BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " CHRIS SMITH " WAS A SONG WRITER WHOSE SONGS POINTED TO BLACK STYLES : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

              BLACK               SOCIAL           HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                        Chris Smith, 1879-1949

Works

• Smith, Chris

[Chris Smith] detail from "Goodbye, I'll see you some more" (Brooklyn, New York: Hirsekorn and Selig, 1905). Historical American Sheet Music: 1850-1920, American Memory, Library of Congress.

Chris Smith "wrote songs that pointed to black folk styles," according to music historian Eileen Southern. One of his biggest hits, "Good Morning, Carrie," was recorded as early as 1901. Both black and white musicals of the first decade of the 20th century used many of his songs as "interpolations,"or extra songs not especially connected to the plot. Some interpolations were "He's a Cousin of Mine," and "Come After Breakfast." Smith composed much of the music for His Honor the Barber (1909) with J. Tim Brymn. He scored another major hit with "Ballin' the Jack" in 1917. When styles changed, Smith wrote songs for female blues singers in the early 1920s.