Talk:Stephen Foster

Disputed Section: My Old Kentucky Home

A part of the article talking about his musical claims that Federal Hill in Kentucky was the inspiration for the song My Old Kentucky Home. However, the musical itself portrays Stephen Foster becoming inspired by the song after John Rowan beats a slave. John Rowan died nine years before the song was ever written. Also there is significant reason to believe that the song was originally written about Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and that the lyrics were changed before publication. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nonathy (talk • contribs) 04:56, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Canon Commercial

A cover of the song "Beautiful Dreamer" was featured in a Canon commercial, but I've found conflicted accounts of who sings it. Some say it's Rachel Fannan, some say it's Michelle Featherstone.Shenkerism (talk) 00:14, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

I'll edit it to say Rachel Fannan, more reliable sources seem to say that. Like thisShenkerism (talk) 00:19, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Swanee

Made a couple of changes that someone may take issue with so I figured I better put down why: In all references to the Suwannee River, with the exception of the movie section, I changed the spelling to "Suwannee" as opposed to "Swanee". I did not change the movie section because evidently that is the actual name of the film. I cannot find any "Swanee" river in anything online or in mapping software or books except where it has been misspelled. It even appears that SCF misspelled it. Radiooperator 21:42, 22 May 2007 (UTC) Update - I changed the so-called "alternate title" of SCF's song back because that was how he originally wrote it.Radiooperator 21:51, 22 May 2007 (UTC) To the article's assertion that Mr. Foster had little formal musical education, I counter with the article on http://www.pitt.edu/~amerimus/foster.htm: "Foster's life has become part of American legend. One thread of the tale is that he detested school and so was poorly educated. In truth, as a young boy Stephen evinced more interest in music than in other subjects. But as the child of a middle-class family in an era before tax-supported public education, he variously was privately tutored, then schooled at private academies in Pittsburgh and in north-central Pennsylvania. He expressed a distaste for rote learning and recitation, but was an avid reader and eventually became a literate, well-educated person by the standards of his day. "He was musically literate as well; he probably received some formal musical training from a German immigrant, Henry Kleber, an accomplished and versatile musician who eventually exerted a major influence on Pittsburgh's musical life as a performer, composer, music merchant, impresario, and teacher."

Relevance of his descendant

I fail to see how it is relevant that his descendant is Brodie Foster Hubbard. Why should this be in the Foster article? If anywhere, it belongs in Hubbard's article, not elsewhere. — BrianSmithson 20:55, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Already discussed on your talk page... sorry about the delete! Didn't even realize I'd done it 'til now. :( Parsssseltongue 02:47, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

No worries! — BrianSmithson 04:03, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Cultural References

"Her door bell plays a bar of Steven Foster" Lyrics in Siver Jews song "Tennessee" released 2001 on the album "Bright Flight" "Met the ghost of Stephen Foster at the Hotel Paradise" Lyrics in Squirrel Nut Zippers song "Ghost of Stephen Foster" released on the album "Perennial Favorites" —The preceding unsigned comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/{[[User:{71.193.216.122 (talk · contribs)|{71.193.216.122 (talk · contribs)]] ([[User talk:{71.193.216.122 (talk · contribs)|talk]] · [[Special:Contributions/{71.193.216.122 (talk · contribs)|contribs]] · [https://tools.wmflabs.org/whois/gateway.py?lookup=true&ip={71.193.216.122 (talk · contribs)

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Rachel?

Any relation to Rachel Foster Avery?

YO

File:IttsburghPaGOBJ3312.JPG

His master's ears

The sculpture does not depict Stephen Foster. The sculpture is of a slave and his master. Originally, the pedestal described the two people, but the pedestal has been burnished clear of the original words. Sixty years ago, the name Stephen Collins Foster was not on the pedestal. On a visit to Pittsburgh around 1948, I read the original words. I believe that the sculpture was originally named "His master's ears" and that it also mentioned "good ole black Joe," too, YO.HeyYallYo 05:55, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Movie Biographies

I don't think that "I Dream of Genie" is a biopic of Mr Foster Chznarles (talk) 17:08, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Preaching copyright?

The second-last paragraph of the "career" section sounds like it was written by some major record company who wants to expand copyright laws. It sounds far too one sided, as if the lack of copyright laws almost destroyed Stephen Foster, and does not cite any sources. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.55.152.226 (talk) 22:20, 2 March 2010 (UTC)

Death

The section currently has no citations. It relies on an account of Foster's death attributed to his brother, which perhaps unsurprisingly makes no mention of alcohol. The Emerson biography is quite clear that Foster had become a chronic alcoholic by this stage, spending his days drinking bad liquor on Hester Street.KD Tries Again (talk) 21:45, 11 October 2010 (UTC)KD Tries Again

Removal of song names makes the article significantly worse.

What is the alleged justification for butchering this article? Dlabtot (talk) 21:37, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Early Life

I've expanded this section slightly with some info on Foster's parents, siblings, and ancestry. This seems to me SOP for Wikipedia biogrpahical articles, but if there are objections to these additions I will remove them. CharlesWTrowbridge (talk) 05:52, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Parents

Mother: Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Foster

Father: William Barclay Foster — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.95.8.186 (talk) 19:09, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

Looney Tunes

Shouldn't it be mentioned that his songs were frequently sung by looney tunes characters? 24.218.161.224 (talk) 13:17, 6 July 2013 (UTC)

Excellent comment

You are absolutely, without question correct. That subject must be treated with precision and cannot be ignored. It sort of goes along with 'what do we do about the confederate flag'? You are most certainly qualified to make edits to the article that help represent this topic and I certainly welcome any and all input. If you don't want to do the editing in the article, then leave a message here-but we have to be able to have a reference for every statement that is made in the article. Please help out if you can. You have pointed out one of the most important thing about Stephen Foster and it can't be ignored.

Barbara (WVS) (talk) 13:33, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

I'm not qualified to make changes, but I'm surprised how lightly the Stephen Foster article treats the impact of racist lyrics on his current popularity.66.41.227.134 (talk) 13:35, 22 April 2014 (UTC)Rodgers Adams

Stephen Foster and race

Barbara (WVS) The talk page about Stephen Foster would be a better place to respond to your request to share ideas about his use of race within his body of work and life. Also, other interested editors can participate.

If you have a sample of writing I can look at, then I can be more useful to you. Unfortunately, I have never researched Foster's life. Therefore, I cannot say anything about him. I am willing to be a peer reviewer for your ideas. I am interested in articles that deal with the idea of race. Mitchumch (talk) 13:25, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

Thank you so much Mitchumch! With your expertise, things could only improve in this article. I might suggest that you take a short look at some of his song lyrics (pretty shocking sometimes looking through our 2015 lens). You are welcome to simply comment on the lyrics if you wish. If you have any info on the background of that historical period and race, that would be helpful. Also, Foster was not an abolitionist. Here are some things to look at: "Angelina Baker", "Beautiful Dreamer", "Camptown Races", "Gentle Annie", "The Glendy Burk", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "My Old Kentucky Home", "Oh! Susanna", "Old Black Joe", "Old Folks at Home". Please don't feel like you have to get too involved, it's your perspective I am interested in. Best Regards,

Barbara (WVS) (talk) 16:56, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

Additional references

• http://bluegrasstoday.com/150-years-of-civil-war-music/
• https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mp/9460447.0001.203/--singing-a-new-song-stephen-foster-and-the-new-american?rgn=main;view=fulltext added 7/14/2017

Barbara (WVS) (talk) 15:16, 23 December 2016 (UTC)

Slavery

There is no logic to the statement that "Though they lived in a northern city, his family did not support the abolition of slavery". Opposition to slavery was not universal in northern cities, nor did living in a Northern city make one automatically an abolitionist. Many northerners were in fact supporters of slavery.203.80.61.102 (talk) 19:20, 16 October 2017 (UTC)

POV

"for its depiction of an African-American banjo player at the feet of the seated composer. Critics say the statue glorifies white appropriation of black culture, and depicts the vacantly smiling musician in a way that is at best condescending and at worst racist."[39]

I realize this is a quotation from an actual news source, and as such, it has been rendered accurately. It does not, however, render an accurate description of the statue in question, but rather a highly-biased view of the statue's assumed significance.

The banjo player is only presumed to be "African-American"; there is no citation from the sculptor stating this to be the case. Indeed, the banjo player bears a not insignificant resemblance to Pete Seeger, a white folk musician, who counted some of Foster's material among his repertory. Secondly, the banjo play is seated not at Foster's "feet", but at his side. Finally, the observation that the musician is smiling "vacantly", reflects a high degree of personal bias -- he may well be smiling because he's a talented musician, enjoying the music he is playing.

The description of the statue and the reason for its removal depicts only a single side of a multifaceted issue, an approach unworthy of an ostensibly "encyclopedic" article. Some balance, please?