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NEGRO FOLK-SONGS |
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"Did you take it to yer mamma? "
"Yes, ma'am." "Did she give you some?"
"Yes, ma'am." "Oh,how'dyoulikeit?"
"Oh, very well."
This is sung antiphonally, the leader shouting one line and the crowd another. It is said that the rhythm of this is strong, and the children stamp their feet with vigor as they sing the nonsensical lines.
Dr. Charles Carroll, of New Orleans, told me of a queer song-game played by Negroes in which the players tied themselves in a knot. Unfortunately, he could remember but vaguely either the progress of the game or the song that accompanied it.
In an article, "Ring-Games from Georgia," in the Journal of American Folk-lore, volume xxx, Loraine Darby gives various songs which she says are peculiar to the colored children of that region, southern Georgia.
"One of the prettiest is The May Pole Song. One girl skips about the inside of the ring, and at the singing of the fourth line bows to the one she chooses. Then both' jump for joy,' a peculiar step rather like a clog, which outsiders find difficult to learn. Then the song is repeated, the second girl choosing, and so on."
All around the May pole,
The May pole, the May pole; All around the May pole,
Now, Miss Sallie, won't you bow? Now, Miss Sallie, won't you jump for joy,
Jump for joy, jump for joy? Now, Miss Sallie, won't you jump for joy,
Now, Miss Sallie, won't you bow?
Miss Darby says, "Perhaps the most charming of all is:
This Lady She Wears a Dark-Green Shawl
This lady she wears a dark-green shawl, A dark-green shawl, a dark-green shawl.
This lady she wears a dark-green shawl, I love her to my heart!
Now choose for your lover, honey, my love,
Honey, my love! Honey, my love! Now choose for your lover, honey, my love,
I love her to my heart! |
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