[Alternately: “De Dandy Broadway Swell”].

To listen to this song (and others) on the Artists Respond to Juba Site, Click Here.

The earliest publication of the song that can be confirmed is the A. & J.P. Ordway edition of 1848 (Boston). We can glean some understanding of its eponymous dandy character by virtue of the presence of the word “swell”. The OED provides the following definition in the ninth sense: “[a] fashionably or stylishly dressed person; hence, a person of good social position, a highly distinguished person”. Indeed, Mahar makes the case that while this character certainly belonged to a larger category of the “dandy” (to which Zip Coon and Dandy Jim From Caroline also belong), contemporaneous interpretations of these dandies would have likely been context specific – knowledge that is now lost to us (209). On close inspection of the lyrics, it seems that the character in the present song is based in New York City, particularly in areas known for their theatrical activity. Moreover, variants surveyed for this entry emphasize self description as opposed to the description of a situation or event, which suggests the comic substance of the song was in the composition of the character.

While the song appears to have been popular during the period in question, its popularity has not endured into the twentieth century. Only one recorded version of the song has been located, the information for which is provided below. The representation of imposterism, however, has survived in popular music – The Who’s 1966 single “Substitute” offers interesting parallels.

Select Recording History:

Spaeth, Sigmund G. “De Dandy Broadway Swell.” Weep Some More My Lady. Doubleday, 1927.

Works Cited:

Mahar, William J. Behind the Burnt Cork Mask: Early Blackface Minstrelsy and Antebellum American Popular Culture. Chicago: Illinois UP, 1999.

Mark Turner