Dandoo- Johnson/McMillon (WV) c.1896 Cox C
Folk-Songs of the South- John Harrington Cox 1925
29. THE WIFE WRAPT IN WETHER'S SKIN (Child, No. 277)
In West Virginia, this ballad goes under the titles: "Dandoo," "Bandoo," and "Gentle Virginia." Five variants have been found, A, B, and D practically alike and very similar to the version printed by Belden, Journal, xix, 298. The first four and the last two stanzas in C correspond to stanzas in A or B, but the arrangement is somewhat confused and several stanzas are more or less corrupt. Stanzas 5, 6, 7, and 8 are not to be found in any other American version nor in any of the Child versions. They may point to a different source for this copy, or they may have been deliberately added by some singer to satisfy a whim or to make a local hit. In phraseology and in the burden, E shows a close relationship to the text printed by Newell, Journal, vn, 253 (Child, v, 304).
For American texts see Journal, vn, 253 (Newell; Massachusetts; reprinted by Child, v, 304); xix, 298 (Belden; Missouri); xxx, 328 (Kittredge, from Belden; Missouri; reprinted by Pound, No. 6 A) ; Campbell and Sharp, No. 33 (Virginia and Kentucky) ; Pound, No. 6 B (Nebraska). For references see Journal, xxx, 328. Add Bulletin, Nos. 7-10; Reed Smith, Journal, XXVIII, 200.
C. "Dandoo." Communicated by Miss Maud Groves, Deepwell, Nicholas County, April 27, 1916; obtained from Miss Bertie Johnson, who learned it about twenty years before from Russel McMillon in Greenbrier County. Printed by Cox, xlv, 92.
1 Little old man he lived in the West,
Dandoo dandoo
Little old man he lived in the West,
Ham bam jingo
Little old man he lived in the West,
And he married a woman she was none of the best.
And a ham bam by and a winkeye doodle jar and a
mingo come like a lightning
2 Little old man went out to plough,
And when he came to his breakfast now.
3 A piece of corn dodger was laying on the shelf:
"If you want any thing better, you can get it yourself. "
4 Little old man he swore he would run away,
And he run fourteen miles in fifteen days,
And that's what I call getting away.
5 He run till he came to his father's house:
"O father, O father, my wife's caught a louse."
6 "O son, O son, if you have took my advice,
You would have married a woman that had no lice."
7 "Father, O father, hold your tongue!
You married my mother when she was young,
8 "And hair was thick and lips were thin,
When she went to stir her puddin' and her nose dipped in."
9 He run till he came to a sheep pen,
And there he found an old sheepskin.
10 And he cut off a piece and threw it over his back,
And he made that tail go whickity whack.
11 "Father and mother and all your kin,
And that's the way I tan my old sheepskin."