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FOLK SONG OF THE TURF Few American Poets Have Turned Their Attention to Racing But Ancient Negro Chanty of ofSalvator Salvator and His Prowess ProwessNot Not Forgotten BY SALVATOR SALVATORThe The minstrelsy of the turf has never flour ¬ ished In America as It has in England Racing rhymes have always seemed more spontaneous among the AngloSaxon than the Yankees Many a hero or heroine of Epsom and Ascot of Doncaster and New ¬ market has had some Omer strike Is bloomin lyre and sing his or her glories and exploits in more or less deathless strophes But not so with us From the days when the colonial cavaliers of Vir ¬ ginia Maryland and the Carolinas were lay Ing the foundations of the American turf to those of Man o War and Morvich few bards have lifted their voices or flourished their plectra In dithyrambs to the kings and queens of our turf turfI I can think of only one volume now long out of print the departed Dick Careys Tales of the Turf and Rank Outsiders In vhich the highmettled racer was the inspiration of the poets muse This con ¬ tained many entertaining and a few really charming verses particularly those entitled The Grava of Lexington which were im ¬ bued with both grace and sentiment but curiously enough the equine anthology Songs of Horses which Robert Frothing ham published a couple of years ago con ¬ tains not a single excerpt from it itMOST MOST TURF BHYJUES AMATEURISH AMATEURISHSo So far as occasional lyrica fluttering in and out of the turf press and sporting pages go they have always been few and far between and for the moat part crude and amateurish There was one master of this genre the late Hugh Keough Hek whose Lay of the Hospital Race Mr Froth ingham has embalmed I use the word ad ¬ visedly in his anthology but that like most of its authors work is a bit of satire and a scathingly bitter one at that which presents the turf in anything but glamour ¬ ous or gracious light Only two American items among Songs of Horses do that These are James Tandy Ellis Ten Broeck whose lines have a lilt and pathos that en ¬ dure and Ella Wheeler Wilcox How Sal ¬ vator Won a piece beloved of those addicted to elocutionary I beg pardon expression stunts stuntsCandqr Candqr forces me to state that the la ¬ mented poetess effusion never evoked in my breast any answering thrills In fact it always seemed to me a very poor thing of its kind But there was another set of verses devoted to the same subject which I alwas inordinately enjoyed though so far as I know they have never attained the dignity of print much less of Insertion in an anthol ¬ ogy I refer to that chanty that true folksons which used to be current in swipedom for seasons after the wliiS2 faced son of Prince Charlie and the swayoackod son of Rayon dOr had set the turf world agog by tleir duels duelsTWILIGHT TWILIGHT STABLE DITTIES DITTIESIn In those days especially if you were given to loafing about the stables in tin tvriliglu or after dark and heard the soiiiuLf of a guitar or banjo and then a mellow negro voice lifted in sjng you did not netd to be told what it was singing Involuntarily your footsteps turned that way and perhaps you found yourself beside an impromptu campfire where a group of grooms had gathered to while the time away And as the song proceeded you found yourself yielding to the magic of its rhythm your feet twitching to its measures and your own voice joining in the chorus chorusHere Here are the words as after so many years and never having seen them in print I will put them down Wait till I Ret down to Sheophead Bay BayIj Ij what I heard ole Ha Rln say sayI I dont care if Tenny stnris stnrisIm Im tjvne to break ole Tennys heart Bat tioy couldnt ketch Salrator But they couldnt ketch Salvator They l otsit im to a drive an he run in twofire But they couldnt Ketch Salvator SalvatorJohnny Johnny Campbell he well understood understoodTo To have olt Cassius fit and cood coodFit Fit an Rood to set the pace paceAn An kill off the heavyweights in the race But he couldnt beat Balrator BalratorBut But he couldnt beat Salvator SalvatorThey They brought im to a drive an he run lu twofive twofiveBut But he couldnt beat Salvntor SalvntorThey They run the quarter in twcntyfo They was down to the half in fotyeijht Kirjt tliteeiiuarlers in onetliirtecn Ol Salvntor Jest a jjittin up stcani But ticy couldnt ketch Kalvator KalvatorBut But they couldnt ketch Salvator SalvatorTluy Tluy brought im to a drive an he won in twofive twofiveBut But thiy couldnt ketch Salvator SalvatorThey They run the mile in thirtynine thirtynineOld Old Tenny he six lengths behiu behiuTl Tl Snapper he begin to ride rideBut But Uu conldnt ketch ole Haspfins hide But he uuvcr caught Salvator SalvatorBut But he ntver caught Salvator SalvatorHe He biMisht im ti a drive an he run In twofive twofiveBut But ho never caught Salvator SalvatorThat That was before the day of jazz Rag ¬ time was also still in the offing but begin ning to be heard of This ditty of Salvator and Tenny was sung to a subtly syncopated rhythm quite irresistible You didnt have to watch out for it just got you anyway It had a sway and a swing a gliding danc ¬ ing step alternated with dramatic pauses exotic accents interpolated cadenzas and all the rest of those semibarbaric modes and tempi which in subsequent years were to take possession of the world They were all new then and in comUnation with the verses and the stage setting formed some ¬ thing that left to the sympathetic hearer memories that could never fade
