The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #7876   Message #1381190
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
18-Jan-05 - 01:28 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Old Zip Coon
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old zip coon
There is a broadside with 150 verses to Zip Coon. I'm sure there are many more, sung by the various minstrel troupes. Although the partial verse could be one of those, the verse suggests one based on Old Dan Tucker- which I think is the song guest Takro really is after.

The verse appears to be a politically correct version of a variant called "Cappun Dime" (Captain Dime).

Cappun Dime is a mighty fine feller,
An' he sho' play kyards wid de Niggers in the cellar,
But he will get drunk an' he won't smoke a pipe,
Den he will pull de watermillions 'fore dey gets ripe.

Thomas W. Talley's "Negro Folk Rhymes," ed. C. K. Wolfe, "Captain Dime," p. 5.
Talley remarks that there are similar versions in Brown, "North Carolina Folklore."