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Our Singing Country |
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9 I run my hands in her coal-black hair, I swung her round and round; I threw her in a clear water stream That flowed through Lexington.
10 As I went down to my workshop, I met my servant, John;
He asked me why I looked so pale And yet so very worn.
11 "And what is the cause of all that blood Upon your hands and clothes?"
The answer was that I replied, " 7Twas the bleeding of my nose."
12 I lit my candle and went to my room And thought that I would rest,
It seemed to me that flames of fire Were burning in my breast.
13 Young men, young men, take warning from me? And if your sweetheart's true,
Don't ever let the devil get The upper hand on you. |
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THE RICH OLD LADY
e*> to /. No. 204. James Baker (Iron Head), Sugarland, Texas, 1934.. See Sh, 1:348; Cox, p. 464. Tune, see "Lily Mimro," p. 170.
A few variants and fragments of British ballads, such as this one, have been found among Southern Negroes. On the whole, however, this tradition was absorbed and creatively used by the Negro people rather than perpetuated in terms of specific songs. The incisive and clean-cut story-telling technique, the use of incremental repetition, the handling of dramatic dialogue, the stanza form to be found in "John Henry," "Po' Laz'us," "Frankie," and others, were, in all likelihood, indirectly derived from the
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