450. Yaller Gal

450
The Yaller Gal

Ole niarster's valler gal is a favorite subject of Negro ^ong',
but the particular bits here recorded I have found only in White's
American Negro Folk-Sotigs, where the first is reported (p. 315)
frotu Alabama (with "dark-skinned baby" instead of "long, tall
yaller gal") and North Carolina, the otlier two only from North
Carolina.

A
No title. From Lucille Cheek of Chatham county. The same words
in ANFS 315, but from another informant.

It takes a long, tall yaller gal

To make a preacher lay his P)il)le down,

It takes a long, tall yaller gal

To make a bulldog break his chain.

B

'I Got a Long, Tall Yaller Gal.' Communicated in 1919 by a Trinity
College student, Blake B. Harrison. With the tune. This appears also
in ANFS 323, but is there without the tune.
^ The MS varies between "I'm" and "U'm."

 

528 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE

I got a long, tall yaller gal
On de road somewhere.

c

'It Takes a Long, Tall, Slim Black Man.' Reported in 1919 by Eugene
C. Crawford of Durham. Found also in ANFS 355 from the same in-
formant but there without the tune. Clearly an adaptation of A, sung
by Negro soldiers in France. \\'ith the tune.

It takes a long, tall, slini, black man
To make a German lay his rifle down.
--------------------

450
The Yaller Gal

 

'1 Got a Long, Tall Yaller Gal.' Sung by Blake Harrison, Trinity College,
Durham, 1919. Our tune, no doubt, owes something to ANFS 411, No. 12.
Due to the elision in the fifth measure, the eight-measure phrase cannot be sub-
divided. The dominating feature of this short phrase seems to be the
progression from g to f-sharp which, in various rhythmical formations and
time values, occurs three times. Cf. TNFS 278.

F-416

 


I got a long, tall yal-ler gal On de road some-where.
For melodic relationship cf. *ANFS 411.
Scale: Irrational (S,6), plagal. Tonal Center: d. Structure: ab (4,4)-

 

'It Takes a Long, Tall, Slim Black Man.' Contributed by Eugene C. Craw-
ford, Durham, 191 9.

F-417

 

 

It takes a long, tall, slim black man,
To make a down.-

 

Ger - man lay his ri - fle

For melodic relationship cf. ***ANFS 411, No. 12.

Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: ab (4,6). The beginning
of b is like that of a. The tonal center is the lowest tone.