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52 NEGRO FOLK-SONGS
Ole Bangum drew his wooden knife An' swore by Jove he 'd take his life. Cubbi Ki, cuddle dum
Killi quo quam.
Ole Bangum went to de wil' bo's den,
Dillum down dillum. Ole Bangum went to de wil' bo's den,
Dillum down. Ole Bangum went to de wil' bo's den, An' foun' de bones of a thousand men. Cubbi Ki, cuddle dum
Killi quo quam.
They fought fo' hours in that day,
Dillum down dillum. They fought fo' hours in that day,
Dillum down. They fought fo' hours in that day, The wiP bo' fled an' slunk away. Cubbi Ki, cuddle dum
Killi quo quam.
Ole Bangum, did you win or lose?
Dillum down dillum? Ole Bangum, did you win or lose?
Dillum down. Ole Bangum, did you win or lose? He swore by Jove he 'd won the shoes. Cubbi Ki, cuddle dum
Killi quo quam.
Professor Kittredge speaks of this song in a discussion in the Journal of American Folk-lore. Mrs. Case says: "Both General Taylor and President Madison were great-great-grandchildren of James Taylor, who came from Carlisle, England, to Orange County, Virginia, in 1638, and both were hushed to sleep by their Negro mammies with the strains of Bangum and the Boar.77 The version he gives is different in some respects from that given by Mrs. Dashiell.
I am indebted to Mrs. Dashiell for the words and music of another ballad of ancient tradition, A Little Boy Threw His Ball So High, of which she says: "I give it just as my childhood heard it. The old nigger always said dusky for dusty, and I really think she showed great discernment, as Musky garden filled with snow' and 'dusky weir seem more appropriate and probably more horrible." This also |
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