ON THE TRAIL OF NEGRO FOLK-SONGS

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

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DANCE-SONGS OR REELS
127
I sit upon a hornet's nest, I dance upon my head; I tie a wiper round my neck An' den I go to bed.
I kneel to de buzzard, An' I bow to de crow, An' ebery time I weel about, I jump jis' so.1
Lydia Gumbel, of Straight College, New Orleans, sends a fragĀ­ment which is said to be translated from the Creole, though I thi-nlr that is probably a mistake, since it appears to be a part of this familiar old song.
"Whar you gwine, Buzzard? Whar you gwine, Crow? " "I'se gwine down to New Ground
To jump Jim Crow.
Every time I turn around
I jump Jim Crow."
W. R. Boyd, Jr., gives this variant:
JUMP JIM CROW
Turn about and twist about,
And do jis' so. An' every time you turn about,
You jump Jim Crow.
Miss Fitzgerald sent another song, given her by an old lady who heard the Negro boys sing these as banjo tunes before the war.
Miss Dinah
I wish I was an apple
Miss Dinah was another.
An' O! what a happy pair we'd make
On the tree together.
1 This seems an authentic folk-song stanza.