Chapter VII. Just Songs to Help With Work

CHAPTER VII
JUST SONGS TO HELP WITH WORK

In some respects it is unfortunate that classification
of the Negro workaday songs must be attempted,
for, strictly speaking, accurate classification is not
possible. There is much overlapping apparent in
most of the best types. There are mixed pictures in
the majority and a cross index would be necessary for
any sort of complete analysis. And yet the total
picture is clearer when the songs are grouped according
to prevailing themes, as has been done in other chapters
on the wanderer songs, the bad man ballads, chain
gang and jail songs, favorites of the construction gang,
songs of woman, songs of man, and religious remnants.
In each of these classes it is readily seen that there is
abundance of new material of great value. And yet,
after these attempts at classification, there are scores
of songs, some the favorites of the present day, some
among the most attractive, which appear best as simple
work songs, sung as an integral physical part of the
Negro's workaday efforts. These songs are not simply
the "miscellaneous" and "all others" group. They are
more than that; they are the songs for song's sake,
expression for expression's sake, and "hollerin' jes'
to he'p me wid my work."

This chapter, therefore, presents a varied group of
songs, many of which, for simple spontaneity, imagery,
and creative art might well represent the choice of the
collection. Among these are the lyric types like those
quoted in Chapter I, figures of a "rainbow 'round my

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 119

shoulders," the "feet rollin' lak a wheel," the winter
song in summer, and many other fragments of similar
quality. There are fragments, pick-and-shovel songs,
driving songs, mostly short, which are sung perhaps
more often than any others by the group of workers.
This chapter will present, first, some of the mis-
cellaneous and more artistic songs that are most
difficult to classify except as "just songs to help with
work." Then will follow certain types, corruptions
from blues, jazz and minstrel, but sung on any and
all occasions, one as well as another, in the kitchen,
on the road, in the field, in the alley, in the barber shop,
or on the street. Then, finally, there will be the
group of incoherent words and lines, senseless for the
most part and merely expressive of feeling and effort.
In addition to these there are still more than one
hundred miscellaneous songs, improvisations, frag-
ments and other collected items which must await
a special collection of this sort.

One of the most attractive of all the work songs is
Mule on the Mountain, in which the title constitutes
the bulk of the song. It is a pick-and-shovel favorite
repeated over and over with variations and exclama-
tions. The simplest form of this song is as follows:

Mule on the Mountain

Mule on mountain
Called Jerry,
I can ride 'im
Any time I want to;
Lawd, I can ride 'im
Any time I want to.

In the following version this simple stanza has taken
seven others for companions, thus making a lengthy
pick song.

 

120 Negro Workaday Songs

I Got a Mulie l

I got a mulie,

Mulie on the mountain, call 'im Jerry.

I got a mulie,

Mulie on the mountain, call 'im Jerry.

I can ride 'im,

Ride 'im any time I want to,

Lawd, Lawd, all day long.

Lawd, this ol' mountain,
Mountain must be hanted,
My light goes out, ,
Lawd, Lawd, my light goes out.

I'm gonna buy me,

Buy me a magnified lantern.

'Twon't go out,

Lawd, Lawd, won't go out.

I'm gonna buy me,

Buy me a Winchester rifle,

Box o' balls,

Lawd, Lawd, box o' balls.

I gonna back my,

Back myself in the mountains

To play bad,

Lawd, Lawd, to play bad.

Mike an' Jerry 2

Must be a gasoline burner;

Didn't stop here,

Lawd, Lawd, didn't stop here.

Mike an' Jerry

Hiked from Jerome to Decatur 3

In one day,

Lawd, Lawd, in one day.

 

1 For music see Chapter XIV.

2 See footnote, p. 96.

3 Probably refers to Rome and Decatur, Georgia. The distance between
these two places is about a hundred miles, a pretty good "hike" for the
mules if they made it in one day!

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 121

Didn't stop here, Lawd,

To get no coal, neither water,

Hiked on by,

Lawd, Lawd, hiked on by.

Very much after the same manner and type is the
pick-and-shovel song, Lookin* over in Georgia, which
apparently has nothing specific as its historical base and
no more sense to it than Mule on the Mountain. And
yet it is one of the prettiest of Negro songs when ac-
companied by group movement, rhythm, and harmony.

Lookin' Over in Georgia

Well I can stan',

Lookin' 'way over in Georgia;

Well I can stan',

Lookin' 'way over in Georgia;

Well I can stan',

Lookin' 'way over in Georgia,

O-eh-he, Lawd, Lawd,

She's burnin' down,

Lawd, she's burnin' down.

For sheer artistry, however, one would have to
search a long time to find a superior to the following
verses, sung by a young Negro workingman, on
platform and swing, washing the brick walls of a newly
constructed university building.

Bear Cat Down in Georgia

I'll be back here,
I'll be back here,
Lawd, Lawd,
I'll be back here.

Bear cat, Lawd,
Bear cat, Lawd,
Turn to lion
Down in Georgia.

 

122 Negro Workaday Songs

Look-a yonder,
Look-a yonder,
Lawd, Lawd,
Down in Georgia.

Ever see bear cat
Turn to lion,
Lawd, Lawd,
Down in Georgia?

My ol' bear cat,
My ol' bear cat
Turn to lion,
Lawd, Lawd, Lawd.

Ever see a bear cat
Hug a lion,
Lawd, Lawd,
Down in Georgia?

If I make it,
If I make it,
Lawd, Lawd,
Down in Georgia.

Lord, I been fallin',
Lord, I been fallin',
Lawd, Lawd,
From my place.

'Fo' long, Lawd,
Yes, 'fo' long, Lawd,
I'll be back here,
I'll be back here.

Scarcely less mixed and informal is the delightful
song Shoot that Buffalo sung in low undertone suitable
to any sort of work such as digging, cutting, laying
rock, unloading coal or gravel, or doing domestic
duties. The melody of this "song just to help with
work" is presented in Chapter XIV.

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 123

 

Shoot That Buffalo

Went down to Raleigh,
Never been there befo',
White folks on the feather-bed,
Niggers on the flo'.

Chorus:

Shoot that buffa-,
Shoot that -lo,
Shoot that buffalo.

Went down to low groun'
To gather up my corn,
Raccoon sot the dogs on me,
'Possum blowed his horn.

Las' year was a bad crop year,
Ev'ybody knowed it.
I didn't make but a bushel o' corn
An' some damn rascal stoled it.

I had oP back-band,
It was made out o' leather;
Kept me all the doggone time
Keepin' it sewed together.

One of the bad man songs listed in Chapter IV was
Dupree, of which two versions were presented. The
following song was sung by a young Negro recently
from the chain gang. It purports to be a song made
up by Dupree while in prison. As a matter of fact
it is a composite jumble composed largely while being
sung. It illustrates well the general situation in which
any song of any sort will do just as well as any other.

Dupree's Jail Song

I don't want no coal-black woman for my regular,
Give me brown, Lawd, Lawd, give me brown.

Black woman study evil,

That's why I want brown, yes, yes, give me brown.

 

124 Negro Workaday Songs

I'm gonna roll here a few days longer,

Then I'm goin' home, yes, then I'm goin' home.

Don't you hear those rein-deers cryin'?

But it ain't gonna rain, no, no, ain't gonna rain.

If it rain I can't see Betty,
That's why it ain't gonna rain.

Every mail day I get a letter

Saying, "Daddy, come home, yes, yes, daddy, come
home."

Some of these days I'll see Betty,

An' it won't be long, no, no, it won't be long.

If I could see her just one mo' time,
My mind would be changed all the time.

The jailer told Dupree, "Just be good,"

And he surely would, yes, yes, he surely would.

Dupree was the best man in the pen

Just to get that thing, yes, yes, that thing.

Another illustration of the common ^promiscuity
of these current songs adapted as a part of the physical
effort of work is the following mongrel song of the
self-styled bad man who mixes metaphors andjjines
to his own satisfaction.

I'm Goin' out West

When you see me comin'

Wid my new shine on,

'Cause I got my col'-iron burner *

Under my ol' left arm.

Lawd, I goin' out West,
Goin' out 'mongst the robbers.
Say, if I don't get back,
Lawd, don't worry at all.

 

1 That is, his pistol.

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 125

'Cause the Western men call theirself bad,
'Cause the Western men call theirself bad.
Say, when they get unruly,
Say, I got their water on.

Say, my gal lay down,
Lay down and cried
'Cause I's goin' out West,
But I'm satisfied.

Say, I grab an' hug an' kiss her,
Say, don't worry at all,
'Cause I'm goin 'way from here, -
Goin' to kill some rowdy men.

I reach down an' kiss my gal,
Kiss an' hug her all day long,
Lawd, she make me so much worry
I had to leave home.

The selections that follow are typical of the large
number of miscellaneous songs of almost every im-
aginable mixture and variety. They are examples of
corruptions and also of the song-making process and
of the insignificance of words and meaning in the
workaday song.

Julia Long

O Lawd, Aunt Julia!
Julia Long, Julia Long!
O Lawd, Aunt Julia!
Julia Long, Julia Long.

Julia Long, dead and gone,
Julia Long, Julia Long!
O Lawd, Aunt Julia!
Julia Long, Julia Long!

Julia Long I used to know,
Julia Long, Julia Long.
O Lawd, Aunt Julia!
Julia Long, Julia Long!

 

126 Negro Workaday Songs

 

Turn Yo' Damper Down

When you see me comin'
Raise yo' winder high,
When you see me leavin'
Hang yo' head an' cry.

I got lovin'

Way a rabbit hug a houn',
An' if you two-time me, daddy,
Turn yo' damper down.

Casey Jones 1

Casey was goin' about ninety-four,

An' he forgot to blow.

Casey told the fireman he'd better jump,

For there's two locomotives that's about to bump.

Chorus:

Casey Jones, marchin' to the cabin,

Marchin' to the cabin with the orders in his hand.

Casey said before he died,
"Three mo' roads I want to ride."
The fireman ask him what could they be,
"Southern Pacific an' the Santa Fe."

Casey told his children,

"Go to bed and hush your cryin',

You have another papa

On the Salt Lake Line."

Wash My Overhalls

Wash my overhalls,

Search my overhalls,

Starch my overhalls,

Wash 'em clean,

'Cause I'm goin' to ketch de train.

 

1 Casey Jones is still heard occasionally. The version given here is some-
what below par, but represents the sort of thing a worker is likely to sing.
Note that Casey wants to ride "three mo' roads," but names only two. Also,
in the last stanza, Casey, instead of his wife, is represented as speaking to
the children.

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 127

Listen at dis fireman blow de train.
If I don't ring dat bell,
You ring it fer yo'self ;
If you don't ring it,
Won't be no fault o' mine.

Dove Came Down by the Foot of My Bed

Dove came down by the foot of my bed,

By the foot of my bed,

By the foot of my bed,

Dove came down by the foot of my bed,

And he carried the news that I was dead.

I'm going away one day before long,

One day before long,

One day before long.

I'm going away one day before long,

And I won't be back before judgment day.

If you don't believe I've been redeemed,

I've been redeemed,

I've been redeemed.

If you don't believe I've been redeemed,

Just follow me down by Jordan stream.

Dig my grave and dig it deep,

Dig it deep,

Dig it deep.

Dig my grave and dig it deep,

And cover me up with a linen sheet.

Tell my mother if she wants to see me,

If she wants to see me,

If she wants to see me,

Tell my mother if she wants to see me,

She must ride that horse in the battlefield.

He Wus de Gov'nor of Our Clan

He wus de gov'nor of our clan,
He wus a rough-an'-tumble man,
He wus a rough-an'-tumble man.
He pull his pistol an' a feller drap,
He make his money playin' crap,
He make his money playin' crap.

 

128 Negro Workaday Songs

 

I Got Chickens on My Back

I got chickens on my back,
An' the white folks on my track,
I am hunting for a shanty,
God knows, nobody knows.
I am hunting for a shanty,
God knows, nobody knows.

I Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Make a Fool Out o' Me

I've been all over the U. S. A.,
I've seen most everything;
I've shot craps with the president,
Played cards with the queen and king.
But I ain't gonna let nobody,
Nobody make a fool out o' me.

If you give your gal everything she needs,
You will spend the winter in your B. V. D.'S.
I ain't gonna let nobody,
Nobody make a fool out o' me.

On My Las' Go-'Round 1

I had it in my head to join the U. S. A.,
But instead of gettin' better I got still worse.
Every time I hear some church bell ringin',
I begin to think I was on my las' go-' round.

I believe I am on, I think I am on,

1 know I am on my las' go-'round.
So when I am dead, wear no black,

When Gable blows his trumpet I'll rush on back.

Berda, You Come too Soon

Lord, Berda, you come too soon,

Found a man in my saloon.

Berda walked out screamin' an cryin',

Girls on front street skippin' an' flyin'.

Berda, you come too soon,

Berda, you come too soon.

 

1 There are now popular songs entitled Last Go- Round Blues and I'm
on My Last Go-' Round, but they do not resemble this song. For an older
version, see The Negro and His Songs, p. 180.

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 129

 

Rain or Shine

I hoes an' I plows
In all kinds o' weather,
I got to keep a-goin'
'Cause I can't do no better.

Rain or shine,

Sleet or snow,

When I gits done dis time,

Won't work no mo'.

Empty or full,
Sleep or 'wake,
I'm gwine to de party,
Dance fer dat cake.

Who's Goin' to Buy Your Whiskey?

Who's goin' to buy your whiskey
When I'm gone away from you ?
Who's goin' to do your holdin'
When I'm gone from you, Lawd, Lawd?
Who's goin' to bring you chicken
From the white folks' house
When I'm gone away from you?

You Calls Me in de Mornin'

You calls me in de mornin',

You calls me in de night,

An' you is de cause o' me

Losin' my life.

My home ain't here, I don't have to stay.

When I leaves don't wear no black,

Do, I sho' gonna come creepin' back,

Do, I sho' gonna come creepin' back.

Dig-a My Grave Wid a Silver Spade

Dig-a my grave wid a silver spade,
Let me down wid a golden chain.
Oh, who's gonna dig-a my grave?
Let me down wid a golden chain.
Yonder come mudder,
Look lak mudder comin' on.
Oh, who's gonna dig-a my grave?

 

130 Negro Workaday Songs

 

Yonder Come de Devil

Yonder come de devil,
Yonder come de devil,
Ketch him, devil, ketch him,
Ketch him, devil, ketch him.
He done sin, he done sin,
He done sin, he done sin.
Ketch him, devil, ketch him,
Ketch him, devil, ketch him.

Dem Turrible Red Hot Blues !

Nothin' new,

Her name wuz Sue,

I got de turrible

Red hot blues,

Oh, dem turrible red hot blues.

I got a pal,

This gal is Sal,

Bofe got de turrible red hot blues,

Oh, dem turrible red hot blues.

Das 'Nough Said

Hit rains, hit hails,
Different sorts o' wedder,
Hit rains, hit hails,
Wusser de better.
Steal up to de back do'
Den on to de bed,
Lawsy, lawsy, mister,
Das 'nough said.

Diamond Joe

Diamond Joe wants a sack of flour,
Diamond Joe wants a sack of flour,
Diamond Joe he don't work by de hour.
Drive on, Diamond Joe.
Sometimes he works in de country,
Sometimes he works in de town,
Sometimes he has a good notion
To jump in de river an' drown.
Drive on, Diamond Joe.

 

1 Compare Red Hot Blues, a popular phonograph and sheet music piece.

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 131

 

He Run Me In

Talkin' 'bout yo' ghosts, let me tell:

I thought I drapped dat nigger in dat well

But he run me in, yes, Lawd, he run me in.

'Tain't no fun I's here to tell

When a dead nigger gits out'n an ol' fiel' well

An' runs me in, yes, Lawd, he run me in.

He ain't got no arms, he ain't got no haid,
I didn't stop an' count dem tracks I made,
'Cause he run me in, yes, Lawd, he run me in.
I believes in a ghost an' I believes in a hant
Dis here nigger sho' ain't no saint,
'Cause he run me in, yes, Lawd, he run me in.

De Goat's Got a Smell

De goat's got a smell,

De skunk's got a stink,

But de black gal

Got a 'culiar odor.

De black gal, de balmoral,

Dey bofe got a 'culiar odor.

GOODBY SO0KIE

Goodby, Sookie, good by, Sal,

You struts about in dat balmoral.

Goodby, Sookie, good by, Sal

I's leavin' dis hot town wid dat yallow gal.

Out in de Cabin

Out in de cabin, banjo pickin' low;
Out in de cabin, banjo pickin' low.
Up in de big house, singin' soft an' low;
Up in de big house dancin' to an' fro.
I lubs my missus, I lubs ol' marse;
I lubs my white folks mo' an' mo',
Mo' an' mo'. .

 

132 Negro Workaday Songs

 

Darlin' Get on de Road

Darlin', when you see me comin',
Hang your head an' cry.
When you see me leavin',
Get on the road.
Darlin', get on the road,
Darlin', get on the road.

When you see me cryin',
Hang you head in shame.
When you see me smilin',
You know I am the same.
So let us get on the road,
Darlin', get on the road.

I'm Gonna Have Me a Red Ball All My Own

Lawd, lissen, I believe I go to town

An' ketch the Red Ball. x

An' I walked up to get in.

What you reckin the man said to me?

"No nigger can ride the Red Ball."

So I turned around an' went back home

An' began to paint my face.

But I forgot to paint my neck an' hands.

So I went back an' tried him again.

Didn't have no luck. An' I'm

Gonna get me a mule an' name him Red Ball,

An' I can ride just the same.

I'm gonna have me a Red Ball all my own.

Great Scots, You Don't Know What to Do

Bull frog sittin' on mantel-piece,
Great scots, you don't know what to do,
Clapped his hand in a pan of grease,
Great scots, you don't know what to do.
I'm going down in new town to live.

 

1 A fast freight train.

 

Just Songs to Help With Work 133

Look out, ladies, let him by,
You don't know what to do,
Here he comes with a greasy eye,
Great scots, you don't know what to do.
I'm going down in new town to live.

Chicken Never Roost too High fo' Me i

01' massa's chicken
Live in the tree,
Chicken never roost
Too high fo' me.

Went out strollin',
See what I can see.
Chicken never roost
Too high fo' me.

Ever since the Yankee
Set-er me free,
Chicken never roost
Too high fo' me.

They think the old lady
An' me agree.
Chicken never roost
Too high fo' me.

I's in jail,

Not long till I'm free,
Chicken never roost
Too high fo' me.

Stewball Was a Racer 2

Stewball was a racer,
Mollie was too.
My mist'iss bets by hundred,
My master bets by thousands.

 

1 In a somewhat different version, this song was popular as a minstrel
some twenty years ago.

*vft 2 This is a fragment of a song, Skewball, which used to be almost an epic
among the Negroes. Its origin probably goes back to an old Irish song.
For a discussion of this point, see Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Folk-
Songs, pp. 61-4.

 

134 Negro Workaday Songs

I bet you mo' cash money
01' Stewball won.
Run on, ol' Stewball,
Mollie done run.

Shanghai Rooster

Shanghai rooster done lost all his feathers,
Shanghai pullet eat by her betters.
You gits de gizzard, I eats the breast,
Got to save the preacher all the rest.
Chicken wid a preacher don't stand no show,
When the preacher is about chicken gotta go.

Went over to fishin' on a little stream,
All I got is a nod and dream.
Catch Miss Catfish by the snout,
Led Miss Catfish all about.