In Dahomey
Publication Information
(1996)
Biographical Information
(1869-1944) Will Marion Cook studied violin at Oberlin College when he was 15. He also attended the National Conservatory of Music in New York, where he studied with Dvorak and John White. He played professionally at Oberlin, but his solo career was short-lived. He also wrote musicals but is best-known for his songs that represent an original, distinctive handling of Black folk elements in song composition. He collaborated with Paul Laurence Dunbar while composing the musical sketch comedy Clorindy, the Origin of the Cakewalk (1898), which was Cook’s first composed score.
Recommended Citation
Cook, William Marion, "In Dahomey" (2017). Dunbar Music Archive. 362.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dunbar/362
COinS
Text
Songs:
Overture
Caboceers Entrance
Chocolate Drops (Two-Step and Cake-walk) - music by Harry Von Tilzer
Dat Gal of Mine (March and Two-Step) - music by Ben J. Shook
Evah Dahkey is a King - music by John H. Book
Good Evenin'
Happy Jim - music by James Vaughan
Hurrah for Captain Kidd
I May Be Crazy, But I Ain't No Fool - words and music by Alex Rogers
I Wants to be a Actor Lady - music by Harry Von Tilzer
I'll Take a Kitchen Mechanic For Mine - music by Tom Logan
I'm a Jonah Man - music by Alex Rogers
Jig - music by Bert Williams
Leader of the Colored Aristocracy
Me An' De Minstreal Ban' - music by James Vaughan
Molly Green
My Castle on the Nile - music by Rosamond Johnson
My Dahomian Queen - music by J. Leubrie Hill
My Dear Luzon - music by Tom Lemonier
My Lady Frog - music by Will Marion Cook and Will Accooe
On Broadway in Dahomey Bye and Bye - music by Al. Johns
On Emacipation Day (Characteristic Negro March and Two Step)
Rag-Time Drummer - music by J. Leubrie Hill
Returned
A Rich Coon's Babe
She's Dancing Sue - music by Will Marion Cook and Will Accooe
Society - music by Will Marion Cook and Will Accooe
Swing Along
That's How the Cake Walk's Done - music by J. Leubrie Hill
When it's All Goin' Out. And Nothin' Comin - music by Williams and Walker
When Sousa Comes to Coon-Town - music by James Vaughan and Tom Lemonier
When the Moon Shines - music by James Vaughan
Why Adam Sinned - music by Alex Rogers
In Dahomey is often claimed to be the first African American production to ever be mounted on Broadway. African American blackface performers Bert Williams and George Walker star as two conmen from Boston who discover a pot of gold and devise a plan to move to Africa to colonize Dahomey (present day Benin) with a group of poor African Americans.
blackworkbroadway.com