of Bland's life), but most important his golden slippers. He talks about riding off in his chariot, which some music historians believe a metaphor for escaping slavery - a concept that would not have been lost on the freeborn Bland. It remains to be seen if the narrator is simply leaving the plantation, going north to escape for good, or going to a better place - perhaps Heaven? We decided to perform this piece as an instrumental version along with the chorus only. Worth a study to review the lyrics. Enjoy!