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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/35592-8.txt b/35592-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..323e74f --- /dev/null +++ b/35592-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,984 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro, by Will H. Thomas + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro + +Author: Will H. Thomas + +Release Date: March 16, 2011 [EBook #35592] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO *** + + + + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + SOME CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO + + BY W. H. THOMAS, College Station, Texas + + + _Read before the Folk-Lore Society of Texas, 1912_ + + + PUBLISHED BY THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY OF TEXAS + + + + +WILL THOMAS AND THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY + + +Now that this brochure is being reprinted by the Texas Folk-Lore Society, +I take the opportunity to say a word concerning its author and its +history. + +Although not a numbered publication, =Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro= +(1912) was the first item produced by the Texas Folk-Lore Society. At the +time dues to the Society were two-bits a year--not enough to allow a very +extensive publication. Number I (now reprinted under the title of =Round +the Levee=) was not issued until 1916; then it was seven more years before +another volume was issued, since which time, 1923, the Society has sent +out a book annually to its members. The credit for initiating the +Society's policy of recording the lore of Texas and the Southwest belongs +to Will H. Thomas. + +At the time his pamphlet was issued, he was president of the organization, +to which office he was elected again in 1923. His idea was that people who +work with folk-lore should not only collect it but interpret it and also +enjoy it. This view is expressed in his delightful essay on "The Decline +and Decadence of Folk Metaphor," in =Publications= Number II (=Coffee in +the Gourd=) of the Society. + +The view is thoroughly representative of the man, for Will Thomas was a +vigorous, sane man with a vigorous, sane mind. He had a sense of humor +and, therefore, a sense of the fitness of things. For nearly thirty years +he taught English in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and +I have often wished that more professors of English in the colleges and +universities over the country saw into the shams and futilities and sheer +nonsense that passes for "scholarship" as thoroughly as he saw into them. +Yet he was tolerant. He was a salt-of-the-earth kind of man. + +He was born of the best of old-time Texas stock on a farm in Fayette +County, January 11, 1880; he got his collegiate training at Austin +College, Sherman, and the University of Texas and then took his Master's +degree at Columbia University. He was co-editor, with Stewart Morgan, of +two volumes of essays designed for collegians. He died March 1, 1935. +Gates Thomas, Professor of English in Southwestern State Teachers College +at San Marcos, who has done notable work in Negro folk songs and who is +one of the nestors and pillars of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, is his +brother. + + J. FRANK DOBIE + Austin, Texas + April, 1936 + + + + +SOME CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO AND THEIR ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION. + +BY W. H. THOMAS, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS. + + +_Mr. President, Members of the Folk-Lore Society, Ladies and Gentlemen:_ + +I should first like to say a word as to why I have been given the honor of +addressing this meeting. Mr. Lomax is solely to blame for that. A short +while after this society was organized, Mr. Lomax approached me one day +while I was holding an examination and asked me to join the society and to +make a study of the negro songs. He did so, no doubt, out of a knowledge +of the fact that as I had lived all by life in a part of the State where +the negroes are thick, and as I was then devoting my summers to active +farming where negroes were employed, I would, therefore, have an excellent +opportunity for studying the negro and his songs, as the geologist would +say, _in situ_. + +You will notice that I have taken as my title, "Some Current Folk-Songs of +the Negro and Their Economic Interpretation." Now it is somewhat +misleading at this day and time to speak of the negro as a "folk." That +word seems to me to be applicable only to a people living in an industry +in which economic function has not been specialized. So it would be more +accurate to speak of "negro class lore." The class that I am treating of +is the semi-rural proletariat. So far as my observation goes, the +property-holding negro never sings. You see, property lends +respectability, and respectability is too great a burden for any +literature to bear, even our own. Although we generally think of beliefs, +customs, and practices, when we hear the word "folk-lore" used, I believe +all treatises on the subject recognize songs, sayings, ballads, and arts +of all kinds as proper divisions of the subject. So a collection and study +of the following songs is certainly not out of place on a program got up +by this society. + +Now just one word more under this head. I have found it very difficult to +keep separate and distinct the study of folk-lore and the study of +folk-psychology. The latter has always been extremely interesting to me; +hence I can't refrain from sharing with you the two following instances: A +negro girl was once attending a protracted meeting when she "got religion" +and went off into a deep swoon, which lasted for two whole days, no food +or drink being taken in the meantime. A negro explained to me as follows: +"Now when that nigger comes to, if she's been possumin', she sho' will be +hungry; but if she hasn't been possumin', it will be just the same as if +she had been eatin' all the time." The other instance is that of an old +negro who just before he died had been lucky enough to join a burial +association which guaranteed to its members a relatively elaborate +interment. So, when this old negro died, the undertaker dressed him out in +a nice black suit, patent leather shoes, laundered shirt and collar, and +all that. His daughter, in relating the incident after the funeral, said: +"Bless your life, when they put Pappy in that coffin, he looked so fine +that he just _had_ to open his eyes and look at his self." + +I imagine that folk-lore appeals differently to different individuals +according to what intellectual or cultural interest predominates their +beings. I suppose that the first interest in folk-lore was that of the +antiquarian. Then came the interest of the linguist and the literateur. +But it seems to me that if the pursuit of folk-lore is to be thoroughly +worth while to-day the interest must above all be psychological and +sociological. At least these are my interests in the subject. For +instance, take that piece of well known folk-lore--the belief that by +hanging a dead snake on a barbed wire fence--one can induce rain in a time +of drought. I would give almost anything to know just how the two ideas +"hanging a snake on a fence" and "raining" were ever associated. But I can +perhaps still better illustrate my attitude by relating a piece of Herbert +Spencerian lore. Herbert Spencer tells in his autobiography of this +incident that he met with while on one of his annual trips to Scotland. +The house at which he was a guest contained a room which bore the +reputation of being haunted. It was in this room that Herbert Spencer was +asked to sleep. So he did and lay awake most of the night, though not out +of fear that the ghost would choose that particular night to pay a visit, +but out of a philosophical curiosity to figure out the origin of such a +"fool" belief. + +In reference to these songs, when I say that I am interested in a study of +origins, I do not mean the origin of any particular song, but the origin +of the songs as a social phenomenon. Or to put it interrogatively, why do +the members of this particular class sing, and why do their songs contain +the thoughts that they do? + +I believe it is pretty generally agreed today that any well-defined period +of literature is merely the reflection of some great economic change. I +notice that the critics have begun to speak of Victorian literature as +merely the ornament of nineteenth century prosperity--the prosperity that +was incident to the utilization of steam as motive power. + +Now a great change has come into the negro's economic life within the past +two decades. Its causes have been two. He has come into competition with +the European immigrant, whose staying qualities are much greater than his; +and agriculture has been changing from a feudalistic to a capitalistic +basis, which requires a greater technical ability than the negro +possesses. The result is that he is being steadily pushed into the less +inviting and less secure occupations. To go into the intricacies of my +thesis would be to abuse the privilege of the program; so I shall have to +content myself with merely stating it. The negro, then, sings because he +is losing his economic foothold. This economic insecurity has interfered +most seriously with those two primal necessities--work and love--and you +will notice that the thoughts in all these songs cluster around these two +ideas. + +So much for the interpretation; now for the appreciation. It has been my +experience that where a knowledge of the negro's every day, or rather +every-night, life is lacking, the appreciation of these songs is never +very keen. Hence, in order to make it certain that you will appreciate +these songs, I deem it necessary to try to acquaint you with the life of +one of the "songsters." Otherwise I am afraid that too many of you will +look upon these songs as absolutely puerile. Remember that a greater man +than you or I once declared the ancient ballads to be without merit and +also maintained that he could write, on the spur of the moment, a stanza +that was just as good and that contained just as much meaning. Whereupon, +being challenged he sat down and wrote: + + "I put my hat upon my head and went into the Strand, + And there I met another man with his hat in his hand." + +The colored semi-rural proletarian, then--how shall I describe him so that +you may see him in your mind's eye, as I read these songs? I don't know +how many of you are already acquainted with him, but, if any of you have +ever tried to employ him profitably, I am sure you will never forget him. +Perhaps I can picture him best by using the method of contrast. Let us +follow one as he works with a white man, the latter, of course, being +boss. We shall start with the morning. + +The white man rises early and eats his breakfast. My proletarian doesn't +rise at all for the chances are that he has never gone to bed. At noon +they "knock off." While the white man is preparing to eat his lunch, the +"nigger" has already done so and is up in the bed of a wagon or on a plank +underneath a tree fast asleep, usually with his head in the sun. At +nightfall, the white man eats supper and spends the evening reading or +with his family. Not so my proletarian. He generally borrows thirty-five +cents from the white man, steps out the back gate, gives a shrill whistle +or two, and allows how he believes he'll "step off a piece to-night." + +As I have not been on the farm much for the last two years. I have been +unable to use the Boswellian method of recording these songs but have had +to depend mostly on memory. The result is that some of them are not +complete and some may not be textually correct. Of course the collection +is not anything like an exhaustive one. + +If you consider these songs as the negro's literature, you will notice +some striking parallels between its history and that of English +literature. As all of you know, English literature for several centuries +was little more than paraphrases of various parts of the Bible. The first +songs I shall read you are clearly not indigenous but are merely revamping +the Biblical incidents and reflections of the sect disputes of the whites. +The first song here presented is one that I heard twenty years ago as it +was sung on the banks of a creek at a "big baptizing." It is entitled: + +TELL ALL THE MEMBERS I'M A NEW BORN. + + I went to the valley on a cloudy day. + O good Lord! + My soul got so happy that I couldn't get away. + + Chorus. + + Tell all the members I'm a new-born, + I'm a new-born, I'm a new-born, + O Lord! + I'm a new-born baby, born in the manger, + Tell all the members I'm a new-born. + + Read the Scriptures, I am told, + Read about the garment Achan stole. + + Chorus. + + Away over yonder in the harvest fields, + O good Lord! + Angels working with the chariot wheels. + + Chorus. + + Away over yonder, got nothing to do, + O good Lord! + But to walk about Heaven and shout Halloo. + + Chorus. + + I'm so glad, I don't know what about, + O good Lord! + Sprinkling and pourings done played out. + + Chorus. + +Here are two more of the same kind: + +PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS. + + Daniel in that lion's den, + He called God A'mighty for to be his friend; + Read a little further, 'bout the latter clause: + The angel locked them lions' jaws. + + Refrain. + + Oh, Daniel, hallelujah; + Oh, Daniel, preaching in that wilderness. + + Old man Adam, never been out; + Devil get in him, he'll jump up and shout; + He'll shout till he give a poor sister a blow, + Then he'll stop right still and he'll shout no more. + + Refrain. + + P's for peter; in his word + He tells us all not to judge; + Read a little further and you'll find it there, + I knows the tree by the fruit it bear. + + Refrain. + + +SAVE ME FROM SINKING DOWN. + + Seven stars in his right hand, + Save me from sinking down. + All stars move at his command, + Save me from sinking down. + + Refrain. + + Oh, my Lord, save me from sinking down. + + John was a Baptist, so am I, + Save me from sinking down. + And he heard poor Israel's cry, + Save us from sinking down. + +The following is only a snatch, but it is enough to show that the economic +factor was not yet predominant. In it we still see traces of the Bible's +influence: + + O Lord, sinner, you got to die, + It may be to-day or to-morrow. + You can't tell the minute or the hour, + But, sinner, you've got to die. + + Refrain. + +We now come to songs originated by the present generation of negroes. They +all deal with work and love. The following might be entitled: + +THE SONG OF THE FORTUNATE ONE. + + The reason why I don't work so hard, + I got a gal in the white folks' yard; + And every night about half past eight, + I steps in through the white man's gate; + And she brings the butter, and the bread, and the lard; + That's the reason why I don't work so hard. + +The next I have termed the "Skinner's Song." Skinner is the vernacular for +teamster. The negro seldom carries a watch, but still uses the sun as a +chronometer; a watch perhaps would be too suggestive of regularity. +Picture to yourself several negroes working on a levee as teamsters. About +five o'clock you would hear this: + + I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt high; + I lookt at the Cap'n and he wunk his eye; + And he wunk his eye, and he wunk his eye, + I lookt at the Cap'n and he wunk his eye. + + I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt red; + I lookt at the Cap'n and he turned his head; + And he turned his head, and he turned his head, + I lookt at the Cap'n and he turned his head. + +The negro occasionally practices introspection. When he does, you are +likely to hear something like this: + + White folks are all time bragging, + Lord, Lord, Lord, + 'Bout a nigger ain't nothing but waggin, + Lord, Lord, Lord. + +Or, + + White folks goes to college; niggers to the field; + White folks learn to read and write; niggers learn to steal. + +Or, + + Beauty's skin deep, but ugly's to the bone. + Beauty soon fades, but ugly holds its own. + +The following is the only song in which I think I detect insincerity. Now +the negro may have periods of despondency, but I have never been able to +detect them. + +THE RAILROAD BLUES. + + I got the blues, but I haven't got the fare, + I got the blues, but I haven't got the fare, + I got the blues, but I am too damn'd mean to cry. + + Some folks say the rolling blues ain't bad; + Well, it must not 'a' been the blues my baby had. + + Oh! where was you when the rolling mill burned down? + On the levee camp about fifteen miles from town + + My mother's dead, my sister's gone astray, + And that is why this poor boy is here to-day. + +If any of you have high ideas about the universal sacredness of domestic +ties, prepare to shed them now. It has often been said that the negro is a +backward race. But this is not true. In fact, he is very forward. He had +invented trial marriage before sociology was a science. + +The following songs are only too realistic: + +FIRST. + + I dreamt last night I was walking around, + I met that nigger and I knocked her down; + I knocked her down and I started to run, + Till the sheriff done stopped me with his Gatling gun. + + I made a good run, but I run too slow, + He landed me over in the Jericho; + I started to run off down the track, + But they put me on the train and brought me back. + + +SECOND. + + Says, when I die, + Bury me in black, + For if you love that of woman of mine, + I'll come a sneakin' back; + For if you love that woman of mine, + I'll come a sneakin' back. + + +THIRD. + + If you don't quit monkeying with my Lulu, + I'll tell you what I'll do; + I'll fling around your heart with my razor; + I'll shoot you through and through. + + +That the negro's esthetic nature may be improving is indicated by the +following song. For tremendousness of comparison, I know nothing to equal +it. It is entitled: + +THE BROWN-SKINNED WOMAN. + + A brown-skinned woman and she's chocolate to the bone. + A brown-skinned woman and she smells like toilet soap. + A black-skinned woman and she smells like a billy goat. + A brown-skinned woman makes a freight train slip and slide. + A brown-skinned woman makes an engine stop and blow. + A brown-skinned woman makes a bulldog break his chain. + A brown-skinned woman makes a preacher lay his Bible down. + I married a woman; she was even tailor made. + +You will find plenty of economics in the following song. The present-day +negro early made that most fatal of all discoveries: namely, that a man +can really live in this world without working. Hence his _beau ideal_ is +the gambler, and his _bête noir_ is the county jail or the penitentiary. + +THE GAMBLER'S PANTS. + + What kind of pants does a gambler wear? + Great big stripes, cost nine a pair. + + +JACK O' DIAMONDS. + + Jack o' Diamonds, Jack o' Diamonds, + Jack o' Diamonds is a hard card to roll. + + Says, whenever I gets in jail, + Jack o' Diamonds goes my bail; + And I never, Lord, I never, + Lord, I never was so hard up before. + + You may work me in the winter, + You may work me in the fall; + I'll get e-ven, I'll get e-ven, + I'll get even through that long summer's day. + + Jack o' Diamonds took my money, + And the piker got my clothes; + And I ne-e-ver, and I ne-e-ver, + Lord, I never was so hard run before. + + Says, whenever I gets in jail, + I'se got a Cap'n goes my bail; + And a Lu-u-la, and a Lu-u-la, + And a Lulu that's a hard-working chile. + + +TO HUNTSVILLE. + + The jurymen found me guilty, the judge he did say: + "This man's convicted to Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay." + + My mammy said, "It's a pity." My woman she did say: + "They're taking my man to Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay." + + Upon that station platform we all stood waiting that day, + Awaiting that train for Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay. + + The train ran into the station, the sheriff he did say: + "Get on this train for Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay." + + Now, if you see my Lula, please tell her for me, + I've done quit drinking and gambling, poor boy, + And getting on my sprees. + + +DON'T LET YOUR WATCH RUN DOWN, CAP'N. + + Working on the section, dollar and a half a day, + Working for my Lula; getting more than pay, Cap'n, + Getting more than pay. + + Working on the railroad, mud up to my knees, + Working for my Lula; she's a hard old girl to please, Cap'n, + She's a hard girl to please. + So don't let your watch run down, Cap'n, + Don't let your watch run down. + + +BABY, TAKE A LOOK AT ME. + + I went to the jail house and fell on my knees, + The first thing I noticed was a big pan of peas. + The peas was hard and the bacon was fat; + Says, your oughter seen the niggers that was grabbin' at that. + + Refrain. + + Oh, Lord, Baby, take a look at me! + + Brandy, whisky, Devil's Island gin, + Doctor said it would kill him, but he didn't tell him when. + + Refrain. + + Oh, Lord, Baby, take a look at me! + + +DON'T YOU LEAVE ME HERE. + + Don't you leave me here, don't you leave me here, + For if you leave me here, babe, they'll arrest me sure. + They'll arrest me sure. + For if you leave me here, babe, they'll arrest me sure. + + Don't leave me here, don't leave me here, + For if you leave me here, you'll leave a dime for beer. + + Why don't you be like me, why don't you be like me? + Quit drinking whisky, babe, let the cocaine be. + + It's a mean man that won't treat his woman right. + + +The following is a tragedy in nine acts: + +FRANKIE. + + Frankie was a good girl, as everybody knows, + She paid a hundred dollars for Albert a suit of clothes; + He was her man, babe, but she shot him down. + + Frankie went to the bar-keeper's to get a bottle of beer; + She says to the bar-keeper: "Has my living babe been here?" + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + The bar-keeper says to Frankie: "I ain't going to tell you no lie, + Albert passed 'long here walking about an hour ago with a nigger + named Alkali." + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + Frankie went to Albert's house; she didn't go for fun; + For, underneath her apron was a blue-barrel 41. + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + When Frankie got to Albert's house, she didn't say a word, + But she cut down upon poor Albert just like he was a bird. + He was her man, babe, but she shot him down. + + When Frankie left Albert's house, she lit out in a run, + For, underneath her apron was a smoking 41. + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + "Roll me over, doctor, roll me over slow, + Cause, when you rolls me over, them bullets hurt me so; + I was her man, babe, but she shot me down." + + Frankie went to the church house and fell upon her knees, + Crying "Lord 'a' mercy, won't you give my heart some ease? + He was my man, babe, but I shot him down." + + Rubber-tired buggy, decorated hack, + They took him to the graveyard, but they couldn't bring him back. + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + +And, once more, the female of the species was more deadly than the male. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro, by +Will H. Thomas + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO *** + +***** This file should be named 35592-8.txt or 35592-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/5/9/35592/ + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/35592-8.zip b/35592-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c6eac9 --- /dev/null +++ b/35592-8.zip diff --git a/35592-h.zip b/35592-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78479ce --- /dev/null +++ b/35592-h.zip diff --git a/35592-h/35592-h.htm b/35592-h/35592-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f32062 --- /dev/null +++ b/35592-h/35592-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1033 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro, by W. H. Thomas. + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + + body {margin-left: 12%; margin-right: 12%;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right; font-style: normal;} + + hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + .huge {font-size: 150%} + .big {font-size: 125%} + + .dent {margin-left: 5%;} + .poem {margin-left:15%;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro, by Will H. Thomas + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro + +Author: Will H. Thomas + +Release Date: March 16, 2011 [EBook #35592] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO *** + + + + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<p class="center"><span class="huge">SOME CURRENT FOLK-SONGS<br />OF THE NEGRO</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p class="center">BY<br /><strong>W. H. THOMAS, College Station, Texas</strong></p> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center"><strong><i>Read before the Folk-Lore Society of Texas, 1912</i></strong></p> +<p> </p><p> </p> +<p class="center">PUBLISHED BY THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY OF TEXAS</p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="big">WILL THOMAS AND THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY</span></p> + +<p><br />Now that this brochure is being reprinted by the Texas Folk-Lore Society, +I take the opportunity to say a word concerning its author and its +history.</p> + +<p>Although not a numbered publication, <b>Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro</b> +(1912) was the first item produced by the Texas Folk-Lore Society. At the +time dues to the Society were two-bits a year—not enough to allow a very +extensive publication. Number I (now reprinted under the title of <b>Round +the Levee</b>) was not issued until 1916; then it was seven more years before +another volume was issued, since which time, 1923, the Society has sent +out a book annually to its members. The credit for initiating the +Society’s policy of recording the lore of Texas and the Southwest belongs +to Will H. Thomas.</p> + +<p>At the time his pamphlet was issued, he was president of the organization, +to which office he was elected again in 1923. His idea was that people who +work with folk-lore should not only collect it but interpret it and also +enjoy it. This view is expressed in his delightful essay on “The Decline +and Decadence of Folk Metaphor,” in <b>Publications</b> Number II (<b>Coffee in the +Gourd</b>) of the Society.</p> + +<p>The view is thoroughly representative of the man, for Will Thomas was a +vigorous, sane man with a vigorous, sane mind. He had a sense of humor +and, therefore, a sense of the fitness of things. For nearly thirty years +he taught English in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and +I have often wished that more professors of English in the colleges and +universities over the country saw into the shams and futilities and sheer +nonsense that passes for “scholarship” as thoroughly as he saw into them. +Yet he was tolerant. He was a salt-of-the-earth kind of man.</p> + +<p>He was born of the best of old-time Texas stock on a farm in Fayette +County, January 11, 1880; he got his collegiate training at Austin +College, Sherman, and the University of Texas and then took his Master’s +degree at Columbia University. He was co-editor, with Stewart Morgan, of +two volumes of essays designed for collegians. He died March 1, 1935. +Gates Thomas, Professor of English in Southwestern State Teachers College +at San Marcos, who has done notable work in Negro folk songs and who is +one of the nestors and pillars of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, is his +brother.</p> + +<p class="dent">J. FRANK DOBIE<br /> +Austin, Texas<br /> +April, 1936</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + + +<p> </p><p> </p> +<hr style="width: 50%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="big">SOME CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO AND THEIR ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION.</span></p> +<p class="center">BY W. H. THOMAS, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS.</p> + + +<p><br /><i>Mr. President, Members of the Folk-Lore Society, Ladies and Gentlemen:</i></p> + +<p>I should first like to say a word as to why I have been given the honor of +addressing this meeting. Mr. Lomax is solely to blame for that. A short +while after this society was organized, Mr. Lomax approached me one day +while I was holding an examination and asked me to join the society and to +make a study of the negro songs. He did so, no doubt, out of a knowledge +of the fact that as I had lived all by life in a part of the State where +the negroes are thick, and as I was then devoting my summers to active +farming where negroes were employed, I would, therefore, have an excellent +opportunity for studying the negro and his songs, as the geologist would +say, <i>in situ</i>.</p> + +<p>You will notice that I have taken as my title, “Some Current Folk-Songs of +the Negro and Their Economic Interpretation.” Now it is somewhat +misleading at this day and time to speak of the negro as a “folk.” That +word seems to me to be applicable only to a people living in an industry +in which economic function has not been specialized. So it would be more +accurate to speak of “negro class lore.” The class that I am treating of +is the semi-rural proletariat. So far as my observation goes, the +property-holding negro never sings. You see, property lends +respectability, and respectability is too great a burden for any +literature to bear, even our own. Although we generally think of beliefs, +customs, and practices, when we hear the word “folk-lore” used, I believe +all treatises on the subject recognize songs, sayings, ballads, and arts +of all kinds as proper divisions of the subject. So a collection and study +of the following songs is certainly not out of place on a program got up +by this society.</p> + +<p>Now just one word more under this head. I have found it very difficult to +keep separate and distinct the study of folk-lore and the study of +folk-psychology. The latter has always been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>extremely interesting to me; +hence I can’t refrain from sharing with you the two following instances: A +negro girl was once attending a protracted meeting when she “got religion” +and went off into a deep swoon, which lasted for two whole days, no food +or drink being taken in the meantime. A negro explained to me as follows: +“Now when that nigger comes to, if she’s been possumin’, she sho’ will be +hungry; but if she hasn’t been possumin’, it will be just the same as if +she had been eatin’ all the time.” The other instance is that of an old +negro who just before he died had been lucky enough to join a burial +association which guaranteed to its members a relatively elaborate +interment. So, when this old negro died, the undertaker dressed him out in +a nice black suit, patent leather shoes, laundered shirt and collar, and +all that. His daughter, in relating the incident after the funeral, said: +“Bless your life, when they put Pappy in that coffin, he looked so fine +that he just <i>had</i> to open his eyes and look at his self.”</p> + +<p>I imagine that folk-lore appeals differently to different individuals +according to what intellectual or cultural interest predominates their +beings. I suppose that the first interest in folk-lore was that of the +antiquarian. Then came the interest of the linguist and the literateur. +But it seems to me that if the pursuit of folk-lore is to be thoroughly +worth while to-day the interest must above all be psychological and +sociological. At least these are my interests in the subject. For +instance, take that piece of well known folk-lore—the belief that by +hanging a dead snake on a barbed wire fence—one can induce rain in a time +of drought. I would give almost anything to know just how the two ideas +“hanging a snake on a fence” and “raining” were ever associated. But I can +perhaps still better illustrate my attitude by relating a piece of Herbert +Spencerian lore. Herbert Spencer tells in his autobiography of this +incident that he met with while on one of his annual trips to Scotland. +The house at which he was a guest contained a room which bore the +reputation of being haunted. It was in this room that Herbert Spencer was +asked to sleep. So he did and lay awake most of the night, though not out +of fear that the ghost would choose that particular night to pay a visit, +but out of a philosophical curiosity to figure out the origin of such a +“fool” belief.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>In reference to these songs, when I say that I am interested in a study of +origins, I do not mean the origin of any particular song, but the origin +of the songs as a social phenomenon. Or to put it interrogatively, why do +the members of this particular class sing, and why do their songs contain +the thoughts that they do?</p> + +<p>I believe it is pretty generally agreed today that any well-defined period +of literature is merely the reflection of some great economic change. I +notice that the critics have begun to speak of Victorian literature as +merely the ornament of nineteenth century prosperity—the prosperity that +was incident to the utilization of steam as motive power.</p> + +<p>Now a great change has come into the negro’s economic life within the past +two decades. Its causes have been two. He has come into competition with +the European immigrant, whose staying qualities are much greater than his; +and agriculture has been changing from a feudalistic to a capitalistic +basis, which requires a greater technical ability than the negro +possesses. The result is that he is being steadily pushed into the less +inviting and less secure occupations. To go into the intricacies of my +thesis would be to abuse the privilege of the program; so I shall have to +content myself with merely stating it. The negro, then, sings because he +is losing his economic foothold. This economic insecurity has interfered +most seriously with those two primal necessities—work and love—and you +will notice that the thoughts in all these songs cluster around these two +ideas.</p> + +<p>So much for the interpretation; now for the appreciation. It has been my +experience that where a knowledge of the negro’s every day, or rather +every-night, life is lacking, the appreciation of these songs is never +very keen. Hence, in order to make it certain that you will appreciate +these songs, I deem it necessary to try to acquaint you with the life of +one of the “songsters.” Otherwise I am afraid that too many of you will +look upon these songs as absolutely puerile. Remember that a greater man +than you or I once declared the ancient ballads to be without merit and +also maintained that he could write, on the spur of the moment, a stanza +that was just as good and that contained just as much meaning. Whereupon, +being challenged he sat down and wrote:</p> + +<p class="poem">“I put my hat upon my head and went into the Strand,<br /> +And there I met another man with his hat in his hand.”</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>The colored semi-rural proletarian, then—how shall I describe him so that +you may see him in your mind’s eye, as I read these songs? I don’t know +how many of you are already acquainted with him, but, if any of you have +ever tried to employ him profitably, I am sure you will never forget him. +Perhaps I can picture him best by using the method of contrast. Let us +follow one as he works with a white man, the latter, of course, being +boss. We shall start with the morning.</p> + +<p>The white man rises early and eats his breakfast. My proletarian doesn’t +rise at all for the chances are that he has never gone to bed. At noon +they “knock off.” While the white man is preparing to eat his lunch, the +“nigger” has already done so and is up in the bed of a wagon or on a plank +underneath a tree fast asleep, usually with his head in the sun. At +nightfall, the white man eats supper and spends the evening reading or +with his family. Not so my proletarian. He generally borrows thirty-five +cents from the white man, steps out the back gate, gives a shrill whistle +or two, and allows how he believes he’ll “step off a piece to-night.”</p> + +<p>As I have not been on the farm much for the last two years. I have been +unable to use the Boswellian method of recording these songs but have had +to depend mostly on memory. The result is that some of them are not +complete and some may not be textually correct. Of course the collection +is not anything like an exhaustive one.</p> + +<p>If you consider these songs as the negro’s literature, you will notice +some striking parallels between its history and that of English +literature. As all of you know, English literature for several centuries +was little more than paraphrases of various parts of the Bible. The first +songs I shall read you are clearly not indigenous but are merely revamping +the Biblical incidents and reflections of the sect disputes of the whites. +The first song here presented is one that I heard twenty years ago as it +was sung on the banks of a creek at a “big baptizing.” It is entitled:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: -1em;">TELL ALL THE MEMBERS I’M A NEW BORN.</span></p> + +<p>I went to the valley on a cloudy day.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">O good Lord!</span><br /> +My soul got so happy that I couldn’t get away.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chorus.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tell all the members I’m a new-born,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I’m a new-born, I’m a new-born,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">O Lord!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I’m a new-born baby, born in the manger,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Tell all the members I’m a new-born.</span><br /> +<br /> +Read the Scriptures, I am told,<br /> +Read about the garment Achan stole.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chorus.</span><br /> +<br /> +Away over yonder in the harvest fields,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">O good Lord!</span><br /> +Angels working with the chariot wheels.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chorus.</span><br /> +<br /> +Away over yonder, got nothing to do,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">O good Lord!</span><br /> +But to walk about Heaven and shout Halloo.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chorus.</span><br /> +<br /> +I’m so glad, I don’t know what about,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">O good Lord!</span><br /> +Sprinkling and pourings done played out.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Chorus.</span></p></div> + +<p>Here are two more of the same kind:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: .5em;">PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS.</span></p> + +<p>Daniel in that lion’s den,<br /> +He called God A’mighty for to be his friend;<br /> +Read a little further, ’bout the latter clause:<br /> +The angel locked them lions’ jaws.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Refrain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, Daniel, hallelujah;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, Daniel, preaching in that wilderness.</span><br /> +<br /> +Old man Adam, never been out;<br /> +Devil get in him, he’ll jump up and shout;<br /> +He’ll shout till he give a poor sister a blow,<br /> +Then he’ll stop right still and he’ll shout no more.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Refrain.</span><br /> +<br /> +P’s for peter; in his word<br /> +He tells us all not to judge;<br /> +Read a little further and you’ll find it there,<br /> +I knows the tree by the fruit it bear.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Refrain.</span></p></div> + +<p> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: -1em;">SAVE ME FROM SINKING DOWN.</span></p> + +<p>Seven stars in his right hand,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Save me from sinking down.</span><br /> +All stars move at his command,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Save me from sinking down.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Refrain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: -1em;">Oh, my Lord, save me from sinking down.</span><br /> +<br /> +John was a Baptist, so am I,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Save me from sinking down.</span><br /> +And he heard poor Israel’s cry,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Save us from sinking down.</span></p></div> + +<p>The following is only a snatch, but it is enough to show that the economic +factor was not yet predominant. In it we still see traces of the Bible’s +influence:</p> + +<p class="poem">O Lord, sinner, you got to die,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">It may be to-day or to-morrow.</span><br /> +You can’t tell the minute or the hour,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But, sinner, you’ve got to die.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Refrain.</span></p> + +<p>We now come to songs originated by the present generation of negroes. They +all deal with work and love. The following might be entitled:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: -.5em;">THE SONG OF THE FORTUNATE ONE.</span></p> + +<p>The reason why I don’t work so hard,<br /> +I got a gal in the white folks’ yard;<br /> +And every night about half past eight,<br /> +I steps in through the white man’s gate;<br /> +And she brings the butter, and the bread, and the lard;<br /> +That’s the reason why I don’t work so hard.</p></div> + +<p>The next I have termed the “Skinner’s Song.” Skinner is the vernacular for +teamster. The negro seldom carries a watch, but still uses the sun as a +chronometer; a watch perhaps would be too suggestive of regularity. +Picture to yourself several negroes working on a levee as teamsters. About +five o’clock you would hear this:</p> + +<p class="poem">I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt high;<br /> +I lookt at the Cap’n and he wunk his eye;<br /> +And he wunk his eye, and he wunk his eye,<br /> +I lookt at the Cap’n and he wunk his eye.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span><br /> +I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt red;<br /> +I lookt at the Cap’n and he turned his head;<br /> +And he turned his head, and he turned his head,<br /> +I lookt at the Cap’n and he turned his head.</p> + +<p>The negro occasionally practices introspection. When he does, you are +likely to hear something like this:</p> + +<p class="poem">White folks are all time bragging,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord, Lord, Lord,</span><br /> +’Bout a nigger ain’t nothing but waggin,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord, Lord, Lord.</span></p> + +<p>Or,</p> + +<p class="poem">White folks goes to college; niggers to the field;<br /> +White folks learn to read and write; niggers learn to steal.</p> + +<p>Or,</p> + +<p class="poem">Beauty’s skin deep, but ugly’s to the bone.<br /> +Beauty soon fades, but ugly holds its own.</p> + +<p>The following is the only song in which I think I detect insincerity. Now +the negro may have periods of despondency, but I have never been able to +detect them.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE RAILROAD BLUES.</span></p> + +<p>I got the blues, but I haven’t got the fare,<br /> +I got the blues, but I haven’t got the fare,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I got the blues, but I am too damn’d mean to cry.</span><br /> +<br /> +Some folks say the rolling blues ain’t bad;<br /> +Well, it must not ’a’ been the blues my baby had.<br /> +<br /> +Oh! where was you when the rolling mill burned down?<br /> +On the levee camp about fifteen miles from town<br /> +<br /> +My mother’s dead, my sister’s gone astray,<br /> +And that is why this poor boy is here to-day.</p></div> + +<p>If any of you have high ideas about the universal sacredness of domestic +ties, prepare to shed them now. It has often been said that the negro is a +backward race. But this is not true. In fact, he is very forward. He had +invented trial marriage before sociology was a science.</p> + +<p>The following songs are only too realistic:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">FIRST.</span></p> + +<p>I dreamt last night I was walking around,<br /> +I met that nigger and I knocked her down;<br /> +I knocked her down and I started to run,<br /> +Till the sheriff done stopped me with his Gatling gun.<br /> +<br /> +I made a good run, but I run too slow,<br /> +He landed me over in the Jericho;<br /> +I started to run off down the track,<br /> +But they put me on the train and brought me back.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">SECOND.</span></p> + +<p>Says, when I die,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bury me in black,</span><br /> +For if you love that of woman of mine,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I’ll come a sneakin’ back;</span><br /> +For if you love that woman of mine,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I’ll come a sneakin’ back.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">THIRD.</span></p> + +<p>If you don’t quit monkeying with my Lulu,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I’ll tell you what I’ll do;</span><br /> +I’ll fling around your heart with my razor;<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I’ll shoot you through and through.</span></p></div> + +<p>That the negro’s esthetic nature may be improving is indicated by the +following song. For tremendousness of comparison, I know nothing to equal +it. It is entitled:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: 3em;">THE BROWN-SKINNED WOMAN.</span></p> + +<p>A brown-skinned woman and she’s chocolate to the bone.<br /> +A brown-skinned woman and she smells like toilet soap.<br /> +A black-skinned woman and she smells like a billy goat.<br /> +A brown-skinned woman makes a freight train slip and slide.<br /> +A brown-skinned woman makes an engine stop and blow.<br /> +A brown-skinned woman makes a bulldog break his chain.<br /> +A brown-skinned woman makes a preacher lay his Bible down.<br /> +I married a woman; she was even tailor made.</p></div> + +<p>You will find plenty of economics in the following song. The present-day +negro early made that most fatal of all discoveries: namely, that a man +can really live in this world without working. Hence his <i>beau ideal</i> is +the gambler, and his <i>bête noir</i> is the county jail or the penitentiary.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">THE GAMBLER’S PANTS.</span></p> + +<p>What kind of pants does a gambler wear?<br /> +Great big stripes, cost nine a pair.</p> + + +<p><br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;">JACK O’ DIAMONDS.</span></p> + +<p>Jack o’ Diamonds, Jack o’ Diamonds,<br /> +Jack o’ Diamonds is a hard card to roll.<br /> +<br /> +Says, whenever I gets in jail,<br /> +Jack o’ Diamonds goes my bail;<br /> +And I never, Lord, I never,<br /> +Lord, I never was so hard up before.<br /> +<br /> +You may work me in the winter,<br /> +You may work me in the fall;<br /> +I’ll get e-ven, I’ll get e-ven,<br /> +I’ll get even through that long summer’s day.<br /> +<br /> +Jack o’ Diamonds took my money,<br /> +And the piker got my clothes;<br /> +And I ne-e-ver, and I ne-e-ver,<br /> +Lord, I never was so hard run before.<br /> +<br /> +Says, whenever I gets in jail,<br /> +I’se got a Cap’n goes my bail;<br /> +And a Lu-u-la, and a Lu-u-la,<br /> +And a Lulu that’s a hard-working chile.</p> + +<p><br /><span style="margin-left: 6em;">TO HUNTSVILLE.</span></p> + +<p>The jurymen found me guilty, the judge he did say:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“This man’s convicted to Huntsville, poor boy,</span><br /> +For ten long years to stay.”<br /> +<br /> +My mammy said, “It’s a pity.” My woman she did say:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“They’re taking my man to Huntsville, poor boy,</span><br /> +For ten long years to stay.”<br /> +<br /> +Upon that station platform we all stood waiting that day,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Awaiting that train for Huntsville, poor boy,</span><br /> +For ten long years to stay.<br /> +<br /> +The train ran into the station, the sheriff he did say:<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Get on this train for Huntsville, poor boy,</span><br /> +For ten long years to stay.”<br /> +<br /> +Now, if you see my Lula, please tell her for me,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I’ve done quit drinking and gambling, poor boy,</span><br /> +And getting on my sprees.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p><br />DON’T LET YOUR WATCH RUN DOWN, CAP’N.</p> + +<p>Working on the section, dollar and a half a day,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Working for my Lula; getting more than pay, Cap’n,</span><br /> +Getting more than pay.<br /> +<br /> +Working on the railroad, mud up to my knees,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Working for my Lula; she’s a hard old girl to please, Cap’n,</span><br /> +She’s a hard girl to please.<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So don’t let your watch run down, Cap’n,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Don’t let your watch run down.</span></p> + +<p><br /><span style="margin-left: 2em;">BABY, TAKE A LOOK AT ME.</span></p> + +<p>I went to the jail house and fell on my knees,<br /> +The first thing I noticed was a big pan of peas.<br /> +The peas was hard and the bacon was fat;<br /> +Says, your oughter seen the niggers that was grabbin’ at that.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Refrain.</span><br /> +<br /> +Oh, Lord, Baby, take a look at me!<br /> +<br /> +Brandy, whisky, Devil’s Island gin,<br /> +Doctor said it would kill him, but he didn’t tell him when.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;">Refrain.</span><br /> +<br /> +Oh, Lord, Baby, take a look at me!</p> + +<p><br /><span style="margin-left: 3em;">DON’T YOU LEAVE ME HERE.</span></p> + +<p>Don’t you leave me here, don’t you leave me here,<br /> +For if you leave me here, babe, they’ll arrest me sure.<br /> +They’ll arrest me sure.<br /> +For if you leave me here, babe, they’ll arrest me sure.<br /> +<br /> +Don’t leave me here, don’t leave me here,<br /> +For if you leave me here, you’ll leave a dime for beer.<br /> +<br /> +Why don’t you be like me, why don’t you be like me?<br /> +Quit drinking whisky, babe, let the cocaine be.<br /> +<br /> +It’s a mean man that won’t treat his woman right.</p></div> + +<p>The following is a tragedy in nine acts:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;">FRANKIE.</span></p> + +<p>Frankie was a good girl, as everybody knows,<br /> +She paid a hundred dollars for Albert a suit of clothes;<br /> +He was her man, babe, but she shot him down.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span><br /> +Frankie went to the bar-keeper’s to get a bottle of beer;<br /> +She says to the bar-keeper: “Has my living babe been here?”<br /> +He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong.<br /> +<br /> +The bar-keeper says to Frankie: “I ain’t going to tell you no lie,<br /> +Albert passed ’long here walking about an hour ago with a nigger named Alkali.”<br /> +He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong.<br /> +<br /> +Frankie went to Albert’s house; she didn’t go for fun;<br /> +For, underneath her apron was a blue-barrel 41.<br /> +He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong.<br /> +<br /> +When Frankie got to Albert’s house, she didn’t say a word,<br /> +But she cut down upon poor Albert just like he was a bird.<br /> +He was her man, babe, but she shot him down.<br /> +<br /> +When Frankie left Albert’s house, she lit out in a run,<br /> +For, underneath her apron was a smoking 41.<br /> +He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong.<br /> +<br /> +“Roll me over, doctor, roll me over slow,<br /> +Cause, when you rolls me over, them bullets hurt me so;<br /> +I was her man, babe, but she shot me down.”<br /> +<br /> +Frankie went to the church house and fell upon her knees,<br /> +Crying “Lord ’a’ mercy, won’t you give my heart some ease?<br /> +He was my man, babe, but I shot him down.”<br /> +<br /> +Rubber-tired buggy, decorated hack,<br /> +They took him to the graveyard, but they couldn’t bring him back.<br /> +He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong.</p></div> + +<p>And, once more, the female of the species was more deadly than the male.</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro, by +Will H. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro + +Author: Will H. Thomas + +Release Date: March 16, 2011 [EBook #35592] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO *** + + + + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Joseph Cooper and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + SOME CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO + + BY W. H. THOMAS, College Station, Texas + + + _Read before the Folk-Lore Society of Texas, 1912_ + + + PUBLISHED BY THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY OF TEXAS + + + + +WILL THOMAS AND THE TEXAS FOLK-LORE SOCIETY + + +Now that this brochure is being reprinted by the Texas Folk-Lore Society, +I take the opportunity to say a word concerning its author and its +history. + +Although not a numbered publication, =Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro= +(1912) was the first item produced by the Texas Folk-Lore Society. At the +time dues to the Society were two-bits a year--not enough to allow a very +extensive publication. Number I (now reprinted under the title of =Round +the Levee=) was not issued until 1916; then it was seven more years before +another volume was issued, since which time, 1923, the Society has sent +out a book annually to its members. The credit for initiating the +Society's policy of recording the lore of Texas and the Southwest belongs +to Will H. Thomas. + +At the time his pamphlet was issued, he was president of the organization, +to which office he was elected again in 1923. His idea was that people who +work with folk-lore should not only collect it but interpret it and also +enjoy it. This view is expressed in his delightful essay on "The Decline +and Decadence of Folk Metaphor," in =Publications= Number II (=Coffee in +the Gourd=) of the Society. + +The view is thoroughly representative of the man, for Will Thomas was a +vigorous, sane man with a vigorous, sane mind. He had a sense of humor +and, therefore, a sense of the fitness of things. For nearly thirty years +he taught English in the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, and +I have often wished that more professors of English in the colleges and +universities over the country saw into the shams and futilities and sheer +nonsense that passes for "scholarship" as thoroughly as he saw into them. +Yet he was tolerant. He was a salt-of-the-earth kind of man. + +He was born of the best of old-time Texas stock on a farm in Fayette +County, January 11, 1880; he got his collegiate training at Austin +College, Sherman, and the University of Texas and then took his Master's +degree at Columbia University. He was co-editor, with Stewart Morgan, of +two volumes of essays designed for collegians. He died March 1, 1935. +Gates Thomas, Professor of English in Southwestern State Teachers College +at San Marcos, who has done notable work in Negro folk songs and who is +one of the nestors and pillars of the Texas Folk-Lore Society, is his +brother. + + J. FRANK DOBIE + Austin, Texas + April, 1936 + + + + +SOME CURRENT FOLK-SONGS OF THE NEGRO AND THEIR ECONOMIC INTERPRETATION. + +BY W. H. THOMAS, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS. + + +_Mr. President, Members of the Folk-Lore Society, Ladies and Gentlemen:_ + +I should first like to say a word as to why I have been given the honor of +addressing this meeting. Mr. Lomax is solely to blame for that. A short +while after this society was organized, Mr. Lomax approached me one day +while I was holding an examination and asked me to join the society and to +make a study of the negro songs. He did so, no doubt, out of a knowledge +of the fact that as I had lived all by life in a part of the State where +the negroes are thick, and as I was then devoting my summers to active +farming where negroes were employed, I would, therefore, have an excellent +opportunity for studying the negro and his songs, as the geologist would +say, _in situ_. + +You will notice that I have taken as my title, "Some Current Folk-Songs of +the Negro and Their Economic Interpretation." Now it is somewhat +misleading at this day and time to speak of the negro as a "folk." That +word seems to me to be applicable only to a people living in an industry +in which economic function has not been specialized. So it would be more +accurate to speak of "negro class lore." The class that I am treating of +is the semi-rural proletariat. So far as my observation goes, the +property-holding negro never sings. You see, property lends +respectability, and respectability is too great a burden for any +literature to bear, even our own. Although we generally think of beliefs, +customs, and practices, when we hear the word "folk-lore" used, I believe +all treatises on the subject recognize songs, sayings, ballads, and arts +of all kinds as proper divisions of the subject. So a collection and study +of the following songs is certainly not out of place on a program got up +by this society. + +Now just one word more under this head. I have found it very difficult to +keep separate and distinct the study of folk-lore and the study of +folk-psychology. The latter has always been extremely interesting to me; +hence I can't refrain from sharing with you the two following instances: A +negro girl was once attending a protracted meeting when she "got religion" +and went off into a deep swoon, which lasted for two whole days, no food +or drink being taken in the meantime. A negro explained to me as follows: +"Now when that nigger comes to, if she's been possumin', she sho' will be +hungry; but if she hasn't been possumin', it will be just the same as if +she had been eatin' all the time." The other instance is that of an old +negro who just before he died had been lucky enough to join a burial +association which guaranteed to its members a relatively elaborate +interment. So, when this old negro died, the undertaker dressed him out in +a nice black suit, patent leather shoes, laundered shirt and collar, and +all that. His daughter, in relating the incident after the funeral, said: +"Bless your life, when they put Pappy in that coffin, he looked so fine +that he just _had_ to open his eyes and look at his self." + +I imagine that folk-lore appeals differently to different individuals +according to what intellectual or cultural interest predominates their +beings. I suppose that the first interest in folk-lore was that of the +antiquarian. Then came the interest of the linguist and the literateur. +But it seems to me that if the pursuit of folk-lore is to be thoroughly +worth while to-day the interest must above all be psychological and +sociological. At least these are my interests in the subject. For +instance, take that piece of well known folk-lore--the belief that by +hanging a dead snake on a barbed wire fence--one can induce rain in a time +of drought. I would give almost anything to know just how the two ideas +"hanging a snake on a fence" and "raining" were ever associated. But I can +perhaps still better illustrate my attitude by relating a piece of Herbert +Spencerian lore. Herbert Spencer tells in his autobiography of this +incident that he met with while on one of his annual trips to Scotland. +The house at which he was a guest contained a room which bore the +reputation of being haunted. It was in this room that Herbert Spencer was +asked to sleep. So he did and lay awake most of the night, though not out +of fear that the ghost would choose that particular night to pay a visit, +but out of a philosophical curiosity to figure out the origin of such a +"fool" belief. + +In reference to these songs, when I say that I am interested in a study of +origins, I do not mean the origin of any particular song, but the origin +of the songs as a social phenomenon. Or to put it interrogatively, why do +the members of this particular class sing, and why do their songs contain +the thoughts that they do? + +I believe it is pretty generally agreed today that any well-defined period +of literature is merely the reflection of some great economic change. I +notice that the critics have begun to speak of Victorian literature as +merely the ornament of nineteenth century prosperity--the prosperity that +was incident to the utilization of steam as motive power. + +Now a great change has come into the negro's economic life within the past +two decades. Its causes have been two. He has come into competition with +the European immigrant, whose staying qualities are much greater than his; +and agriculture has been changing from a feudalistic to a capitalistic +basis, which requires a greater technical ability than the negro +possesses. The result is that he is being steadily pushed into the less +inviting and less secure occupations. To go into the intricacies of my +thesis would be to abuse the privilege of the program; so I shall have to +content myself with merely stating it. The negro, then, sings because he +is losing his economic foothold. This economic insecurity has interfered +most seriously with those two primal necessities--work and love--and you +will notice that the thoughts in all these songs cluster around these two +ideas. + +So much for the interpretation; now for the appreciation. It has been my +experience that where a knowledge of the negro's every day, or rather +every-night, life is lacking, the appreciation of these songs is never +very keen. Hence, in order to make it certain that you will appreciate +these songs, I deem it necessary to try to acquaint you with the life of +one of the "songsters." Otherwise I am afraid that too many of you will +look upon these songs as absolutely puerile. Remember that a greater man +than you or I once declared the ancient ballads to be without merit and +also maintained that he could write, on the spur of the moment, a stanza +that was just as good and that contained just as much meaning. Whereupon, +being challenged he sat down and wrote: + + "I put my hat upon my head and went into the Strand, + And there I met another man with his hat in his hand." + +The colored semi-rural proletarian, then--how shall I describe him so that +you may see him in your mind's eye, as I read these songs? I don't know +how many of you are already acquainted with him, but, if any of you have +ever tried to employ him profitably, I am sure you will never forget him. +Perhaps I can picture him best by using the method of contrast. Let us +follow one as he works with a white man, the latter, of course, being +boss. We shall start with the morning. + +The white man rises early and eats his breakfast. My proletarian doesn't +rise at all for the chances are that he has never gone to bed. At noon +they "knock off." While the white man is preparing to eat his lunch, the +"nigger" has already done so and is up in the bed of a wagon or on a plank +underneath a tree fast asleep, usually with his head in the sun. At +nightfall, the white man eats supper and spends the evening reading or +with his family. Not so my proletarian. He generally borrows thirty-five +cents from the white man, steps out the back gate, gives a shrill whistle +or two, and allows how he believes he'll "step off a piece to-night." + +As I have not been on the farm much for the last two years. I have been +unable to use the Boswellian method of recording these songs but have had +to depend mostly on memory. The result is that some of them are not +complete and some may not be textually correct. Of course the collection +is not anything like an exhaustive one. + +If you consider these songs as the negro's literature, you will notice +some striking parallels between its history and that of English +literature. As all of you know, English literature for several centuries +was little more than paraphrases of various parts of the Bible. The first +songs I shall read you are clearly not indigenous but are merely revamping +the Biblical incidents and reflections of the sect disputes of the whites. +The first song here presented is one that I heard twenty years ago as it +was sung on the banks of a creek at a "big baptizing." It is entitled: + +TELL ALL THE MEMBERS I'M A NEW BORN. + + I went to the valley on a cloudy day. + O good Lord! + My soul got so happy that I couldn't get away. + + Chorus. + + Tell all the members I'm a new-born, + I'm a new-born, I'm a new-born, + O Lord! + I'm a new-born baby, born in the manger, + Tell all the members I'm a new-born. + + Read the Scriptures, I am told, + Read about the garment Achan stole. + + Chorus. + + Away over yonder in the harvest fields, + O good Lord! + Angels working with the chariot wheels. + + Chorus. + + Away over yonder, got nothing to do, + O good Lord! + But to walk about Heaven and shout Halloo. + + Chorus. + + I'm so glad, I don't know what about, + O good Lord! + Sprinkling and pourings done played out. + + Chorus. + +Here are two more of the same kind: + +PREACHING IN THE WILDERNESS. + + Daniel in that lion's den, + He called God A'mighty for to be his friend; + Read a little further, 'bout the latter clause: + The angel locked them lions' jaws. + + Refrain. + + Oh, Daniel, hallelujah; + Oh, Daniel, preaching in that wilderness. + + Old man Adam, never been out; + Devil get in him, he'll jump up and shout; + He'll shout till he give a poor sister a blow, + Then he'll stop right still and he'll shout no more. + + Refrain. + + P's for peter; in his word + He tells us all not to judge; + Read a little further and you'll find it there, + I knows the tree by the fruit it bear. + + Refrain. + + +SAVE ME FROM SINKING DOWN. + + Seven stars in his right hand, + Save me from sinking down. + All stars move at his command, + Save me from sinking down. + + Refrain. + + Oh, my Lord, save me from sinking down. + + John was a Baptist, so am I, + Save me from sinking down. + And he heard poor Israel's cry, + Save us from sinking down. + +The following is only a snatch, but it is enough to show that the economic +factor was not yet predominant. In it we still see traces of the Bible's +influence: + + O Lord, sinner, you got to die, + It may be to-day or to-morrow. + You can't tell the minute or the hour, + But, sinner, you've got to die. + + Refrain. + +We now come to songs originated by the present generation of negroes. They +all deal with work and love. The following might be entitled: + +THE SONG OF THE FORTUNATE ONE. + + The reason why I don't work so hard, + I got a gal in the white folks' yard; + And every night about half past eight, + I steps in through the white man's gate; + And she brings the butter, and the bread, and the lard; + That's the reason why I don't work so hard. + +The next I have termed the "Skinner's Song." Skinner is the vernacular for +teamster. The negro seldom carries a watch, but still uses the sun as a +chronometer; a watch perhaps would be too suggestive of regularity. +Picture to yourself several negroes working on a levee as teamsters. About +five o'clock you would hear this: + + I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt high; + I lookt at the Cap'n and he wunk his eye; + And he wunk his eye, and he wunk his eye, + I lookt at the Cap'n and he wunk his eye. + + I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt red; + I lookt at the Cap'n and he turned his head; + And he turned his head, and he turned his head, + I lookt at the Cap'n and he turned his head. + +The negro occasionally practices introspection. When he does, you are +likely to hear something like this: + + White folks are all time bragging, + Lord, Lord, Lord, + 'Bout a nigger ain't nothing but waggin, + Lord, Lord, Lord. + +Or, + + White folks goes to college; niggers to the field; + White folks learn to read and write; niggers learn to steal. + +Or, + + Beauty's skin deep, but ugly's to the bone. + Beauty soon fades, but ugly holds its own. + +The following is the only song in which I think I detect insincerity. Now +the negro may have periods of despondency, but I have never been able to +detect them. + +THE RAILROAD BLUES. + + I got the blues, but I haven't got the fare, + I got the blues, but I haven't got the fare, + I got the blues, but I am too damn'd mean to cry. + + Some folks say the rolling blues ain't bad; + Well, it must not 'a' been the blues my baby had. + + Oh! where was you when the rolling mill burned down? + On the levee camp about fifteen miles from town + + My mother's dead, my sister's gone astray, + And that is why this poor boy is here to-day. + +If any of you have high ideas about the universal sacredness of domestic +ties, prepare to shed them now. It has often been said that the negro is a +backward race. But this is not true. In fact, he is very forward. He had +invented trial marriage before sociology was a science. + +The following songs are only too realistic: + +FIRST. + + I dreamt last night I was walking around, + I met that nigger and I knocked her down; + I knocked her down and I started to run, + Till the sheriff done stopped me with his Gatling gun. + + I made a good run, but I run too slow, + He landed me over in the Jericho; + I started to run off down the track, + But they put me on the train and brought me back. + + +SECOND. + + Says, when I die, + Bury me in black, + For if you love that of woman of mine, + I'll come a sneakin' back; + For if you love that woman of mine, + I'll come a sneakin' back. + + +THIRD. + + If you don't quit monkeying with my Lulu, + I'll tell you what I'll do; + I'll fling around your heart with my razor; + I'll shoot you through and through. + + +That the negro's esthetic nature may be improving is indicated by the +following song. For tremendousness of comparison, I know nothing to equal +it. It is entitled: + +THE BROWN-SKINNED WOMAN. + + A brown-skinned woman and she's chocolate to the bone. + A brown-skinned woman and she smells like toilet soap. + A black-skinned woman and she smells like a billy goat. + A brown-skinned woman makes a freight train slip and slide. + A brown-skinned woman makes an engine stop and blow. + A brown-skinned woman makes a bulldog break his chain. + A brown-skinned woman makes a preacher lay his Bible down. + I married a woman; she was even tailor made. + +You will find plenty of economics in the following song. The present-day +negro early made that most fatal of all discoveries: namely, that a man +can really live in this world without working. Hence his _beau ideal_ is +the gambler, and his _bete noir_ is the county jail or the penitentiary. + +THE GAMBLER'S PANTS. + + What kind of pants does a gambler wear? + Great big stripes, cost nine a pair. + + +JACK O' DIAMONDS. + + Jack o' Diamonds, Jack o' Diamonds, + Jack o' Diamonds is a hard card to roll. + + Says, whenever I gets in jail, + Jack o' Diamonds goes my bail; + And I never, Lord, I never, + Lord, I never was so hard up before. + + You may work me in the winter, + You may work me in the fall; + I'll get e-ven, I'll get e-ven, + I'll get even through that long summer's day. + + Jack o' Diamonds took my money, + And the piker got my clothes; + And I ne-e-ver, and I ne-e-ver, + Lord, I never was so hard run before. + + Says, whenever I gets in jail, + I'se got a Cap'n goes my bail; + And a Lu-u-la, and a Lu-u-la, + And a Lulu that's a hard-working chile. + + +TO HUNTSVILLE. + + The jurymen found me guilty, the judge he did say: + "This man's convicted to Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay." + + My mammy said, "It's a pity." My woman she did say: + "They're taking my man to Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay." + + Upon that station platform we all stood waiting that day, + Awaiting that train for Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay. + + The train ran into the station, the sheriff he did say: + "Get on this train for Huntsville, poor boy, + For ten long years to stay." + + Now, if you see my Lula, please tell her for me, + I've done quit drinking and gambling, poor boy, + And getting on my sprees. + + +DON'T LET YOUR WATCH RUN DOWN, CAP'N. + + Working on the section, dollar and a half a day, + Working for my Lula; getting more than pay, Cap'n, + Getting more than pay. + + Working on the railroad, mud up to my knees, + Working for my Lula; she's a hard old girl to please, Cap'n, + She's a hard girl to please. + So don't let your watch run down, Cap'n, + Don't let your watch run down. + + +BABY, TAKE A LOOK AT ME. + + I went to the jail house and fell on my knees, + The first thing I noticed was a big pan of peas. + The peas was hard and the bacon was fat; + Says, your oughter seen the niggers that was grabbin' at that. + + Refrain. + + Oh, Lord, Baby, take a look at me! + + Brandy, whisky, Devil's Island gin, + Doctor said it would kill him, but he didn't tell him when. + + Refrain. + + Oh, Lord, Baby, take a look at me! + + +DON'T YOU LEAVE ME HERE. + + Don't you leave me here, don't you leave me here, + For if you leave me here, babe, they'll arrest me sure. + They'll arrest me sure. + For if you leave me here, babe, they'll arrest me sure. + + Don't leave me here, don't leave me here, + For if you leave me here, you'll leave a dime for beer. + + Why don't you be like me, why don't you be like me? + Quit drinking whisky, babe, let the cocaine be. + + It's a mean man that won't treat his woman right. + + +The following is a tragedy in nine acts: + +FRANKIE. + + Frankie was a good girl, as everybody knows, + She paid a hundred dollars for Albert a suit of clothes; + He was her man, babe, but she shot him down. + + Frankie went to the bar-keeper's to get a bottle of beer; + She says to the bar-keeper: "Has my living babe been here?" + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + The bar-keeper says to Frankie: "I ain't going to tell you no lie, + Albert passed 'long here walking about an hour ago with a nigger + named Alkali." + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + Frankie went to Albert's house; she didn't go for fun; + For, underneath her apron was a blue-barrel 41. + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + When Frankie got to Albert's house, she didn't say a word, + But she cut down upon poor Albert just like he was a bird. + He was her man, babe, but she shot him down. + + When Frankie left Albert's house, she lit out in a run, + For, underneath her apron was a smoking 41. + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + + "Roll me over, doctor, roll me over slow, + Cause, when you rolls me over, them bullets hurt me so; + I was her man, babe, but she shot me down." + + Frankie went to the church house and fell upon her knees, + Crying "Lord 'a' mercy, won't you give my heart some ease? + He was my man, babe, but I shot him down." + + Rubber-tired buggy, decorated hack, + They took him to the graveyard, but they couldn't bring him back. + He was her man, babe, but he done her wrong. + +And, once more, the female of the species was more deadly than the male. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Current Folk-Songs of the Negro, by +Will H. 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