Poetry: Clare The Kitchen
Campaign song for Henry Clay, a Whig Party candidate in the 1844 presidential election, modeled after a popular blackface minstrelsy song. Clay became known as the "same old coon" or "old Kentucky" due to his multiple campaigns for the presidency in 1824, 1832, and 1844. Whigs referred to Democrats as "Loco focos."
[The following elegant and 'tasty compositie is found in somc f the best Whig papers in the country, such as ihe Evening Journal, Detroi Advertiser. Tribune, &c. It is but a specimei of many savory compositions of the sanie kin( which the Whig muse has produced. If Mr. Clay would like to be svng into the Frcsidcncy bj euch 'harmonious verse,' his taste for elegant, literature must be different from that of somc others.] From the Albany Evening JournalCLARE THE KITCHEN. In old Kentuck, in de arternoon, Wo tako a bee-line tor de same old coon, And when de nigger tree him, we all fonn a ring And dis is de tune which dis nigger sing. Oh, clare de kitchen, loco foco, Clare de kitehen, loco foco, Old KentuckHie neber tire. 1 went to Washington on de old white horse, I hctul Captain Tyler- he look berry cross! He look at dis nigger. and dis nigger look at him"Massa Veto, for Wirginny you'd better setyou ehin," Oh, clare de kitchon, &c Den Massa Calhoun como a walking by, And dus, at the White House turn de white ob his eye! But Massa Calhoun, you can't come it any nigher, You berry big man, but you too big nullifier. So clare de kitchen, &c. Massa Benton den he come - he cut sich a swell! How I row him np Salt River, jist hear dis nigger teil; He calis me deblish humbug- I cali him anoder- He cali me possum tief- I sny 'how dje brodcr!' So clare de kitchen, &c. Den Massa Dick Johnson, he come along too, He walk mighty grand up deAbenue; I hold dis flat nose, and teil him push along. Cause he smell of missa niggar a leetle too streng. So clare de kitchen, &c. Den Massa Van Buren come back side to kitchen door, He ncber walk grand, but he creep on all four: Says I, 'Massa, s'opc!' and I gib him sicli a grin. Dis uigger's kitchen cabinet and Matty can't come in. So clare de kitchen, &c. O hush! who come yonder? - oh, dem'e de Whig boys, Dey bringing Massa CLAY- by golly what a nose; Dis nigger better colovlze-ïor hark, what dey s;iy, "You must all claie de kitchen for Massa Hariiy Clay!" So clare de kitchen, &c.