Coon Song - Composers

Composers

At the height of coon songs' popularity, "just about every songwriter in the country" was writing coon songs "to fill the seemingly insatiable demand." Writers of coon songs included some of the most important Tin Pan Alley composers, including Gus Edwards, Fred Fisher (who wrote the 1905 "If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon," which sold three million copies), and Irving Berlin. Even one of John Philip Sousa's assistants, Arthur Pryor, composed coon songs. (This was meant to ensure a steady supply to Sousa's band, which performed the songs and popularized several coon song melodies.)

Most coon songs were written by whites, but some were written by blacks. Important African-American composers of coon songs include: Ernest Hogan (who wrote "All Coons Look Alike to Me," the most famous coon song), Sam Lucas (who wrote the most racist early coon songs by modern standards), Sidney Perrin, Bob Cole (who wrote dozens of songs, including "I Wonder What The Coon's Game Is?" and "No Coons Allowed"), and Bert Williams and George Walker.