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112 |
NEGRO FOLK-SONGS |
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I wish I was back in old Kentuck, For since I left it I had no luck; De gals so proud dey won't eat mush, And when you go to court 'em dey say, O hush!
Chorus
Perhaps Rice — if he did compose this version — used an old folk-song as his basis; and certainly there are fragments of various authentic folk-songs in this salmagundi.
In various parts of the country, versions of the following song, or at least of this chorus, are heard, with different local references:
Oh, Louisiana gal, won't you come out to-night,
Won't you come out to-night,
Won't you come out to-night?
Louisiana gal, won't you come out to-night,
And dance by the light of the moon?
Oh, yaller gal, won't you come out to-night,
Won't you come out to-night,
Won't you come out to-night?
Oh, yaller gal, won't you come out to-night,
And dance by the light of the moon?
Buffalo gal, won't you come out to-night, Won't you come out to-night, Won't you come out to-night? Buffalo gal, won't you come out to-night, And dance by the light of the moon?
I'll give you a dollar if you'll come out to-night,
If you'll come out to-night,
If you'll come out to-night,
I'll give you a dollar if you'll come out to-night,
And dance by the light of the moon.
A Texas variant adds this stanza, which is from another old song — or a part of it is, at least:
I danced with a girl with a hole in her stockin',
And her heel kep' a-rockin',
And her heel kep' a-rockin';
I danced with a girl with a hole in her stockin',
We danced by the light of the moon.
These versions are variations of the chorus of an old song of whose authorship I have found no trace. Possibly it is a minstrel. |
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