Lyrics
I came from Alabama with my banjo on my knee, I’m going to Louisiana, my true love for to see. It rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry; The sun so hot I froze to death—Susanna, don’t you cry. Oh! Susanna, oh, don’t you cry for me, For I came from Alabama with my banjo on my knee.
#Oh! Susanna at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Sung in
- English
- Words by
- Stephen Foster
- First known
- 1848
- Best for ages
- 4–9
- Mood
- playful, traditional
- Last updated
- 27 August 2026
How to sing it
- Begin slowly so everyone can hear the repeated words and the action cue.
- Keep a walking beat, mime carrying an instrument, and pause to notice the deliberately impossible weather lines.
- Repeat the song once and invite a different child to lead the cues.
Meaning and origin
The familiar opening verse follows a traveller from Alabama toward Louisiana with a banjo, but its most memorable lines are deliberately impossible. It rains all night while the weather is dry, and the sun is so hot that the singer freezes. Those contradictions are not mistakes to correct: they are the comic turn that leads back into the plea, “Susanna, don’t you cry.”
Stephen Foster published “Oh! Susanna” in 1848 for the American minstrel stage. The original sheet music includes racist caricature and dialect as well as additional verses. Reprinting that material on a children’s page would preserve the harm rather than help a child understand the song, so this page gives only a commonly modernised first verse and chorus and states openly that it is an excerpt. The omission is an editorial decision, not a claim that the displayed wording is the complete 1848 text.
The retained verse still offers plenty to notice while singing. A steady walking beat follows the journey, an imaginary banjo supplies the gesture, and the contradictory weather invites a pause or a surprised expression. That keeps the activity playful while leaving the song’s minstrel history visible in the explanation instead of hiding it.
Common questions
- Why does this page omit some verses of Oh! Susanna?
- Stephen Foster wrote “Oh! Susanna” for the minstrel stage, and the 1848 text includes racist caricature and dialect. This page therefore presents only a modernised first verse and chorus and does not reproduce the offensive verses.
- Why is the weather impossible in Oh! Susanna?
- The singer says it rained all night although the weather was dry, then says the sun was so hot that he froze. These deliberate contradictions are the comic turn in the familiar opening verse.
