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CHARMING EMMA SNOW Way down in Alabama, Whar de pine tree grow, I knew a charming yellow gal, An' her name was Emma Snow. Her eyes were bright as diamonds, Her teeth was pearly white, Dey glistened in the darkness, As de stars do in de night. cho: But that happy time is over, I've only grief and pain, For I shall never, never see, My Emma dear again. We used to go out early, To hoe de sugar cane, De time did pass so cheerly, When my dear Emma I seen. She trabbled wid me daily, An' I loved her still the same, As we danced and sung so gaily, To the banjo's sweetest strain. But that happy time hath sorrow, Its day is turned to night, For I lost my dearest Emma, By a cruel black snake bite, We missed her in de evening, An' we hunted far and wide, Den found her in de meadow, Where she sickened and she died. Tune: Dearest Mae Published by J. Andrews, New York, song sheet in American Memory, Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets. There are steam-dozen songs with the line 'Way down in Alabama,' or 'On the Ol' Plantation,' most related to the Blue Sky Boys' "On the Ol' Plantation" and to "No More the Moon Shines on Lorena," sung by the Carters. The singer is deprived of his girl, she dying of some cause or another, sold or gone away to another location, etc. They seem to have had their origin in the minstrel shows, and were widespread in both white and black folksong. There is no direct connection to "Lorena," the song composed by the Websters, although there are similarities, and later versions may have been influenced by it. filename[ EMMASNOW XX Feb07 |
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