On Nov. 12, 1939, in Belvedere, Calif., the folklorist Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded this text from Captain Leighton Robinson, Alex Barr, Arthur Brodeur, and Leighton McKenzie. You can hear them singing it at the Library of Congress's "American Memory" site.


         Sally, Sally, my love Sally!
          Way, he-ey, roll and go!
         Oh, Sally, Sally, my love Sally!
          Spend my money on Sally Brown!

[Similarly:]

         Sally Brown, I love your daughter....

         Sally she lives o'er the water....

         Sally Brown that gay mulatta,
         Oh, Sally she's a gay mulatta.

         Seven long years I courted Sally....

         She lived down along our alley....

         Sally, I will not deceive you....