This is an early novelty cakewalk best described as Rossini meets ragtime for reasons that will become apparent when you hear it. The first half is played mostly out of first position until the trio when there is complete change of style where mostly 'bass/treble solos' are used. It was originally written in 4/4 time but I have arranged it in the more familiar 2/4 time. The score and midi are in the library...Steve.

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It was only when I took a closer look at the front music cover that it's meaning became apparent. It's clearly a racial parady on the William Tell legend. The young black boy standing in fear with an apple on his head and his father, rather than being armed with a crossbow, is holding a cut throat razor. It's truly an example of the racial attitudes held by some 120 years ago...Steve.

I always found it interesting that pointed knives were usually banned by social authority of the "lower classes". From very early on, Sailors were banned from carrying pointed knives. A sailor's knife usually carries a blunt tip, often squared off...this is a long-standing tradition and still issued in many navies. The same was true of enslaved peoples, no points allowed. Thus, we get many references to "razors flying in the air" ("Moses Hoe De Corn") or "only shaves with a razor now" ("Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now").

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