Liz the Squeak, thanks for that explanation about a melodeon and the term "melodeon legs". I confess that I had never heard of the musical instrument of that insult before reading these Mudcat threads.
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Admittedly this is a bit of drift away from the central topics, but I'm struck by the inclusion of this verse "I went tae the river, I couldnae get across/I payed ten bob for an auld tin horse" in that Skinny Malinky rhyme that GUEST,Littlewater posted.
That verse [with "grey horse" instead of "tin horse"] is a widely used floating verse in a number of African America secular slave songs. Maybe that line was used in religious songs too, since floating lines and verses were often used for both religious & non-religious songs.
See, for example, this excerpt of a comment I wrote in another Mudcat thread:
Subject: RE: Origins: Who wrote Polly Wolly Doodle From: Azizi - PM Date: 17 Dec 04 - 11:58 AM
But seriously, folks..
A number of verses to "Polly Wolly Doodle" that Joe Offer gave in his July 27,2004 are floating verses that can be found in various songs from Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book "Negro Folk Rhymes".
I'm studying this collection and "offer" these examples to you for your study or just for the heck of it... The page numbers that I cite are from the 1968 Kennikat Press reissue. I believe there is a newer edition out now...The cited verse found in "Polly Wolly Doddle is preceded by a star or stars and the examples that I found are placed under it.
*I went to the river and couldn't get across:
"Crossing The River" p.6 has this line and these 2nd verses: 1."I jumped on er mule an' I thought 'e wuz er hoss" 2nd verse: "So I mounted on a ram, fer I thought ie wus er hoss" 3rd verse: "So I give a whole dollar fer a ole blin' hoss"
"Crossing The River doesn't have the "jumped on a "N-" verse . However, it does include the infamous "N" word in the second couplet of the first verse "Dat mule 'e walk in an' git mired up in de san'/You'd oughter see'd dis N- make back fer de land" ---
The verse "I went to the river an' I couldn't get across/paid five dollars for an old blind {or ole gray} horse" is also used as a verse in a number of other songs that are included in Tally's collection. For instance, the song "Gray And Black Horses", p.45 is composed using a formula in which the person trades one defective item for another:
I went down to de woods an' I couldn' go 'cross So I paid five dollars fer de ole gray hoss. De hoss wouldn' pull, so I sol' im fer a bull. De bull wouldn't holler, so I sol' im fer a dollar. De dollar wouldn' pass, so I throwed it in de grass. Den de grass wouldn't grow. Heigho! Heigh! --- You can still hear very similar versions of these verses in contemporary hand-clap rhymes.
Here's two more examples of "river/get across": "The Negro And The Policeman", p. 66: I runs to the river, I can't git 'cross Dat Police grap me an'swim lak a hoss. ---
"Walk Tom Wilson", p. 69 Tom went down to de river, an' he couldn't go 'cross. Tom tromp [jumped?] on a 'gater [alligator] an'e' think 'e wus a hoss.
Other examples from Mudcat threads of "went to the river" can be foundby putting that phrase into the Mudcat Lyric & Knowledge search box and pressing "submit". Btw, I've found that the messages feature doesn't conform to what you're seeking, but the thread feature does. This is probably a result of that major computer crash that happened here last year sometime.
I suppose it's possible that enslaved African Americans heard that line "went to the river but couldn't get across" or the entire verse "I went down to de wooods an' I " from some Scottish slave master. What's more important to me is the creative use of material but where the material originally came from is also important.
I'm curious about the dates of the Scottish line/verses compared to the date of the African American ones.