In Georgia’s sunny clime they have a funny time on a certain date. The folks all celebrate in ragtime.
The little things they do are bound to tickle you. Come along with me. You’ll be as happy as can be.
At that old plantation ball That’s the greatest place of all Folks down there don’t care for style All you have to do is simply wear a smile You’ll enjoy the music sweet Of those shuffling shuffling feet Come along with me and don’t you dare to balk Listen to the chatter and the funny talk Watch ’em while they’re steppin’ to the pigeon walk At the old plantation ball
The little tunes they play will make you want to stay No one even goes Until the rooster crows, Dawg gone it And when they sing a song the birds just sing along I know this is true You’re goin’ to want to join ’em too
The team of Collins and Harlan was the most successful duo of the acoustic era.
Collins and Harlan performed comic songs in various dialects, cut rube skits, and covered songs satirizing trends of the day, including the new "jass" music introduced in Chicago clubs in late 1916 (the duo made the first record ever to refer to "jass"--the word "jazz" would not come into use until months later in 1917).
Some songs were sentimental (which suited Harlan's tenor voice well), not comic (Collins recorded comic songs on a regular basis as a solo artist).
Before teaming with tenor Byron G. Harlan, baritone Arthur Collins had a partner in tenor Joe Natus. Collins and Natus made 19 Edison cylinders in 1901-1902 and several Victor recordings. Around this time Collins sang in an Edison ensemble called the Big Four Quartet, which recorded five titles issued in 1901. Harlan was one of the quartet's tenors; Natus was the other; A. D. Madeira was bass.
Collins and Harlan probably harmonized for the first time as members of this Edison quartet. By 1903 Natus no longer worked for Edison. The June 1903 Edison Phonograph Monthly announces that "I Must Have a Been a Dreamin'" (Standard 7850), sung by Arthur Collins and Joe Natus, would be "hereafter...sung by Collins and Harlan." Collins and Harlan made new takes of various titles originally cut for Edison by Collins and Natus.
The first time Collins was paired with Harlan for a Victor session was on October 31, 1902 (Harlan's first Victor session).
They were again paired a day later, on November 1. They cut five titles on October 31, including "The First Rehearsal of the Huskin' Bee" (1723), a rube skit. Many of their early recordings are "rube" sketches with songs, such as "Closing Time in a Country Grocery" (Victor 1728; Burke & Rous cylinder 236) and "Two Rubes in a Tavern" (Victor 1727; B & R 239), and they continued recording rural comedy for years, Harlan performing it into the 1920s.
