FROM MARGARET WALKER TO RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK: A GLANCE AT THE LESSER-KNOWN HEROES BEHIND THE DEVELOPMENT, PRESERVATION, & POPULARIZATION OF “LIZA JANE.”

Publication info

Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane, University Press of Mississippi, November 27, 2023. Available at UPM website, Amazon, and other online merchants. “Liza Jane” is also the subject of a forthcoming documentary film; please visit the project’s website for a trailer, information on the creative team, details on participating musicians, and ways to support the production. […For even more, please see the Poor Gal table of contents; Poor Gal Spotify playlist; and the author’s website.]

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Broadly speaking, my forthcoming book Poor Gal: The Cultural History of Little Liza Jane chronicles the formation, spread, and enduring importance of the “Liza Jane” family of songs. “Little Liza Jane” and its sibling tunes crossed many boundaries to reach what I call the “musical paradises of the twentieth century.” Once there, they appealed to a slew of “big name” performers, whose performances were often stunning.

Stars such as Harry Belafonte, Nina Simone, and Pete Seeger (among many others) embraced “Liza Jane” songs throughout the twentieth century. Their renditions often made important political, emotional, and historical statements. Notably, an adaptation of “Little Liza Jane” became David Bowie’s very first single in 1964. Today, a new group of influential musicians such as Dom Flemons and Nora Brown have recorded “Liza Jane,” thereby preserving a tradition that began in the nineteenth century.

It is likely that the “Liza Jane” family of songs originated more than 150 years ago among enslaved people on southern plantations. From hardscrabble beginnings rooted in African American folk tradition, these bright, joyous tunes eventually found the stars, to be sure, but also a slate of less-celebrated individuals who made vital contributions to the development, popularization, and preservation of “Liza Jane.” With that in mind, I thought it might be enjoyable for readers to get a sense of some of the lesser-known women and men who will also populate the book, in addition to the recognizable stars. To me, the impacts made by these lesser-known heroes compete with those of the “heavyweights.”

From quieter, behind-the-scenes moments rooted in folk tradition to the big-audience moments in front of tens of millions, “Liza Jane” has crossed so many boundaries — including the color line, historical eras, geographical regions, music genres, and performance traditions — its story reminds us of our shared humanity.

Margaret Walker’s novel Jubilee begins in the antebellum South on a Georgia plantation. In the novel’s early going, Walker describes performance rituals associated with a game song played together by African American and white children, “Steal Miss Liza (Steal Liza Jane).” The analysis of this episode in Jubilee is part of Poor Gal’s second “intermission” which also looks at the inclusion of “Liza Jane” in fictional works by Charles Chesnutt and Jean Toomer.

In his autobiography, composer W.C. Handy describes how “snatches of folk melody” influenced his compositions. It appears likely that the earliest forms of “Liza Jane” contained similar “snatches of song.” Handy’s observations help to form Poor Gal’s theoretical framework and are discussed in the book’s “Introduction,” along with essential contributions by sociologist Howard Odum, the regal Duke Ellington, and African musicologists.

A regiment of African American soldiers during the Civil War

“Liza Jane” songs appealed to regiments from both sides of the Civil War. Stunningly, two opposing regiments — a Union unit comprised of Black soldiers and the other a Confederate unit — were both singing “Liza Jane” as they marched toward a battle at Spotsylvania Courthouse in 1864. Regimental adoptions of “Liza Jane” are presented in Chapter II of Poor Gal, which also explores the contributions made by the mysterious war correspondent “Dr. Adonis.”

Native American (t) and African American (b)   

musicians at the Hampton Institute ca. 1898-99

“Little Liza Jane” enjoyed many decades of popularity as a dance game at the Hampton Institute, now known as Hampton University. This community of students, and other communities like it, helped to preserve the essential character of “Little Liza Jane,” which would become the most beloved “Liza Jane” variant in the twentieth century. The presence of “Liza Jane” at the Hampton Institute is covered in multiple chapters of Poor Gal.

Did the eighteenth-century Scottish poet Robert Burns (and his poem “Farewell to Eliza”) influence the formation of “Liza Jane” songs? Poor Gal explores this possibility in the book’s first “intermission,” as well as potential influences from nineteenth century American songs and poetry. Notably, Robert Burns enjoyed widespread popularity in the United States when the first “Liza Jane” songs likely developed.

An influential friendship developed between student-composer Harry T. Burleigh and Antonín Dvořák, when the Czech composer became director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York, in 1892. Burleigh was quite fond of “Liza Jane” and it is likely that he sang the song for his friend and mentor. This episode is developed in Chapter XV, one that also connects Nina Simone, David Bowie, and Langston Hughes to the expansive “Liza Jane” constellation.

George W. Johnson (t) and Arthur Collins (b)

“Liza Jane” songs attained “hit” status in the early recording era. Among others, African American star George W. Johnson (in 1898) and baritone Arthur Collins (in 1903) both produced popular versions of “Goodbye Liza Jane.” The former reclaimed a variant that had flourished in minstrelsy while the latter performed a Tin Pan Alley number. These efforts are discussed across various chapters that measure how societal forces acted upon early recordings of “Liza Jane.”

Actress, aviatrix, and novelist Ruth Chatterton may have been most responsible for popularizing “Little Liza Jane” in the World War I era. Unlike “Goodbye Liza Jane,” this variant likely did not feature in minstrelsy, and instead, was popularized by Chatterton from 1916-1917 during more than 200 performances of a Broadway play. Chatterton’s influence is chronicled in chapter XI of Poor Gal, which also introduces the enigmatic composer Countess Ada de Lachau. 

Beginning in the 1930s, two young musicians known as the DeZurik Sisters or the Cackle Sisters appeared on syndicated radio shows all over the country. They became especially famous for their virtuosic imitations of chickens. And of course, they sang about “Liza Jane.” The Cackle Sisters are discussed in Chapter XIII of Poor Gal, alongside other big-audience moments in popular films, television programs, early animations, and radio shows. 

The multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk loved performing “Little Liza Jane” and on one occasion told a colorful onstage story about the original Liza Jane. Poor Gal examines this moment in the book’s final chapter, in an exploration of Liza Jane’s identity. In the end, we may never know who inspired the first “Liza Jane” songs but a great number of people associated these tunes with brightness, levity, and dancing — the indomitable nature of the human spirit. 



Also check out the Poor Gal Table of Contents

[*All images sourced from Wikimedia commons and are thought to be in the public domain.]