How "Aunt Jemima" Got Her Name (The 19th century song "Old Aunt Jemima")

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information and text examples of the 19th century American song "Old Aunt Jemima".

This post serves as a companion to http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/10/19th-century-20th-century-examples-of.html. That post provides information and examples of the song "Aunt Jemima's Plaster" (also known as "Sheepskin and Beeswax".)

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners

Thanks to all those who collected these songs. Thanks also to all who are quoted in this page.

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MEANING OF THE NAME "JEMIMA" AND "PLASTER"
The female name "Jemima" means "dove" in Hebrew and "little dove" in Arabic.

In the 19th century the title "Aunt" was used in the United States for elderly Black women in place of the title "Mrs." since "Mrs" was reserved for White women only.
INFORMATION & EXAMPLES OF "OLD AUNT JEMIMA"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Aunt_Jemima
"Old Aunt Jemima" was a popular American song composed by African American comedian, songwriter and minstrel show performer Billy Kersands (c. 1842–1915). The Old Aunt Jemima song was the inspiration for the Aunt Jemima brand of pancakes, as well as several characters in film, television and on radio named "Aunt Jemima".

Kersands wrote his first version of "Old Aunt Jemima" in 1875. It was to become Kersands' most popular song. Robert Toll claimed that Kersands had performed this song over 2000 times by 1877.[1] There were at least 3 different sets of "Old Aunt Jemima" lyrics by 1889.[2]

Often "Old Aunt Jemima" would be sung while a man in drag playing the part of Aunt Jemima performed on stage. It was not uncommon for the Aunt Jemima character to be played by a white man in blackface.[2][3]

Other minstrels incorporated Aunt Jemima into their acts, so Aunt Jemima became a common figure in minstrelsy. Other songs about Aunt Jemima were composed, such as "Aunt Jemima Song" and "Aunt Jemima's Picnic Day".[2]

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From http://black-face.com/billy-kersands.htm
..."Billy Kersands was the most popular minstrel star and the highest paid black entertainer of the era, earning as much as one hundred dollars a week---a lot of money in the 1870s and 1880s. Kersands was a comedian who enjoyed entertaining the public. But his real forte was dancing. He was credited as being the first dancer to introduce the "soft-shoe" dance, and the "buck and wing." He was also instrumental in introducing the African-American "clog-dance."

Perhaps the most enduring “mammy” icon is Aunt Jemima. Billy Kersands, a black minstrel performer, wrote the song “Aunt Jemima” for a white minstrel artist in 1875. The song was performed in 1889 with a man named Chris Rutt in the audience. Rutt, seeing an opportunity for commercializing the Aunt Jemima character, went on to trademark the name and sold it to The Davis Company. Davis eventually hired a former enslaved woman named Nancy Green to sell their company’s pancakes at the Chicago Exposition in 1893. The "mammy" icon of Aunt Jemima has lived far beyond the minstrel song.

"He began entertaining in the South, probably before the Civil War and remained a working entertainer for more than 60 years, most of them spent in minstrelsy.

Kersands' popularity with Southern black audiences was unsurpassed, and he demonstrated that a nineteenth-century black entertainer could become rich and famous...

So successful was Billy that he and [his wife] Louise [toured for their minstrel company's performances] throughout the heartland of the USA in their private railway car, and they and their company were booked in Europe during much of the 1907-09 period, which included a command performance for Queen Victoria."...

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TEXT EXAMPLES OF "AUNT JEMIMA"
These examples are presented in chronological order based on the example's collection or original publication.

Example #1:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Aunt_Jemima

[Note this page indicates that Billy Kersands composed "Aunt Jemina" as early as 1875. However, this may not be the earliest version of that song.]

"OLD AUNT JEMIMA
One version of "Old Aunt Jemima" began with a stanza expressing dissatisfaction with the dullness of worship services in white churches, such as a complaint about the length of the prayers. The song ended with the following two stanzas:

The monkey dressed in soldier clothes,
Old Aunt Jemima, etc.
Went out in the woods for to drill some crows,
Old etc.
The jay bird hung on a swinging limb.
Old etc.
I up with a stone and hit him on the shin.
Old etc.

Oh, Carline, oh, Carline,
Can't you dance the bee line
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

The bullfrog married the tadpole's sister,
Old etc.
He smacked his lips and then he kissed her,
Old etc.
She says if you love me as I love you,
Old etc.
No knife can cut out love in two.
Old etc.

Some variants of the song substituted "pea-vine" for "bee line". Another version included the verse:

My old missus promise me,

Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

When she died she-d set me free,

Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

She lived so long her head got bald,

Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

She swore she would not die at all,

Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh![2]

Sterling Stuckey [cultural historian and author of the 1988 book Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America] maintains that Kersands did not write all of these lyrics, but adapted many of them from "slave songs" (such as field hollers and work songs).[2]"
-snip-
Here's a comment (from the Mudcat folk music forum discussion thread whose link is given below) about the "My old massa promised me/when I die, he'll set me free" verse:
"The 'promised me' verse in various forms appears in minstrel songs as early as 1845.
Massa and misse promised me
When they died they'd set me free
Massa and misse dead and gone
Here's old Sambo hillin' up corn."

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Example #2:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=128733 "Lyr Add: Old Aunt Jemima & Aunt Jemima's Plaster" [hereafter known as Mudcat: Aunt Jemima"], posted by Q, 10 Apr 10 - 04:30 PM

"OLD AUNT JEMIMA
(Words and music James Grace, 1876)

1
I went to de church de other night,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
To hear de colored folks sing and pray,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
Old Pomp got tight, and Dinah walk along,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
And made old Gumbo sing a song,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

Chorus
Car'line, Car'line, can't you dance de peavine,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

2
Dar was a bullfrog dressed in soldier clothes
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
He went out to drill dem crows,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
But de bullfrog he made such a mighty splutter,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
Dat I up wid my foot and kicked him in de water,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
3
I carried a hen coop on my knee,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
I thought I heard a chicken sneeze,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
'Twas nothing but a rooster saying his prayers,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!
He gave out a hymn, such a getting up stairs,
Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!

Many verses, often floaters, linked by 'Old Aunt Jemima, oh! oh! oh!, sung by various minstrel groups.

Verses above by James Grace, for banlo [sic] accompaniment by George C. Dobson.
Sheet music 1876, John F. Perry & Co., Boston.
American Memory."
-snip-
Notice that although documentation now credits the first version of this minstrel song to African American entertainer Billy Kersands, various White men, inluding James Grace, copyrighted versions of that song.

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AUNT JEMIMA
From Thomas W. Talley [editor], Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise, originally published in 1922, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm The Project Gutenberg EBook of Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes [p. 107]

OLD AUNT JEMIMA
OLE Aunt Jemima grow so tall,
Dat she couldn' see de groun'.
She stumped her toe, an' down she fell
From de Blackwoods clean to town.

W'en Aunt Jemima git in town,
An' see dem "tony" ways,
She natchully faint an' back she fell
To de Backwoods whar she stays.
-snip-
This version documents the disdain that city African Americans had for country African Americans. "Tony" here means "citified", "snobbish", "snotty".

Similar attitudes of disdain for rural Americans is reflected in White depictions of "hillbillies". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/shared-steroptypes-for-hillbillies.html for the pancocojams post "The Shared Steroptypes For Hillbillies & African Americans".

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Example #4
From Mudcat: Aunt Jemima, posted by Joe Offer, 14 Apr 10 - 03:51 AM

Margaret MacArthur sang it to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

AUNT JEMIMA

Aunt Jemina climb a tree
She had a stick to boost her,
There she sat a-shelling corn
For our old bob tailed rooster.

CHORUS
Humpty Doodle skiddlebing
Humpty Doodle Daddy,
Humpty Doodle skiddlebing
Wax for Torttle-addy

Corn cobs will twist your hair
Cart wheels around you,
Fiery dragons scare you off
And mortar pestles pound you.
CHORUS

Aunt Jemima's dead and gone
It's hard to tell the story,
They put the plaster on her back
And threw her up to glory.
CHORUS

Sheepskin, bees wax
Makes the sticky plaster,
The more we try to pull it off,
The harder it sticks the faster.
CHORUS

Tune: Yankee Doodle Dandy
From the singing of Mrs. Austin Nichols, Guilford, Vermont; verses three and four from Jean Chase, Putney, Vermont.

Source:
Album notes from Folksongs of Vermont, a Folkways LP by Margaret MacArthur.
-snip-
Notice that this example includes a verse of the "Aunt Jemima's Plaster" song.

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RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/rush-limbaughs-calling-african.html to read about the African American practice of insulting certain attitudes and behaviors by calling women an "Aunt Jemima" (meaning a female "Uncle Tom").

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Speculations About The Origin & Meaning Of "Sangaree" And "Sandy Ree" [song titles]

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part series about the Georgia Sea Islands [United States] songs "Sangaree" and "Sandy Ree". This post presents speculations about the origin & meaning of the words "sangaree" & "Sandy Ree" as found in those songs. This post also presents some other examples of the word "sangaree" apart from the use of that word as a song's title and refrain.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/09/sangaree-and-sandy-ree-song-lyrics_12.html for Part I of this series. That post showcases the 19th century Black American song "Sangaree" [with later verses] and a 20th century version of that song entitled "Sandy Ree".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed and collected these songs. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

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EXCERPTS OF THESE SONGS
SANGAREE
Verse 1: From Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands by Lydia Parrish (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1942, reprinted 1992), page 99 [hereafter given as Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands]

If I live (Sangaree)
Don' get kill' (Sangaree)
I'm goin' back (Sangaree)
Jacksonville (Sangaree)

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SANDY REE
From Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes (1972) pp. 133-135 [hereafter given as Step It Down]

Verse #1:
Way down yonder,
Sandy Ree,
Where I come from,
Sandy Ree,
Girls love boys,
Sandy Ree,
Likee a hog loves corn
Sandy Ree,
-snip-
The complete lyrics for those versions of those songs can be found in Part I of this series.

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SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF "SANGAREE" AND "SANDY REE"
These theories are presented along with their citations in the order that I came upon them. The numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only. Any italics were added by me to highlight that particular sentence or sentences.

1. From Step It Down
"Sangaree" is an old dance song and a particular form of dancing to that song.
"..."Sandy Ree" was obviously onee of the Islanders favorite dance; they seemed to reservee their fanciest footwork and their hottest clapping for a "Sandy Ree" session. The word itself may have originally been "sangari," an African term*, but the people from the Sea Islands say that the name came from the way one's feet "scrooch up in the sand: when the Sandy Ree step is down"
-snip-
Given the similarities between the words "sandy ree" and the word "sangaree" as well as the very close similarities between the structure and much of the lyrics of both versions of this song that I've come across, it seem obvious that "sandy ree" is a folk etymology form of the word "sangaree". Therefore, it's the word "sangaree" whose origin/s and meaning/s that I'm most interested in.

I've read the statement that "i>The word [sangaree] itself may have originally been "sangari," an African term" in several sites that weren't quoting the Step It Down book. That statement probably refers to the work of Lorenzo Dow Turner who pioneered the research into the retention of African words among the Gullah people of the Georgia Sea Islands. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Dow_Turner for information about Lorenzo Dow Turner and his now classic 1949 book Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. Read the entry given as #3 below for more on what may be "the African term" that is alluded to in that statement.

2. From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=55909 Lyr Req: Sangarie
The word "sangaree is a referent for the [alcoholic drink] "sangria".

3. From i>Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands
"One ring –play uses “sangaree” for its refrain, and in so doing gives a clue of its age. Few people today know that ante-bellum planters were refreshed by this West Indian drink which consisted of a chilled mixture of wine, sugar, nutmeg, and water [note 14]

[book note #14] Julep sangaree was in use before 1840, Dr. L. D. Turner believes however that the song got its refrain from the African word “sangari” meaning a ring dance.
-snip-
In the first part of that excerpt, Lydia Parrish refers to "sangria". In the second part of that excerpt, she unfortunatly doesn't identify which African language or even which African nation the word "sangari" comes from. I recall reading that Dr. Turner attributed the word "sangari" to the West African nation of Sierra Leone. From the little bit of reading of his work that I've done, I gather that Sierra Leone was the African nation where Dr. L. D. Turner did most of his research. However, I can't find that citation so I'm not sure about that.

4. From Google Book edition of The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White by Henry Wiencek ["Sangaree is a children's singing game]
That book "is a biographical history which chronicles the racially intertwined Hairston clan of the noted Cooleemee Plantation House which is located between Mocksville and Lexington, North Carolina, at the terminus of SR 1812 on the Yadkin River in Davie County, North Carolina. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1227972.The_Hairstons and the Wikipedia eentry for the Cooleemee Plantation House.

A passage from that book [beginning on p. 233] indicates that the Black Hairston family were as familiar with the children's game "Sangaree" as they were with the game "Ring Around the Rosies". Henry Wiencek writes that the famly didn't know what "sangaree" meant, but that he eventually learned of a Ghanaian folktale which includes the refrain "Sangaree". The author includes that Ghanaian folktale in his book.

5."Sangaree" is a adaptation of a Mali, West Africa
surname from the Bambara language

Among those persons with that last name is the renown Malian vocaist Oumou Sangaré. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/09/eight-videos-of-oumou-sangare-mali.html for a pancocojams post which showcases examples of that vocalist's recordings. Another person with that last name happens to be cited in the summary of one of those videos.

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EDITOR'S COMMENT
I think that it's likely that the word "sangaree" -and the words "sandy ree" may have come from one or more African langagues and that word or words may have also been used for the alcoholic drink known as "sangria". However, I also think that it's likely that most people who sung the song "Sangaree" and later "Sandy Ree" just thought of that word or those words as as nicely sounding rhythmic refrain that has no literal meaning.

Although Elizabeth Cotton's song "Shake Sugaree" is different in structure, lyrics, and most likely tune, than the other two songs that are discussed here, it occurs to me that the word "sugaree" looks and sounds a lot like "sangaree" and "sandy ree".

Neither Elizabeth Cotton nor her granddaughter who sung that song in that record, explained what "shake sugaree" meant. I've presented a number of theories about the meaning of that phrase in an earlier pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/eiizabeth-cotton-shake-sugaree-sound.html

I now believe that "shake sugaree" pertains to the "favorite dance
["Sandy Ree"/"Sangaree"] to which [the Gullah islanders] seemed to reserve their fanciest footwork and their hottest clapping" [quoting Step It Down].

Prior to doing research for this "Sangaree"/"Sandy Ree" post, I favored the theory that "shake sugaree" came from the word "shavari" meaning a loud community serenade or gathering in celebration of the bride and groom.

The fact that Elizabeth Cotton was an African American from North Carolina [parts of which historically were considered Gullah country] adds further support to the theory that "shake sugaree" and "sangaree" are one in the same. Also, note the use of the word "sangaree" as the name of a North Carolina elementary School, and a North Carolina middle school, and a city in Georgia. All of those locations are in what historically was considered Gullah country.

That a city would name itself "Sangaree" and that school districts would use that word as the name of public schools suggests to me that either the meaning of that word isn't known, or, that word doeesn't have any literal meaning (or no longer has any literal meaning"), or that those people who decided on that city's namee and those schools names didn't think that "sangaree" meant the alcoholic beverage kbown as "sangria".

"Sangaree" was also a title of a 1953 American movie about ante-bellum Georgia. That name could have been chosen because of its lyrical nature, but using that word suggests to me that someone who was affiliated with that movie's production was familiar with the fact that that Black dance song "Sangaree" is documented as being from Georgia [if not also from any other state such as North Carolina].

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"Sangaree" And "Sandy Ree" Song Lyrics

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part series about the Georgia Sea Islands [United States] songs "Sangaree" and "Sandy Ree".

This post showcases a version of the 19th century Black American song "Sangaree" [with later verses] and a 20th century version of that song entitled "Sandy Ree". I'm referring to these examples a "versions" because, as is the case with other folk songs, the lyrics and order of verses of those songs can be changed each time they are sung. However, these are the only examples of these songs that I've found to date.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/09/speculations-about-origin-meaning-of.html for Part II of this seris. Part II of this series presents speculations about the origins
and meanings of "sangaree" & "Sandy Ree".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed and collected these songs. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

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COMMENTS ABOUT AND LYRICS FOR THE SONG "SANGAREE"
posted by Jim Dixon on http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=55909 Lyr Req: Sangarie.
"From Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands by Lydia Parrish (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1942, reprinted 1992), page 99 (There is a lead sheet on page 101.)

SANGAREE
This ring-play varies in action whenever I see it done. For that reason I will attempt no description. The tune, however, always remains the same.

1. If I live (Sangaree)
Don' get kill' (Sangaree)
I'm goin' back (Sangaree)
Jacksonville (Sangaree)

CHORUS: Oh Babe (Sangaree)
Oh Babe (Sangaree)
Oh Babe (Sangaree)
Oh Babe (Sangaree)

2. If I live (Sangaree)
See nex' fall (Sangaree)
Ain' goin' t' plant (Sangaree)
No cotton at all (Sangaree) CHORUS

3. Chicken in the fiel' (Sangaree)
Scratchin' up peas (Sangaree)
Dog on the outside (Sangaree)
Scratchin' off fleas (Sangaree) CHORUS

Extra verses contributed by a Darien singer:

4. My husban's got the shovel (Sangaree)
An' I got the hoe (Sangaree)
If that ain't farmin' (Sangaree)
I don't know (Sangaree)
CHORUS"

5. If you want t' see a [n word]* (Sangaree)
Cut the fool (Sangaree)
Let him ride (Sangaree)
A white man's mule (Sangaree) CHORUS
-snip-
My comments:
*"The n word" was fully spelled out in these lyrics. The words "black man" can be substituted for what is now considered to be a highly pejorative referent.

Here's some information about the Georgia Sea Islands:
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah:
"The Gullah are the descendants of enslaved Africans who live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands...Historically, the Gullah region extended from the Cape Fear area on the coast of North Carolina south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on the coast of Florida; but today the Gullah area is confined to the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. The Gullah people and their language are also called Geechee...

Because of a period of relative isolation in rural areas, the Gullah developed a culture that has preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage from various peoples, as well as absorbing new influences from the region. They speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and influenced by African languages in grammar and sentence structure. Properly referred to as "Sea Island Creole," the Gullah language is related to Jamaican Patois, Barbadian Dialect, Bahamian Dialect, Trinidadian Creole, Belizean Creole and the Krio language of Sierra Leone in West Africa."
-anip-
Verse #2 in that version of "Sangaree" is a floating verse that is found in several number of 19th century Black American southern plantation dance songs, including the song "Susan Jane" in Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes ; originally published in 1922 [The Project Gutenberg EBook, p. 77 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm
"If I lives to see nex' Fall;
Susan Jane! Susan Jane!
I hain't gwineter sow no wheat at all.
Susan Jane! Susan Jane!"

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LYRICS FOR "SANDY REE"
From Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes (1972) pp. 133-135

Way down yonder,
Sandy ree
Where I come from,
Sandy ree
Girls love boys,
Sandy ree
Like a hog loves corn,
Sandy ree

(Refrain, to be used ad lib)
Oh, babe,
Sandy ree
Oh, babe,
Sandy ree
Oh, babe,
Sandy ree

Papa got theee shovel
Sandy Ree (etc.)
Mama got the hoe
If that ain't farmin'
I don't know

Dog on the porch
Kicking off fleas,
Chickeeen in the yard,
Scratching up peas.

Old brother rabbit,
Died with a habit.
In my garden,
Eating up cabbage.

If I live to see next fall.
I ain't gonna plant,
No cotton at all.

Mama in the cotton patch,
Picking up cotton,
Papa in town,
Drunk and sloppin'

Well, if I live,
And I don't get killed,
I'm going back,
To Jacksonville.

Road is wet,
Woods is muddy,
Daddy's so drunk
He can't stand studdy.

Down in the bottom,
Cotton goes rotten,
Can't get a bale,
It's no need of trottin'.

Your dark bark.
He don't see nothin;,
My dog bark.
He done see somethin'.

One of these days
And it won't be long,
You'll look for me
And I'll be gone.
-snip-
This collection is of songs from the Georgia Sea Islands (Gullah tradition).

Notice that a few of these verses are the same as or very similar to verses found in the 19th century version of "Sangaree". The last verse is a floater from Black American religious songs.

"He can't stand studdy" = He can't stand steady.

"the bottom" = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bottom "Usually, bottoms. Also called bottom land. Physical Geography. low alluvial land next to a river."
-snip-
alluvial= "made up of or found in the materials that are left by the water of rivers, floods" www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

"It's no need of trottin'" = It's no need to hurry (to walk fast; trot) to get to the cotton

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List Of African American "Call The Doctor" Songs & Rhymes

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post lists the titles of from a number of African American songs & rhymes that includes lines that include or allude to having sent for or called for a doctor because of malnutrition, or because of a stomach ache not related to malnutrition, or because of an accident or an injury. These examples are given in those specific sub-categories along with excerpts of their verses and the publication date of that particular example.

Enter the song name in the pancocojams search engine to find the specific pancocojams post or posts about a particular song or rhyme in this list or click the tags underneath this post for additional pancocojams posts about this subject.

For the most part, I've retained the dialectic English that was used in some of these examples, although I strongly believe that those songs or rhymes shouldn't be sung that way now. However, I've substituted "the n word" for the referent for Black people that was fully spelled out in some of those examples.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to those unknown people who composed these songs. Thanks also to the collectors of this song, and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

DISCLAIMER: This doesn't purport to be a complete listing of all the songs in this category. Please suggest other titles in the comment section of this post.

By "African American" songs and rhymes, I mean those compositions that are particularly known to have been sung or chanted by African Americans, although non-African Americans may also have sung or chanted them.

I don't claim that all of the songs and rhymes in this list were originally composed by African Americans, or that all of the later versions of those songs and rhymes were composed by African Americans. To be clear, I recognize that some of the songs and rhymes that are featured in the 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes by the African American collector Thomas W. Talley and the 1925 book On The Trail Of Negro Folk Rhymes by Anglo-American collector Dorothy Scarborough were originally composed by White people. Both of those collections document songs and rhymes that were sung or chanted by African Americans in their original form or in slightly or heavily revised forms. However, the source songs for those particular songs & rhymes may have been composed by Anglo-Americans. In the case of many 19th century black-faced minstrel songs, although those songs are credited to one or more White composers, it's sometimes difficult to tell if those named composers had originally lifted portions of those songs from Black persons, on or off the plantation.

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SUB-CATEGORY #1: "CALL THE DOCTOR" BECAUSE OF MALNUTRITION
These examples are presented in chronological order based on their publication dates, with the earliest known examples given first.

Example #1: Shortnin Bread
"Three lil [the n word plural]
lyin in bed
Two wus sick
An t'other 'most dead
Sent fo' de doctor
An' de doctor said
"Give dem [the n word plural]
Some short'nin' bread!"

Source of excerpt: Dorothy Scarborough, editor, On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs, originally published in 1925

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Example #2: Pork Chop Blues
"I went to the doctor, the doctor said, “Boy, what’s the matter with you?
That doctor looked around at me: I said “Doctor, what I need?”

The doctor shook his head and said
“You need the pork chop poultice an’ the stew an’
veg. in’ your stomach three times a day."

Source of excerpt: Sam Collins - "Pork Chop Blues" record, 1927

****
Example #3: Pork Chop Blues
"Doctor Haigh came into the front of my bus, an' set down on my wheel*
An' just about the time when mother walked in, this is what he said.
You need some pork chop poultice an' some pork n' beans, good greasy [in your] stomach three times a day"

Source of excerpt: The Two Charlies- "Pork Chop Blues" record, 1936

****
SUB-CATEGORY #2: "CALL THE DOCTOR" BECAUSE OF A STOMACH ACHE NOT RELATED TO MALNUTRITION
Example #1:
"Grandma Grandma sick in bed
Called the doctor and the doctor said
Get up Grandma! You ain't sick
All you need is a hickory stick"

Source: floating verse in various playground rhymes
-snip-
In this rhyme the grandmother is being accused of faking her illness. Because the wood was hard, branches from hickory trees were often used to beat people. Some later versions of this rhyme substitute "peppermint stick" for "hickory stick".
This example may also belong in the List #1 (Malnutrition) category.

****
Example #2:
"Mama mama, I'm so sick
Call the doctor quick quick quick
Doctor, doctor will I die?
Count to five and you'll be alive
I said, a-one, a-two, a-three, a-four, a-five
I'm alive!

Source: playground rhyme: "I Met My Boyfriend At The Candy Store"
-snip-
I disagree with those who think that this rhyme means or implies that the girl was pregnant. Instead, I believe that the girl stomach hurt because she ate too much candy and other sweets.

****
SUB-CATEGORY #3: "CALL THE DOCTOR" BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT OR AN INJURY
Example #1:
Dey sent fer de Doctah
An' de Doctah he come.
He come in a hurry,
He come in a run.
He come wid his instriments
Right in his han',
To progue an' find
Dat forty-fō', Man!

Source of excerpt: Song entitled "Forty Four" in Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes originally published in 1922.

****
Example #2:
"Miss Lucy called the doctor.
Miss Lucy called the nurse.
Miss Lucy called the lady
with the alligator purse."

Source: playground rhyme "Miss Lucy* Had A Baby"
*(or some other female name)
-snip-
I strongly suspect that this rhyme referred to formal and informal health care people's treatment of Diptheria (i.e. the reference in many of those rhymes to "bubble in his throat".) Click for my comments about that theory.

however, since the doctor was ostensibly called because the baby tried to eat the bathtub, this example could also be placed in sub-category #3.

****
Example #2:
"Mama mama, I'm so sick
Call the doctor quick quick quick
Doctor, doctor will I die?
Count to five and you'll be alive
I said, a-one, a-two, a-three, a-four, a-five
I'm alive!

Source: playground rhyme: "I Met My Boyfriend At The Candy Store" [The girl ate too much candy]
-snip-
I disagree with those who think that this rhyme means or implies that the girl was pregnant. Instead, I believe that the girl stomach hurt because she ate too much candy and other sweets.

Dey sent fer de Doctah
An' de Doctah he come.
He come in a hurry,
He come in a run.
He come wid his instriments
Right in his han',
To progue an' find
Dat forty-fō', Man!

****
Editorial Comment:
The children's chant "Five Little Monkeys" (jumping on the bed) might be included in Category #3 as the doctor was called because the monkeys fell off the bed. However, I don't believe that "Five Little Monkeys" is particularly known to be sung or performed by African Americans. But early versions of the chant that is now known as "Five Little Monkeys" used the "n word" plural or "darkies" as referents for Black people instead of the word "monkey". And "monkey" itself is a word which has also been used in the past and the present as an offensive referent for Black people.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-racist-roots-of-five-little-monkeys.html for a post on "The Racist Roots Of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed".

****
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Similarities Between The African American Singing Game "The Closet Key" & The Nicaraguan Singing Game "Mayaya Las Im Key"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents speculation about the similarities between the motif and the manner of play of the late 19th century/early 20th century African American game song "The Closet Key" and the old [19th century?] Nicaraguan singing game "Mayaya Las Im Key" ("Mayaya Lost Her Key"). That Nicaragaun song is now known as "Mayaya Lasinki".

The content of this post is provided for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
EXCERPT ABOUT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGING GAME "THE CLOSET KEY"
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/negro/folk-songs%20-%200238.htm [online book]
"On The Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs: A collection of negro folk songs with lyrics, sheet music & commentaries." by Dorothy Scarborough Assisted By Ola Lee Quiledge Copyright, 1925 By Harvard University Press, p. 139 [presented "as is", including a pejorative referent for Black people]

"John Stone, of Virginia, sends this game-song, which was given him as used by Negroes. "The darkies would form a ring, as in 'drop­ping handkerchief,' but with hands behind them. One with a key would walk around the ring and place the key in some one's hands. Led by the walker, all would sing

[musical score to a song entitled “THE CLOSET KEY”]

I done lost de clos - et key
In dem la - dies' gar - den.
I done lost de closet key
In dem ladies' garden;
I done lost de closet key
In dem ladies' garden.

The walker, leading all, would then sing:

Help me to find de closet key
In dem ladies' garden;
Help me to find de closet key
In dem ladies' garden.

All would then sing, led by the one having the key:

I done found de closet key
In dem ladies' garden;
I done found de closet key
In dem ladies' garden.

The one having the key would then hide it again and sing as before."
-snip-
In the page preceding this one the author writes "Many — if not most — of these songs and games are of old Eng­lish origin and have courtiy traditions behind them, as their phrasing suggests. " My lady " of the old songs is changed in the Negro child's version to "some lady" or "dem ladies."
-snip-
In that book Anglo-American collector Dorothy Scarborough (and her assistant Ola Lee Quiledge, whose name leads me to believe was African American) provide two other versions of African American singing games that include the line "in my ladies garden": "In My Ladies Garden" and "Do Do Pity My Case". However, neither of singing games mention a key.

Information about & lyrics to a 1917 song entitled "In Some Ladies Garden" (Cecil Sharp collection) can be found at The Ballad Index http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/ScNF114B.html.

I also found a link to the words & play directions for a children's singing game that is taught in an American music calass to kindergarden/first grader" http://jerrywbrown.com/?portfolio-item-tag=games.

Neither of those songs mention a key.

****
EXCERPT ABOUT THE NICARAGUAN SINGING GAME "MAYAYA LAS IM KEY"
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://bluefieldspulse.com/maypolehistoryrescuingourculture.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtulululu%2Bletra%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D853%26bih%3D575 "Del Palo De Mayo History"
Mr. Johnny Hodgson Deerings, Historian Costeño

[English translation of that page, given "as is"]
“In 1988 Professor Hugo Sujo interviewed a man of 78 years named Mr. Maxwell Atily in favor of the formal version of the Maypole Cotton Tree in the neighborhood*. Asked about his past involvement in such festivities said:

"We used songs like "Mayaya las im key”. We formed a circle and we had a great key, which passed from hand to hand in the circle, while dancing someone in the circle for the key. Upon discovering the key in the hands of someone, that person had to go to the center of the dancing circle and look for the key that was passed from hand to hand until he finds it in the hands of another person who had to take his place at the center circle, and so on."...

MAIA LAAS IM KEY!

(Mayaya lost his [her] key)
In our version of Maia coastal worships Goddess no, rather the composer recounts the incident that happened in one of the festivities. A lady lost her key and can not open your door. The name'' Maia "is considered synonymous with Mary. Originally this song with a circle with a center dancer is doing. A hidden hand in hand key is passed and the person dancing in the middle trying to guess which person had the key circle. If you guessed, and walked out of the center which was discovered.

Mayaya lass im key
Mayaya Oh!
Mayaya lass im key
Mayaya Oh!
A wan mi key fur go opin me do
Mayaya Oh!
A wan mi key fur go opin me do
Mayaya key da gool
Mayaya Oh!
Mayaya key gives gool
Mayaya Oh!
(Repeat)
"The Maia Oh" This song is heard in all places where it is celebrated the traditional "Maypole" is the symbolic song festival. It says "Maia" was the Goddess of Fertility. All European countries celebrating May Day dancing around the tree, were worshiping this Goddess."
-snip-
I think that "in favor of the formal version of..." means "about his remembrances of the former version of..."

"Cotton Tree" is a neighborhood in Bluefield, Nicaragua.

Here's my transcription of this song into standard American English:
Mayaya lost her key
Mayaya Oh!
Mayaya lost her key
Mayaya Oh!
I want my key to open my door
Mayaya Oh!
I want my key to open my door
Mayaya's key is good [?]
Mayaya Oh!
Mayaya's key gives good [things?]
Mayaya Oh!

****
SUMMARY
Here are the similarities that I found between the African American game song "The Closet Key" and the old Nicaraguan singing game "Mayaya Las Im Key" ("Mayaya Lost Her Key"):
1. Both songs have a central woman character
2. Both songs refer to a losing a door key
3. Both are ring (circle) games with one person in the center. The directions of both games are the same [the same as "Pass the handkerchief", and "Duck, Duck, Goose".

I believe that both of these songs might have owed their motif & play instructions to particular British/Irish folk songs. However, the further development of the song "The Closet Key" is rightfully credited to African Americans from the Southern region of the United States, and the further development of the song 'Mayaya Lost Her Key" is rightfully credited to Afro-Nicaraguans from Bluefield, Nicaragua.

Although both of these singing games may have originated in the same family of singing games, their development certainly has been different. Although the "The Closet Key" song is documented in Scarborough's 1925 book, it is barely remembered. The song "In My Lady's Garden"-which doesn't include any mention of a key appears- was performed as a play party song in the early 20th century United States, and at least one school district has included a play party version of that song in their curriculum for kindergarten/first graders. That said, that song doesn't appear to be well known, even as far as play party songs go. One indication of that song not being well known is that it doesn't have any YouTube videos.

In contrast, the song "Mayaya Lass Im Key" remains very popular in Nicaragua. But "Mayaya Lass Im Key" is no longer a singing game. While it's still emblematic of the May Day celebration, that song has grown up to be "Mayaya Lasinki", a dance song whose lyrics can be considered sexually suggestive and whose dance movements can be more than sexually suggestive. Also in contrast with its North American cousin "The Closet Key", "Mayaya Lasinki"'s high popularity in Nicaragua is demonstrated by multiple YouTube videos of that song, although admittedly it's not yet that well known outside of that Central American nation.

****
NOTE ABOUT THE NICARAGUAN SONG "MAYAYA LASINKI"
-snip-
It seems obvious that the song title "Mayaya Lasinki" and "Mayaya La Sim Ki" are folk etymology updated forms of the title "Mayaya Lass Im Key".

[Update: June 19, 1014]
According to http://www.nicatour.net/en/nicaragua/palo-de-mayo.cfm#, "the Palo de Mayo festival, a tribute to Mayaya African goddess of fertility. This celebration dates from the early nineteenth century, is an adaptation of the British tradition who celebrated first day of May with a feast"...
-snip-
Is Mayaya an African Goddess or is that name a folk etymology form of "Maia", the Greco-Roman goddess of Spring? Here's an excerpt from an article about the Greco-Roman goddess Maia http://www.menlo.com/folks/davis/Maya_Web/Maya_Name.html:
"Maya's name has many roots. First and foremost she is named for "Maya," the Greco-Roman goddess of the earth. Maya is described in The Book of Goddesses:

Maia is mainly remembered today as the goddess of spring and rebirth, like the month of May that bears her name. "Maia" means "the maker," and every spring she makes the lush green grass and the fragrant flowers grow again. She is also praised as "the grandmother of magic" because her son [by Zeus], the god Hermes, was the first to discover that mysterious art.

People still celebrate Maia every year on the first of May, which is called May Day in honor of the goddess. Men and women rejoice over the rebirth of spring by dancing circles around the maypole and by wearing vibrant green - the color of the earth itself."...
-snip-
Perhaps "Mayaya" is said to be an African goddess because some or all of the Greek gods and goddess are said to have been patterned after the Egyptian gods and goddesses. [Read an excerpt from this article http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2146/did-the-greeks-borrow-egyptian-gods that I've added to the comment section about this subject.] According to this position, the Greek goddess Maia (Maya) was patterned after Isis, the Egyptian goddess of fertility. "Mayaya" is a Nicaraguan folk etymology form of the "Maya".

It's interesting that although there are names of gods and goddesses of fertility in this listing of African gods & goddesses, http://www.scns.com/earthen/other/seanachaidh/godafrica.html there's no listing for the name "Mayaya" or for any name that is similar to "Mayaya". Then again, that list doesn't seem to include any Egyptian gods or goddess. In any event, I've not yet found any other Internet page-separate from that nicatour article- which refers to the African goddess Mayaya.
[Update ended]

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-does-mayaya-lasinki-mean.html for a pancocojams post about the song "Mayaya Lasinki".

One of those videos is featured on this pancocojams post: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/seven-songs-by-dimension-costena.html.

My partial transcription of another video* of the Nicaraguan group Dimension Costena's recording of that songs is as follows.

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzlZKNdtf54

Refrain:
Mayaya lasinki
Mayaya oh
Mayaya lasinki
Mayaya oh

I want the key to open the door
Mayaya oh
Find the key the golden key
Ma yaya oh
Find the key let me see you tonight
Mayaya oh
If you don’t open the door, I can’t see you tonight...

Mayaya oh
Mayaya lasinki
Mayaya oh
Mayaya lasinki
Mayaya oh
-snip-
Additions and corrections are welcome.

****
ADDENDUM
I'm intrigued by any possibility of a connection between this old British (Irish?) ballad and the African American singing games "The Closet Key"/"In Some Ladies Garden" and the Nicaraguan song "Mayaya Lass Im Key".

From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=127369
RE: Origins: Down in the Willow Garden
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 15 Feb 10 - 10:51 AM

..."The song history of "Down by the Salley Garden" is quite interesting. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, but the Yeats connection is fairly clear. This deserves a thread of its own, but here's the gist, from Sam Henry, Songs of the People, p 286. Have patience; this is a bit long:

"Down in My Sally's Garden

... I have every reason to believe that this is the song o[n] which W. B. Yeats founded his world-famous lyric, 'Down by the Sally Gardens. Alternatively, Yeats may have founded this song on the first verse of another ballad called 'The Rambling Boys of Pleasure':

Down by yon valley gardens
One evening as I chanced to stray,
It's there I saw my darling,
I took her to be the queen of May,
She told me to take love easy,
Just as the leaves grow on the trees,
But I, being young and foolish,
Her then I did not agree.

This song has also been collected in Vermont, U.S.A. ...."
-snip-
I'll leave the distant possibility of any connection between that song and others discussed her for any others who might want to consider them. My main purpose is to document what I consider to be close similarities between "The Closet Key" song and the Nicaraguan song which is the subject of this post.

****
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Four Examples Of "Round The Corn, Sally" (African American Corn Song)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part series about the African American corn song "Round De (The ) Corn, Sally". Part II presents several text examples of "Around The Corn, Sally". An Addendum to that post showcases a video example with a lengthy summary of the "Sea Shanty Around The Corner, Sally".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/descriptions-of-corn-husking-corn-songs.html for Part I of this series. Part I provides excerpts from two online books about corn husking in the Southern United States during slavery. Part I also includes some comments about pre-mechanical corn husking in the United States apart from United States slavery.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/three-examples-of-childrens-song-go.html for Part III of this series. Part III provides video examples and lyrics of the children's song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" which is adapted from the work song "Around The Corn ,Sally".

The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the performers and collectors of this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
EXAMPLES OF THE SONG "ROUND THE CORN, SALLY"
Example #1:
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/afro-american/afro-american-folksongs%20-%200148.htm Afro-American Folksongs, A Study In Racial And National Music by Henry Edward Krehbiel (1914, p. 48) [online book]
...“The paucity of secular working songs has already been commented on. Of songs referring to labor in the field the editors of "Slave Songs of the United States" were able to collect only two examples. Both of them are "corn songs," and the first is a mere fragment, the only words of which have been preserved being "Shock along, John." The second defied interpretation fifty years ago and is still incomprehensible:
Five can't ketch me and tea can't hold me—
Ho, round the corn, Sally I Here's your iggle-quarter and here's your count-aquils—
Ho7 round the corn, Sally] I can bank, 'ginny bank, 'gmny bank the weaver—
Ho, round the corn, Sally!"

****
Example #2
From http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/fig111.html Slave Songs of the United States edited by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison (1867)
[Musical Notation for "Round the Corn, Sally"]
68
Five can’t catch me and ten can’t hold me
Ho, round the corn Sally
Ho, round the corn, round the corn, round the corn
Ho ,Ho, Ho round the corn Sally.

****
Example #3:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=52717
Posted By: Charley Noble
23-Oct-02 - 11:27 AM
Thread Name: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Subject: Lyr.Add. Round' de Corn, Sally
...Most of us nautical singers are familar with the old sea shanty "Round the Corner, Sally" in which the corner refered to has been ascribed to Cape Horn. Well, try this old plantation corn husking song on for size:

ROUN' DE CORN, SALLY

(corn husking song collected by slaveholder James Hungerford's The Old Plantation and What I Gathered There in an Autumn Month, c. 1832, quoted in THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICANS by Eileen Southern, pp. 180)

Grand Chorus:

Hooray, hooray, ho! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray for all de lubly (lovely) ladies! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray, hooray, ho! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray for all de lubly ladies! Roun' de corn, Sally!

Dis lub's er (a) thing dat's sure to hab you, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He hole (hold) you tight, when once he grab you, Roun' de corn, Sally!
Un (an) ole (old) un (one) ugly, young un (one) pretty, Roun' de corn, Sally!
You needen try when once he git you, Roun' de corn, Sally! (CHO)

Dere's Mr. Travers lub Miss Jinny, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He thinks she is us (as) good us any, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He comes from church wid her er (on) Sunday, Roun' de corn, Sally!
Un (He) don't go back ter town till Monday, Roun' de corn, Sally! (CHO)

My interpretations in ()'s.
Cheerily,
Charley Noble

****
Example #4:
[This excerpt of "Round De Corn, Sally" was documented to have been sung by Black people while they marched around the plantation as part of their Christmas festivities, after going to the main house to receive gifts from their former master/mistress.]

From http://books.google.com/books?id=SHRAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=round+de+corn+sally&source=bl&ots=7d8Yta7mK6&sig=0WAtB-T5dvoAu1mzkfKSPlnZ-3k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aHiYU47ZFIWdyATsx4KIBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=round%20de%20corn%20sally&f=false The Literary Digest, Volume 10 1895 “Christmas In The South Long Ago”[p 236]

Hooray, hooray, ho
Round de corn, Sally
Hooray for all de lubly ladies
Round de corn, Sally
Dere a Master Howard lub Miss Betty
Round de corn, Sally
I tell you what, she a mighty pretty
Round de corn, Sally...
-snip-
This is followed by other lines that are difficult for me to decipher. However, it appears that those lines are other complementary comments about other (White) people on the plantation.

****
ADDENDUM: A RENDITION OF THE SEA SHANTY "ROUND THE CORNER, SALLY"

Round the Corner, Sally [389-390] (297-298)


hultonclint Uploaded on Mar 26, 2009

A halyard chantey, which Hugill learned from Harding. …. Of note: Hugill connects the phrase "Round the corner, Sally" to a line in a Christy's Minstrel song, "Aunt Sally" -- and "Aunt Sally" is a character in versions of "Sister Susan" chantey or another minstrel song, "Shinbone Al."

Another song is a candidate as a source for "Round the Corner, Sally." It appears in the text of a James Hungerford, in which the author describes a visit to his cousin's plantation in Maryland in 1832. With it's musical notations, it is considered to be the first extant text to contain slave songs. "Roun' De Corn, Sally" is described in the context of rowing a boat, but properly attributed as a corn-husking song. In his 1989 book, ORIGINS OF THE POPULAR STYLE, pg.206, Peter Van der Merwe makes a connection between the similar phrase in the slave song and the chantey, thinking that "round the corn" was a corruption of the chantey phrase, due to confounding the "corn" context with the original meaning. The original phrase, as supposed by Hugill, was a sort of "gal on the street," later reinterpreted as a sailor's lady-friend of locales that were around the "corner": Cape Horn. However, some recent interpreters seem to suggest that the plantation song was a source. At least that is how I interpret the inclusion of "Roun' De Corn, Sally" in the repertoire of the sea chantey group The Johnson Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavLtm...

No doubt, any number of individuals made the connection between the phrase in these two songs before Van der Merwe's published statement. I actually stumbled myself upon the Hungerford text in a volume by Eileen Southern, READINGS IN BLACK AMERICAN MUSIC (1971) that I picked up by chance in a used book store in Mass. This is a supplemental text of primary sources meant to accompany her book THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICANS. My guess is that the chantey group Forebitter, who note a connection in one of their CD's liner notes, followed by the Johnson Girls, had discovered the plantation song in Southern's main text. However, the full set of verses is only found in "READINGS..." ("Roun' De Corn" was also reproduced, in abbreviated form, in a book by Epstein, 1977.)

For what it's worth, besides the characteristic phrase, the plantation song and the chantey don't show much similarity. They do appear to be contemporary though. The plantation song is from 1832 and the chantey is cited by name in Dana's TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST in which he describes events along the California coast in the 1830s.

Lyrics in available versions suggest that the chantey was used in the trade of nitrates from the West Coast ports of South America. Although a good amount of the lyrics in my rendition are my own, I've kept to that theme.

Please check out the whole chanteys project playlist, at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list
-snip-
For those who may be interested, hultonclint posts on Mudcat as "Gib Sahib". "The Advent and Development of Chanties" http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=128220
is one of the discussion threads on sea shanties that he started at that folk music site

****
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Descriptions Of Corn Husking & Corn Songs During United States Slavery

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part series about the African American work song "Around The Corn, Sally". Part I provides excerpts from two online books about corn husking in the Southern United States during slavery. Part I also includes some comments about pre-mechanical corn husking in the United States apart from United States slavery. In addition, I've included a example of the corn song "Shuck That Corn Before You Eat" that was posted with commentary. I've also included my comments that disagree with the blogger's conclusion about that song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/four-examples-of-round-corn-sally.html. Part II presents several text examples of "Around The Corn, Sally". An Addendum to that post showcases a video example with a lengthy summary of the "Sea Shanty Around The Corner, Sally".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/three-examples-of-childrens-song-go.html for Part III of this series. Part III provides video examples and lyrics of the children's song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" which is adapted from the work song "Around The Corn ,Sally".

The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the performers and collectors of this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
SUMMARY OF EXCERPTS
Here's a brief summary of what I learned from reading these excerpts:

Corn shucking in the USA was a group labor activity that wasn't distinctly done by enslaved Black people.

It was common for enslaved people from different plantations to participate in various corn shuckings.

It was common for Black people and White people to shuck corn together.

Corn shucking was done by males only. However, both women and men danced to corn songs after the shucking was completed.

Corn shucking was an individualistic, competitive labor activity. Men competed to see who would be the fastest one to shuck the most corn. Corn shucking wasn't a group labor activity in the same way that working on ships, cutting trees, and laying train tracks was. Unlike sea shanties and cross cutting prison work songs, corn songs weren't sung to regulate the movements used to shuck corn. Instead, those songs were sung to help ease the drudgery of the work by entertaining the workers and getting their minds off of their labor.

Corn songs were largely improvised songs which had a call & response pattern. The songs were led by a designated singer who didn't do any shucking. The lyrics often were "rude" (bawdy/dirty) and might included comments about individual workers or others.

Corn songs were also sung by enslaved Black people in the USA as part of their Christmas festivities (Read the example given in Part II of this series.)
-snip-
Here are two conclusions that I reached as a result of reading the excerpts found below and other online material about 19th century USA corn husking in the South during slavery:

While enslaved people were mandated to participate in shuckings, given the entertainment aspects of that experience, & the opportunities to travel to different plantations, and interact with a large number of people, those enslaved people probably looked forward to participating in shuckings.

The contemporary children's song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" is adapted from the corn song "Round De (The) Corn, Sally". However, contrary to what I've read about or heard presented about that song by American elementary music teachers, it's likely that "Round De (The) Corn, Sally" wasn't sung while harvesting (picking) corn. Also, the lyrics of that song likely had very little to do with going around corn or doing any other rhythmic movements such as those mentioned in some versions of that children's song. Instead, the work song "Round De (The) Corn, Sally" was probably sung by men while they shucked corn and/or that song may have been sung during the dance portion of the corn shucking festivities (after the shucking was completed).

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EXCERPTS ABOUT CORN HUSKING & CORN SONGS IN THE UNITED STATES SOUTH DURING SLAVERY
These excerpts are presented in no particular order. They are numbered for reference purposes only.
I also want to mention that these excerpts are presented as is, with outdated referents such as the word "negro" spelled with a lower case "n". Thankfully, what is commonly known as "the n word" doesn't appear in these excerpts.

Excerpt #1: Slavery in the American Mountain South
By Wilma A. Dunaway, Date Published: May 2003
From http://books.google.com/books?id=ijMJVb9uNVgC&pg=PA210&lpg=PA210&dq=slave+culture+in+the+south+corn+husking&source=bl&ots=b8DLS-YZlQ&sig=9_uceaqAGmNdcPjE0EwcRBvg2Bw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mvaXU_jjJoKayAT3z4CQCA&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=slave%20culture%20in%20the%20south%20corn%20husking&f=false

Chapter: Cultural Resistance and Community Building, p. 210
..."Work parties were mentioned by more Appalachian slaves than any other type of owner-sponsored amusement, and most of these occurred during or after fall harvest or in the fall or in the early winter. Widespread throughout the rural United States, the corn-shucking was a popular labor pooling mechanism that was not distinctly a slave activity. Music and dance were so central to the husking that slaves referred to the work groups as ”corn hollers”. According to Callie Elder, laborers “sung all de time [they] was huckin’ corn”. Masters would send out invitations to adjacent plantations and as many as 200 blacks might attend. After the corn crop had been harvested from the field, “large bonfires were built adjoining the cribs where several bushels of corn were to be shucked by both colored and white. As the laborers arrived at the designated farm in Coosa County, Alabama

They went at once to the corn pile and began shucking, throwing the husked ear into the crib and the shucks to the rear. They commenced at the outer edge of the pile of corn, and cleaned up the corn to the ground as they went. There were usually two or more recognized leaders in singing the corn songs, and as they would chant or shout their couplet, all the rest would sing the chorus…the hands would fly with rapidity in tearing off the shucks and the feet kick back the shucks with equal vigor

[19].

Whether the husking occurred in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, or northern Georgia, the custom was that “a song leader mounted the pile of corn and kept the shuckers busy, hand and tongue”. In Blue Ridge Virginia, laborers would

take their place along the pile, every man taking about two feet, the aim being to see who could husk their way through the pile soonest. White and black, slaves included, worked side by side. There was always a free supply of whiskey... If there were negroes enough, which was almost always the case, they would sing a corn song... One who had a gift in that line would act as a leader. He would mount the pile and improvise, the rest and many of the whites joined in the refrain. Occasionally the leader would pick someone from the crowd and improvise at his expense.

p. 211
Booker T. Washington described the corn hollers he had witnessed in southwestern Virginia and West Virginia.

When [they] were all assembled...some one individual who had already gained a reputation as a leader in singing, would climb to the top of the mound and begin at once in a clear loud tones a solo…[T]he chorus at the base of the mound would join in, some one hundred strong. The words were largely improvised, were largely simple, and suited the occasion.

Accounts from eastern Kentucky, western Carolina, northern Alabama, the Shenandoah Valley, and Appalachian Tennessee provide more detail about the structure of the singing. According to John Van Hook “the man designated to act as [corn] general would stick a peacock feather in his hat and call all the men together and give his orders. He would stand in the center of the corn pile, start the singing, and keep things lively for them.” Initially, someone would strike up and singly give a few rude* stanzas, sometimes in rhyme, and sometimes in short expressive sentences while the rest unite[d] in chorus, and this he continue[d],until some other improviser relieve[d] him.” Dancing also played at part in the corn husking. Northern Georgia, eastern Kentucky, and West Virginia accounts document two elements of dancing that were part of the husking tradition. “When the corn was shucked about two or three o’clock in the morning they would catch the owner and ring and dance around him.” After everyone had eaten and toasted the master, group dancing might begin. “There was always a negro with a banjo, would could play and others dance.” [20]
-snip-
"rude stanzas" = sexually suggestive or sexually explicit verses

****
Excerpt #2:
From http://books.google.com/books?id=idktzKdgb7YC&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=corn+husking+us+slavery&source=bl&ots=9WaCl3Ehev&sig=Uzsb7orqbQ4hMz3WTu1FT8EXDog&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nUSYU9HTKMywyAT6joCQDA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=corn%20husking%20us%20slavery&f=false Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery
edited by Randall M. Miller, John David Smith
Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 146
“By a wide margin, the most frequently mentioned form of corn-related activity in slave accounts was the “shucking” or “husking” frolic. It combined work and play and was one of the most common forms of recreation in America during the slave era. The shucking bee was a harvest festival at each farm or plantation. Each slave might attend many such frolics each autumn. The activity combined competitive work- singing, feasting, dancing- and the consuming of corn liquor or cider at the bottom of each corn pile. Blacks and whites commonly participated together in the shucking contests, and some slaves recalled that “patterollers” (slave patrollers) did not bother them at such gatherings. But shucking was by no means all play. It was drudgery, especially hard on the hands, despite the universal use of an old and simple Indian device, the shucking peg, throughout the slave era. Husking was often done indoors on rainy days in order to get more work out of slaves."
-snip-
Also, read this sentence from p. 715 of that book:
"Picking cotton, husking corn, stripping and prizing tobacco were occupations that lent themselves to individual tasks."
-snip-
Collectors succeeded in documenting only a few African American secular songs such as "fiddle sings, jig-tunes, corn songs" because formerly enslaved Black people believed that those songs were wicked "devil songs" that shouldn’t be sung or dance by people who have religion.
Hee's a comment from Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War by Dena J. Epstein [p. 175, Google Books]
“When the teachers from Hampton Institute attempted [to collect examples of those songs] in 1974, they were unsuccessful [because the old people who were enslaved didn’t want to admit that they knew anything about “devil songs”.]
-snip-
However, African American professor Thomas W. Talley succeeded in collecting some examples of secular songs from his Fisk University students. Those examples and others that he remembered in his now classic book Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise & Otherwise. Click http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm for a Project Gutenberg digital edition of that book. [Warning: That book includes "the n word" fully spelled out.]

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RELATED EXCERPTS ABOUT CORN SHUCKING
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornjerker
"In times before modern machinery, sweet corn was pulled or jerked from the stalk. The leaves were shucked off and the golden ears were thrown in a wooden wagon pulled by a team of mules. This was Cornjerking, In other parts of the United States, this harvesting process may have been known as corn snapping, corn shucking, or corn husking. The many laborers who walked the fields to harvest the crops were called Cornjerkers.

The invention of the corn picking machine has made this hand harvesting process obsolete. By using modern machines, a farmer is capable of tending larger fields, thus producing more food with less effort. As a result, the term Cornjerker as used in the agricultural industry has become a colloquialism."

****
From http://www.farmcollector.com/farm-life/husking-corn-before-mechanical-pickers.aspx#axzz34FtsARsH Husking Corn Before Mechanical Pickers
"Beginning in the 1920s, labor-saving machinery was available for the corn harvest. But even into the '40s, horses still plodded along on many farms, as men hand-husked corn, then threw ears into a high-sided wagon. A hand-husked field was picked clean, and the ears were virtually free of shucks, which meant the ears could be air-dried in cribs. Plus, horses had the easy work, so feed wasn't as heavy a requirement. It's hard to imagine improving the efficiency of the process ... unless, of course, you were the one doing the hand husking.

More than 50 years have passed since Chester Larson last husked corn by hand. But memories of the work have not faded for the retired Griswold, Iowa, farmer.

"A little wrist or thumb hook was used to rip the husk open, so the ear could be easily broken off the shank leading to the stalk, making the ear ready to throw into the wagon," he recalled. It was tedious, exhausting work.

Husking corn is very tiring," Chester said. "I haven't worked so hard since, and we did more things by hand then, such as some of the haying."...

A husker's day began at first light. Most huskers arrived at the field as soon as they could see, and didn't quit until sundown."...

****
ADDENDUM
Here's an example of a corn song that was posted with commentary:
From http://www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume2/september03/primsource.cfm

Slave Work Song: "Shuck That Corn Before You Eat"

Caller: All dem purty gals will be dar,
Chorus: Shuck dat corn before you eat.

Caller: They will fix it for us rare,
Chorus: Shuck dat corn before you eat.

Caller: I know dat supper will be big,
Chorus: Shuck dat corn before you eat.

Caller: I think I smell a fine roast pig,
Chorus: Shuck dat corn before you eat.

Caller: I hope dey'll have some whisky* dar,
Chorus: Shuck dat corn before you eat.

Caller: I think I'll fill my pockets full,
Chorus: Shuck dat corn before you eat.

To make harvesting tasks less monotonous slaves created songs to match the rhythm of the actions required to complete the harvest. Some of these songs are known as "call and response," in which one individual sings a line and the rest of the group answers in chorus.

The lyrics of the song "Shuck Dat Corn Before You Eat" mention what the slaves could look forward to in return for their labor. The word 'shuck' and the second syllable in 'before' were stressed to provide a rhythm for the activity. At these points in the song, slaves knew to step forward on the right foot, grab the top of the corn with the left hand, and cut the top off with the right hand. In this way, all members of the group worked together to efficiently and quickly complete the task."
-snip-
I disagree with the conclusions that the blogger made about that song. Firstly, from what I've read about this subject, corn songs weren't sung "to match the rhythm of the actions required to complete the harvest". I've not read about corn songs being sung while picking corn. And wasn't corn shucking done while seated? If so, then the movements that the blogger is incorrect about the actions he or she describes the shuckers making.

Furthermore, corn songs weren't sung "to help "all members of the group worked together to efficiently and quickly complete the task." From what I've read corn shucking was a tedious job that people knew would last a long time. It wasn't done in unison. Individuals competed to see who would be the fastest to shuck the most corn.

The purpose of these corn songs were to relieve some of the drudgery of the work by leading songs that took the workers' minds off of what they were doing. In that sense, corn songs were songs sung during work but not songs that helped direct work.

****
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Examples Of Subversive Rhymes From Thomas W. Talley's 1922 Book " Negro Folk Rhymes"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents text (word only) examples of subversive rhymes from African American scholar Dr. Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise & Otherwise, With A Study (originally published in 1922).

This post isn't meant to be a comprehensive compilation of the rhymes from Talley's collection that I believe are subversive.

The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Thomas W. Talley for collecting and publishing these examples. Thanks also to Project Gutenberg for publishing a digital edition of this compilation November 7, 2008 [EBook #27195].

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DEFINITION OF "SUBVERSIVE"
From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subversion
"the act of subverting : the state of being subverted; especially : a systematic attempt to overthrow or undermine a government or political system by persons working secretly from within"
-snip-
In the context of this post, "subversive African American slavery rhymes" are those which directly or indirectly refer to African Americans contemplating, encouraging, or engaging in acts and/or ideas that benefit themselves and are therefore counterproductive to the institution of slavery, and/or the wellbeing of their slave masters/mistresses.

****
FEATURED EXAMPLES
From http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-0.txt
These examples are presented in alphabetical order by their titles that are found in The Project Gutenberg EBook of Negro Folk Rhymes, by Thomas W. Talley is also included in these examples.

A,B

BULLFROG PUT ON THE SOLDIER CLOTHES
Bullfrog put on de soldier clo's.
He went down yonder fer to shoot at de crows;
Wid a knife an' a fo'k between 'is toes,
An' a white hankcher fer to wipe 'is nose.

Bullfrog put on de soldier clo's.
He's a "dead shore shot," gwineter kill dem crows.
He takes "Pot," an' "Skillet" from de Fiddler's Ball.
Dey're to dance a liddle jig while Jim Crow fall.

Bullfrog put on de soldier clo's.
He went down de river fer to shoot at de crows.
De powder flash, an' de crows fly 'way;
An' de Bullfrog shoot at 'em all nex' day.

I saddled dat mule to go to town.
I mounted up an' he buck'd me down.
Den I jumped up from out'n de dust,
An' I rid him till I thought he'd bust.
i-snip-
I added this example to this post on September 8, 2014 after re-reading it and just realizing that it might be about more than bullfrogs and crows.

C,D
DESTITUTE FORMER SLAVE OWNERS
Missus an' Mosser a-walkin' de street,
Deir han's in deir pockets an' nothin' to eat.
She'd better be home a-washin' up de dishes,
An' a-cleanin' up de ole man's raggitty britches.
He'd better run 'long an' git out de hoes
An' clear out his own crooked weedy corn rows;
De Kingdom is come, de Ni&&&rs* is free.
Hain't no Ni&&&r*
slaves in de Year Jubilee.
-snip-
* This word was completely spelled out in this book.

**
DIE IN THE PIG-PEN FIGHTING
Dat ole sow said to de barrer:
"I'll tell you w'at let's do:
Let's go an' git dat broad-axe
And die in de pig-pen too."

"Die in de pig-pen fightin'!
Yes, die, die in de wah!
Die in de pig-pen fightin',
Yes, die wid a bitin' jaw!"

E,F

G,H

I,J
JACK AND DINAH WANT FREEDOM
Ole Aunt Dinah, she's jes lak me.
She wuk so hard dat she want to be free.
But, you know, Aunt Dinah's gittin' sorter ole;
An' she's feared to go to Canada, caze it's so cōl'.

Dar wus ole Uncle Jack, he want to git free.
He find de way Norf by de moss on de tree.
He cross dat river* a-floatin' in a tub.
Dem Patterollers** give 'im a mighty close rub.

Dar is ole Uncle Billy, he's a mighty good Nigger.
He tote all de news to Mosser a little bigger.
When you tells Uncle Billy, you wants free fer a fac';
De nex' day de hide drap off'n yō' back.

[Note written by Thomas W. Talley]:
"The writer wishes to give explanation as to why the rhyme "Jack and
Dinah Want Freedom" appears under the Section of Psycho-composite Rhymes as set forth in "The Study----" of our volume. The Negroes repeating this rhyme did not always give the names Jack, Dinah, and Billy, as we here record them, but at their pleasure put in the individual name of the Negro in their surroundings whom the stanza being repeated might represent. Thus this little rhyme was the scientific dividing, on the part of the Negroes themselves, of the members of their race into three general classes with respect to the matter of Freedom."...

*The Ohio River.

**White guards who caught and kept slaves at the master's home.

**
JACKSON, PUT THAT KETTLE ON!
Jackson, put dat kittle on!
Fire, steam dat coffee done!
Day done broke, an' I got to run
Fer to meet my gal by de risin' sun.

My ole Mosser say to me,
Dat I mus' drink [10]sassfac tea;
But Jackson stews dat coffee done,
An' he shō' gits his po'tion: Son!

K,L

M,N
MASTER KILLED A BIG BULL
Mosser killed a big bull,
Missus cooked a dish full,
Didn't give poor Ni&&&r* a mouf full.
Humph! Humph!

Mosser killed a fat lam'.
Missus brung a basket,
An' give poor Ni&&&r* de haslet.
Eh-eh! Eh-eh!

Mosser killed a fat hog
Missus biled de middlin's,
An' give poor Ni&&&r* de chitlin's.
Shō! Shō!
-snip-
* This word was completely spelled out in this book.

**
MASTER IS SIX FEET ONE WAY
Mosser is six foot one way, an' free foot tudder;
An' he weigh five hunderd pound.
Britches cut so big dat dey don't suit de tailor,
An' dey don't meet half way 'round.

Mosser's coat come back to a claw-hammer p'int.
(Speak sof' or his Bloodhound'll bite us.)
His long white stockin's mighty clean an' nice,
But a liddle mō' holier dan righteous.

**
NOBODY LOOKING
Well: I look dis a way, an' I look dat a way,
An' I heared a mighty rumblin'.
W'en I come to find out, 'twus dad's black sow,
A-rootin' an' a-grumblin'.

Den: I slipped away down to de big White House.
Miss Sallie, she done gone 'way.
I popped myse'f in de rockin' chear,
An' I rocked myse'f all day.

Now: I looked dis a way, an' I looked dat a way,
An' I didn' see nobody in here.
I jes run'd my head in de coffee pot,
An' I drink'd up all o' de beer.

O,P
OFF FROM RICHMOND
I'se off from Richmon' sooner in de mornin'.
I'se off from Richmon' befō' de break o' day.
I slips off from Mosser widout pass an' warnin'
Fer I mus' see my Donie wharever she may stay.

**
PROMISES OF FREEDOM
My ole Mistiss promise me,
W'en she died, she'd set me free.
She lived so long dat 'er head got bal',*
An' she give out'n de notion a dyin' at all.

My ole Mistiss say to me:
"Sambo, I'se gwine ter set you free."
But w'en dat head git slick an' bal',
De Lawd couldn' a' killed 'er wid a big green maul.

My ole Mistiss never die,
Wid 'er nose all hooked an' skin all dry.
But my ole Miss, she's somehow gone,
An' she lef' "Uncle Sambo" a-hillin' up co'n.**

Ole Mosser lakwise promise me,
W'en he died, he'd set me free.
But ole Mosser go an' make his Will
Fer to leave me a-plowin' ole Beck still.

Yes, my ole Mosser promise me;
But "his papers" didn' leave me free.
A dose of pizen he'ped 'im along.
May de Devil preach 'is fūner'l song.
-snip-
*bal' = bald

** "co'n" - corn

Q,R

S,T
SAIL AWAY, LADIES!
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Nev' min' what dem white folks say,
May de Mighty bless you. Sail away!

Nev' min' what yō' daddy say,
Shake yō' liddle foot an' fly away.
Nev' min' if yō' mammy say:
"De Devil'll git you." Sail away!

**
SONG TO THE RUNAWAY SLAVE
Go 'way from dat window, "My Honey, My Love!"
Go 'way from dat window! I say.
De baby's in de bed, an' his mammy's lyin' by,
But you cain't git yō' lodgin' here.

Go 'way from dat window, "My Honey, My Love!"
Go 'way from dat window! I say;
Fer ole Mosser's got 'is gun, an' to Miss'ip' youse been sōl';
So you cain't git yō' lodgin' here.

Go 'way from dat window, "My Honey, My Love!"
Go 'way from dat window! I say.
De baby keeps a-cryin'; but you'd better un'erstan'
Dat you cain't git yō' lodgin' here.

Go 'way from dat window, "My Honey, My Love!"
Go 'way from dat window! I say;
Fer de Devil's in dat man, an' you'd better un'erstan'
Dat you cain't git yō' lodgin' here.

[Talley's Note: The story went among Negroes that a runaway slave husband returned every night, and knocked on the window of his wife's cabin to get food. Other slaves having betrayed the secret that he was still in the vicinity, he was sold in the woods to a slave trader at reduced price. This trader was to come next day with bloodhounds to hunt him down. On the night after the sale, when the runaway slave husband knocked, the slave wife pinched their baby to make it cry. Then she sang the above song (as if singing to the baby), so that he might, if possible, effect
his escape.

**
THE BANJO PICKING
Hush boys! Hush boys! Don't make a noise,
While ole Mosser's* sleepin'.
We'll run down de Graveyard, an' take out de bones,
An' have a liddle Banjer pickin'.

I takes my Banjer on a Sunday mornin'.
Dem ladies, dey 'vites me to come.
We slips down de hill an' picks de liddle chune:
"Walk, Tom Wilson Here Afternoon."

"Walk Tom Wilson Here Afternoon";
"You Cain't Dance Lak ole Zipp Coon."
Pick "Dinah's Dinner Ho'n" "Dance 'Round de Room."
"Sweep dat Kittle Wid a Bran' New Broom."
-snip-
Mosser = master

**
THE RASCAL
I'se de bigges' rascal fer my age.
I now speaks from dis public stage.
I'se stole a cow; I'se stole a calf,
An' dat hain't more 'an jes 'bout half.

Yes, Mosser!--Lover of my soul!--
"How many chickens has I stole?"
Well; three las' night, an' two night befo';
An' I'se gwine 'fore long to git four mō'.

But you see dat hones' Billy Ben,
He done e't more dan erry three men.
He e't a ham, den e't a side;
He would a e't mō', but you know he died.

U,V

W,X

Y,Z
YEAR OF JUBILEE
Ni&&&&s*, has you seed ole Mosser;
(Red mustache on his face.)
A-gwine 'roun' sometime dis mawnin',
'Spectin' to leave de place?

Ni&&&r* Hands all runnin' 'way,
Looks lak we mought git free!
It mus' be now de Kingdom Come
In de Year o' Jubilee.

Oh, yon'er comes ole Mosser
Wid his red mustache all white!
It mus' be now de Kingdom Come
Sometime to-morrer night.

Yanks locked him in de smokehouse cellar,
De key's throwed in de well:
It shō' mus' be de Kingdom Come.
Go ring dat Ni&&&r field-bell!

[Talley's Note: Kingdom Come = Freedom.]
-snip-
* This word was completely spelled out in this book.

****
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"La Hoola Boola", The African American Source Of The Yale University Song "Boola Boola" & The University Of Oklahoma song "Boomer Sooner"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about the 1898 song "La Hoola Boola" that is documented as the source of the Yale University Fight Song "Boola Boola" & The University Of Oklahoma song "Boomer Sooner. Documentation about the connection between these three songs, and a sound file example of "Boola Boola" are also given in this post.

In addition, an example of an unrelated Somalian (Northeast Africa) song with the name "Boola Boola" and an example of the also unrelated Indonesian national anthem whose tune is quite similar to "La Hoola Boola" are included in the Addendum section of this post.

The content of this post is provided for folkloric, historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Bob Cole and Billy Johnson for composing the song "La Hoola Boola". Thanks also to the vocalists who are featured on these sound files and videos and thanks to the publishers of these sound files and videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

Hat tip to Slam20011 for sharing the information about the connection between "La Hoola Boola" and "Boola Boola".

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SONG "LA HOOLA BOOLA" From https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2552 Yale Alumni Magazine Arts & Culture “You can quote them” by Fred Shapiro | Sep/Oct 2009
Yale law librarian Fred R. Shapiro is editor of the Yale Book of Quotations.
"The authorship of Yale's iconic fight song “Boola Boola” has traditionally been ascribed to Allan M. Hirsh, Class of 1901...

But the claim of two men with no Yale connection -- Robert Allen “Bob” Cole and Billy Johnson -- appears to shift the role of Hirsh (and his classmates) from creating to adapting. Hirsh himself acknowledged as much, if somewhat obliquely, in his 1930 letter.

Cole and Johnson were extremely popular African American singer-songwriters of the time. They wrote, directed, and produced the first full-length musical with an all-black cast and all-black management, which opened on Broadway in 1898.* Also in 1898, they copyrighted a song called “La Hoola Boola.” In addition to using the word “Boola,” their song, according to James J. Fuld's authoritative Book of World-Famous Music (1971), has the same melody “virtually note for note in the important bars” as the Yale song. Fuld adds that, when the first edition for piano of “Yale Boola” (with A. M. Hirsh listed as author) was published in 1901, it included a notice: “Adapted by permission of Howley, Haviland & Dresser.” Howley, Haviland & Dresser was the successor publisher of “La Hoola Boola.”

In his 1930 letter, Allan Hirsh wrote: “The song was not altogether original with us, but was undoubtedly adapted from some other song but we were unable to definitively designate this song, although later on we did discover that there had been published a song, which at that time was out of print, called 'La Hula Boola,' and the air was quite similar but the time was different.” Given that Hirsh's publisher had felt obligated to get permission for adapting “La Hoola Boola,” Hirsh seems, at the least, to have failed to give proper credit to Cole and Johnson.”...
-snip-
* The Robert Allen "Bob" Cole and [William] Billy Johnson Broadway production in 1898 was "A Trip To Coontown".

****
From The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk, James J. Fuld [Google Books, p. 150]
"The first printing of this melody [for "Boola Boola"], virtually note for note in the important bars is in the song “La Hoola Boola” where the words “Hoola Boola” are also frequently used. “La Hoola Boola” was copyrighted by Howley, Haviland and Company in 1898 although the year in the copyright notice on the music is from the previous year. “La Hoola Boola” is described as “an Hawaiian Ditty” ...Up To Dated” by Bob Cole and Billy Johnson. First edition front cover [of the musical score] has a drawing of two Hawaiians and is orange, black, and white in color..."
-snip-
I've not been able to find either the words to the song "La Hoola Boola" or any rendition of that song online. However, given the description of that song by James L. Fuld , it's very likely that "La Hoola Boola" includes a refrain similar to that of the Yale song "Boola Boola" except for the word "hoola" instead of the first "boola". Here's the refrain for "Boola Boola":

"Well-a Boola, Boo, Boola, Boola, Boo,
Boola, Boo, Boola, Boola, Boola, Boo!

Boola, Boola, Boola, Boola,
Boola, Boola, Boola, Boola,"
-snip-
The complete lyrics to the Yale song "Boola Boola" are found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boola_Boola

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THE WORD "HULA" AND THE SONG "'HOOLA BOOLA"
The word "hoola" is pronounced the same as the word "hula", a form of hip shaking/hand motion dance that is now (if not in the late 19th century) very closely associated with Hawaii. It seems very likely to me that that dance and its association with Hawaii is the meaning of the word "hoola" in that Cole/Johnson song. And the word "boola" is a word with no meaning that rhymes with the word "hoola" ("hula").

According to this website http://www.ovrtur.com/show/124809, the song “La Hoola Boola” was later added to the production of Bob Coles & Billy Johnson's Broadway play "A Trip To Coontown". That website includes a complete list of the songs that were featured in that production.

An excerpt from the article "Forgotten Manuscripts: A Trip to Coontown" written by Krystyn R. Moon, David Krasner, Thomas L. Riis, and included in African American Review Volume 44, Numbers 1-2, Spring/Summer 2011 (pp. 7-24 | 10.1353/afa.2011.0012) provides interesting information about that 1898 play and one of the songs that was originally written for that play “The Wedding of the Chinee and the Coon” (1897)”:
..."Bob Cole and Billy Johnson’s A Trip to Coontown first appeared on the stage during the 1897–98 season. Although African Americans had written numerous short theatrical and musical works, none had written a full-length musical production. To add to its historical significance, A Trip to Coontown was performed, directed, and produced by African Americans, an astounding feat in an era where few independent theaters could even consider taking a chance on such a production. Unfortunately, the play—like so many other nineteenth-century African American documents and artifacts—was lost, and scholars could only make conjectures (based mainly on newspaper reviews) about what it looked and sounded like.

...In A Trip to Coontown, Cole and Johnson reworked a skit originally titled At Jolly Coon-ey Island that Cole had written for Black Patti’s Troubadours (the operatic variety company formed by Sissieretta Jones) and named the new production to spoof one of the most popular musicals of the 1890s, A Trip to Chinatown (1891).3 Despite positive reviews in the fall of 1897, Cole was unable to produce his work except in third-rate American and Canadian theaters over the course of several weeks. By the end of the nineteenth century, the theater industry was owned and operated by a handful of European American men who could blacklist any performer and destroy his/her career. Not until after World War I did actors and writers have some success unionizing, but African Americans were almost unilaterally excluded. Cole’s previous employers organized a boycott of Cole and Johnson’s play because they chose to work independently. Despite this hurdle, its success grew, and Klaw and Erlanger, one of the major theatrical booking agencies in New York City, finally broke the boycott in April 1898 and opened A Trip to Coontown at the Third Avenue Theater.4A Trip to Coontown toured the United States for..."
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[end of Project Muse excerpt]
https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/african_american_review/v044/44.1-2.moon.html
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As per this article, the original title for the play "A Trip To Coontown" was "At Jolly Coon-ey Island". That title includes a clever play on words since "Coney Island" was (and still is) a popular amusement location in New York City and "coon" was a somewhat common referent for a Black person. [The word "coon" as a referent for a Black person is considered a pejorative referent and as such is no considered appropriate to use.). The word "coney" in the name "Coney Island" is an English adaptation of a Dutch word for "rabbit". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island.

Given that the first cover of "La Hoola Boola"'s musical included drawings of two Hawaiians (as per the statements of James J. Fuld), and given that song's later inclusion in the play "A Trip To Coontown", it could be said that that composition provided a stereotypical depiction-albeit probably "friendly" stereotypical depiction- of Hawaiians. Since the play "A Trip To Coontown" apparently also included other stereotyped depictions, I can see how the song "La Hoola Boola" was added to that production.

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SOUND FILES OF THE YALE FIGHT SONG "BOOLA BOOLA" AND THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FIGHT SONG "BOOMER SOONER"
The SingALong Gang - Boola Boola



Technotherapie, Uploaded on Dec 17, 2011

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Boomer Sooner (University of Oklahoma fight song)



2011mrkingofkings, Published on Dec 7, 2013

My third Big Eight Conference fight song.

One of my favorite fight songs of all time, it's Boomer Sooner by The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band, which WWE play-by-play man and Sooners fan Jim Ross uses as his theme music...
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A "fight song" is a song that is used to cheer on the athletes in a competitive game.

Here's information about the University of Oklahoma Fight Song "Boomer Sooner":
"Boomer Sooner" is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma (OU). The lyrics were written in 1905 by Arthur M. Alden, an OU student and son of a local jeweler in Norman. The tune is taken from "Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale University (which was itself borrowed from an 1898 song called "La Hoola Boola" by Robert Allen (Bob) Cole and Billy Johnson)." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boomer_Sooner
-snip-
The lyrics to the University of Oklahoma song "Boomer Sooner" are found on that song's Wikipedia page.

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ADDENDUM: TWO UNRELATED SONGS WITH SIMILAR TITLE OR TUNE

BOOLA BOOLA


ABAKFAY,Published on Jul 8, 2013
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There are several videos or sound files of this song on YouTube. Those performances are credited to Abdallah Lee. From the comments and summaries I believe that this song is Afar music from Somali, Africa.

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Indonesia National Anthem "Indonesia Raya" (Great Indonesia)



NationalAnthems12, Published on Oct 9, 2012

The official national anthem of Indonesia "Indonesia Raya" (Great Indonesia)
Lyrics include in both languages Indonesian and English

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