ON THE TRAIL OF NEGRO FOLK-SONGS

A Collection Of Negro Traditional & Folk Songs with Sheet Music Lyrics & Commentaries - online book

	NEGRO BALLADS	87
	Mrs. Brady was at home in bed, When she got de telegram that Brady was dead. Cried, " Chillun, chillun, chillun, put yore hats on yore head, And let's go down an5 see if old King Brady is dead." "Brady, Brady, why did n't you run? When you saw that Duncan had a forty-four gun? Oh, Brady, Brady, Brady, you should oughter have run; You had n't oughter faced that great big Gatling gun I" Well, the women cried for many a day, "Brady's gone an' he's gone to stay!" For many a month there was crape on the door. Brady's gone an' ain't coming back any more! The Coon-Can Game is another ballad sent by Mrs. Bartlett. Coon-can is said to be a complicated card-game, something Like rummy, my correspondent suggests, only more scientific, and is a great favorite with Negroes. It is also played by certain fashionable white people at present. The music to this, as to the other songs that Mrs. Bartlett sent, was written down by Mrs. Buie, of Marlin. Mrs. Bartlett writes: "I cannot begin to tell you of the difficulties Mrs. Buie met with in trying to translate the songs 'from African to American music,' as she expresses the process. There are slurs and drops and ' turns' and heaven knows what of notes not to be interpreted by any known musical sign. You are experienced enough with Negro music to know that it is entirely different as sung, from the regular accom­paniment. I think, though, that Mrs. Buie has been very successful in getting the native curlicues, the melody and rhythm. She has truly worked against odds."
	THE COON-CAN GAME