Published 1922 Length Typically 3-4 mins Composer(s) Avery Robinson (arr.) | Genre Jazz, Folk, Blues Writer(s) Traditional | |
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"Waterboy" (a.k.a. "The Water Boy") is an American traditional folk song. It is built on the call "Water boy, where are you hidin'?" The call is one of several water boy calls in cotton plantation folk tradition.
Numerous artists have written and/or recorded their own versions of this African-American traditional song, including Jacques Wolfe, a Romanian immigrant, and Avery Robinson who popularized "Water Boy" as a jazz song in the 1920s. From 1949 onwards, many blues and folk artists have performed their own arrangements of it.
The opening call to the "water boy" has been said to bear a resemblance to melodies found in classical works by Cui, Tchaikovsky and Liszt, as well as a Jewish marriage song and a Native American tune. The first melody of the subsequent refrain is similar to the old German tune "Mendebras," used for the hymn "Oh Day of Rest and Gladness."