The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #52717   Message #3196882
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
27-Jul-11 - 06:49 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Subject: RE: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Very interesting sources. Here's another one.
John Dixon Long, 1857, Pictures of Slavery, pp. 197-198.

William Rino sold Henry Silvers;
Hilo ! Hilo !
Sold him to the Georgy trader;
Hilo ! Hilo !
His wife she cried and children bawled,
Hilo ! Hilo !
Sold him to the Georgy trader;
Hilo ! Hilo !

The above from Dena J. Epstein, 1977, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals, University of Illinois Press.
She says other songs in Long's book.
----------------

Fare ye well, ye white folks all!
Wo-o-o-o-o-o!
And fare ye well, ye niggers too!
Wo-o-o-o-o-o!
I holler dis time, I holler no mo'!
Wo-o-o-o-o-o!
etc.
W. H. Venable, 1858, Down South Before the War; Record of a Ramble ...., , Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society, Pub. 2 (1889)

There are many more of these reminiscences. I think every literate person who took a trip to the South must have written his recollections and/or published his notes.