| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
i88 |
NEGRO FOLK-SONGS |
||
|
All you need
Ring-ding-ah-ding — ah! Is a hickory stick!"
Eegisty-ogisty — ring-ding-ah-ding — ah I
The dashes stand for peculiar "spittings and puffings with the lips, that defy expression. However, they are an important part of the rhythm of the incantation. There is another verse which I write out without attempting the gutterals and fanciful refrains, though they must be understood as accompanying it:
Ole Aunt Dinah went to town,
Riding a billy-goat, leading a hound.
Hound barked, billy-goat jumped, Set Aunt Dinah straddle of a stump.
This might be compared with the predicament of one Daniel Tucker, in the fragment given by Mary Stevenson Callcott and others:
Old Dan Tucker went to town,
Riding a horse and leading a hound. The hound did bark, the horse did jump, And left Dan Tucker straddle of a stump.
Who knows what dateless tragedy in some colored farm was responsible for the outburst reported by Mrs. A. J. Smith, from Texas? At least let us rejoice that the comforts of literature are left to the singer, even if his dogs are dead.
Jtmmtk-Ma~Riley-Oh 1
I looked down the road And I seed de dust a-risin'..
Jimmie-ma-riley-oh! The big dog dead An' the little one a-pizened.
Jimmie-ma-riley-oh! And when I get a new book I read it to the chillun.
Jimmie-ma-riley-oh I
This suggests the version sent by Mrs. Richard Clough Thompson, of Arkansas, though the latter omits the dogs:
I look up de road and see de dust a-risin',
Johnny kum a-rango way! Did you eber see a yaller gal lickhV 'lasses candy?
Johnny kum a-rango way! |
|||