Hi,

Hi, here's a short excerpt from 9B. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss. Curiously this section deals Waukrife Minnie and two other songs given by Burns.

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The Scottish Evolution and the Attraction of Like Stanzas

Assuming that "Fly Around" was derived from the "Fare-thee well, my bonnie, bonnie lass" stanza found in Scottish versions of "Seventeen (Waukrife Mammy)," then it could be associated with similar stanzas. Stanzas of "Seventeen" have appeared along with other floating stanzas in versions with the "Fly Around" stanza (see Stith Thompson's version above). Another Scottish stanza from a different source is associated with "Fly Around." The similarly worded[11] "Pretty Little Pink" stanza was first reported by Burns in his song, "Here's to Thy Health, My Bonnie Lass," which he gave to Scots' (Johnson's) Musical Museum about 1797. The song is about a man bidding farewell to his former lover who he claims, perhaps because of his failed relationship, to care little about. The 2nd Burns stanza[12], obviously borrowed from tradition, appears thus:

O dinna think my pretty pink,
But I can live without thee:
I vow and swear, I dinna care
How lang ye look about ye.

"Pink" in this case seems to be a reference to a pink flower. The text borrowed by Burns from Scottish tradition where it was "well known in Ayrshire when Burns was a child ( mid-1700s)[13]," has been found associated with "Fly Around" and other floating stanzas in the United States. The first extant publication of "Pretty Little Pink" as a song was in 1883 by W. W. Newell in "Games and Songs of American Children," No. 175, from East Tennessee. Newell adds: "The manner of playing [game instructions] has not been obtained." The stanza, a variation of Burns' stanza is included with two associated floating stanzas of North American origin.

"Pretty Little Pink"

My pretty little pink, I once did think
That you and I would marry,
But now I've lost all hope of that,
I can no longer tarry.

I've got my knapsack on my back,
My musket on my shoulder,
To march away to Quebec town,
To be a gallant soldier.

Where coffee grows on a white-oak tree,
And the rivers flow with brandy,
Where the boys are like a lump of gold,
And the girls as sweet as candy.

Wells mentions: "In another version, Mexico was substituted for Quebec." In other versions[14] "New Orleans" [see Beard's version of "Seventeen"] is substituted for Mexico. The other stanza "Coffee grows" is also associated with another play-party song titled, "Four in the Middle." Here's an example of Wells' text collected by James Mooney in North Carolina about the same time[15]:

My pretty little pink I once did think,
That you and I would marry,
But now I've lost all hope of that,
I can no longer tarry.

I've got my knapsack on my back,
My musket on my shoulder,
To march away to Mexico,
To be a gallant soldier.

Where coffee grows on a white oak tree,
And the rivers flow with brandy,
Where the boys are like a lump of gold,
And the girls as sweet as candy.

Mooney printed these lyrics as an example of a children's "song game" and included these notes[16]: "One song of this kind was obtained from a lady living on Oconaluftee River, who had sung it when a child at her old home near Murphy, in the extreme southeastern corner of the state . . . . The lady had forgotten the details of the game, but remembered that one girl, presumably the "pretty little pink," stood in the centre, while the others marched around her singing the song. She said it had a very pretty tune, which she had forgotten . . . . The lady stated, however, that as she had known it the children said "Quebec Town" instead of "Mexico," which might indicate that the first part of the song goes back as far as the French and Indian war." p.104.

A comparison[17] of the "Pretty Little Pink" stanza by Burns, Wells and Mooney can be made to other Pretty Little Pink stanzas:

    From Bradley Kincaid:
"I reckon you think my pretty little miss
That I can't live without you
But I'll let you know before I go
That I care very little about you"

    From Mother Goose:
"My little pink I suppose you think,
I cannot do with out you.
I will let you know before I go,
How little I care about you."

    From Vance Randolph:
"My purty leetle pink I used to think
I couldn't live without you
But I'll let you know before I go
Thet I don't keer much about you."

The pervasive "pink" stanza extended also to singers in the African-American community. Here's Thomas W. Talley's version of "Pretty Little Pink" collected in the early 1900s (from the 1966 Kennikat edition of "Negro Folk Rhymes," p 127):

PRETTY LITTLE PINK

My pretty liddle Pink, I once did think,
Dat we-uns sho' would marry;
But I'se done give up, Hain't got no hope,
I haint got no time to tarry.

I'll drink coffee dat flows
From oaks dat grows,
'Long de river dat flows wid brandy.

A variation of the "Pink" stanza found in tradition[18] was recreated by Sara Martin (born 1884) and Richard M. Jones (born about 1890) in their "Late Last Night." According to Joseph Scott[19], "The lyrics they submitted to the Library Of Congress had "(The oldest blues in the world)" written at the bottom, and included:

"Now come my little pink, come tell me what you think
You're long time making up your mind
I distinctly understand that you love another one
So how can your heart be mine"

This different stanza with "Pretty Little Pink," found in folk and blues songs, shows that it has become a ballad commonplace. The "Fly Around" title appears as "Fly Around My Pretty Little Pink" in Tennessee Ernie Ford's 1959 recording that also has the Burns' stanza. "The traditional Appalachian stanzas of "Pretty Little Pink" were also commonly found mixed with "Fly Around" and sung as a song. Bradley Kincaid, from Kentucky, adapted this from existing verses[20] to create this "Pretty Little Pink" composite. He published another similar version with the 'Wheevily Wheat" stanzas in his "Favorite Old-Time Songs and Mountain Ballads," book 2, 1929, p. 16-17. This is from his 1929 recording[21]:

PRETTY LITTLE PINK

Lor, Lor, my pretty little Pink
Lor, Lor, I say
Lor, Lor, my pretty little Pink
I'm going to stay away

Cheeks as red as a red, red rose
Her eyes as a diamond brown
I'm going to see my pretty little miss
Before the sun goes down

CHORUS: Fly around my pretty little miss
Fly around my daisy
Fly around my pretty little miss
You almost drive me crazy

Well I reckon you think my pretty little miss
That I can't live without you
But I'll let you know before I go
That I care very little about you.

It's rings upon my true love's hands
Shines so bright like gold
I'm gonna see my pretty little miss
Before it rains or snows [Chorus]

When I was up in the field of work
I sat down and cried
Studying about my blue eyed gal
Thought [to] my soul I'd die

[2nd Chorus] Fly around me pretty little miss
Fly around my dandy
Fly around my pretty little miss
I don't want none of your candy

Every time I go that road
It looks so dark and cloudy
Every time I see that girl
I always tell her, "howdy."

Coffee grows on white oak trees
The river flows with brandy
Rocks on the hills all covered with gold
And the girls all sweeter than candy. [2nd chorus]

I'll put my knapsack on my back
My rifle on my shoulder
I'll march away to Spartanburg
And there I'll be a soldier. [2nd chorus]

Every time I go that road
It looks so dark and hazy
Every time I see that girl
She almost drives me crazy [2nd chorus]

I asked that girl to marry me
And what did she say?
She said that she would marry me
Before the break of day [2nd chorus]

Kincaid's version uses the two "Fly Around" stanzas as choruses. Kincaid's version published in his 1929 booklet adds the following two Charlie' stanzas associated with "Wheevily Wheat[22]" to the core stanzas above:

Charlie is a nice young man
Charley is a dandy
Every time he goes to town
He buys the ladies candy

I don't want none of your weazely [wheevily] wheat
I don't want none of your barley
Want some flour in half an hour
To bake a cake for Charlie.

The "Wheevily Wheat" stanzas given by Kincaid are part of the play-party song "Over the River to Charlie" which curiously brings us back to Robert Burns again:

O'er the Water to Charlie[23]

Come boat me o'er, come row me o'er,
Come boat me o'er to Charlie;
I'll gie John Ross anither bawbee
To ferry me o'er to Charlie.

       We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea,
       We'll o'er the water to Charlie;
       Come weel, come wo, we'll gather and go,
       And live and die wi' Charlie.

Above are the first stanza and chorus of this Jacobite song, an ode to "Charlie" who was Prince Charles Edward Stewart (1720-1788), the Pretender, known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie." Again Burns text, especially the first stanza and chorus, is taken from tradition. Jean Ritchie's version, adapted from her father, Balis Ritchie, combines "Pretty little Pink" and "Charlie's neat."

Over the River To Feed My Sheep

Charlie's neat, Charlie's sweet,
Charlie he's a dandy
Charlie, he's the very lad,
That stole my striped candy

[Chorus] Over the river to feed my sheep
Over the river Charlie
Over the river to feed my sheep
And to measure up my barley

My pretty little Pink, I once did think
I never could do without you
Since I lost all hopes of you
I care very little about you [Chorus]

Don't want your wheat, I don't want your cheat
And neither do I want your barley.
I'll take a little of the best you've got
To bake a cake for Charlie. [Chorus]

Thus we see the curious combination of Scottish stanzas taken from tradition and by Burns' hand transcribed. Curiously, Burns also published the first version of "Seventeen" in 1790 titled "Waukrife Minnie."

Footnotes:

11. pretty little pink= pretty little miss, "pink" being a nickname from a flower.
12. Two stanzas are grouped as one so it could be regarded as the second half of the first stanza.
13. From Burns' sister, the exact quote from "The Kilmarnock Edition of the Poetical Works of Robert Burns" by Robert Burns, ?William Scott Douglas - 1896 appears: "The sentiments are just those one might suppose his muse would have suggested during his earlier days at Loohlea; and yet Mrs. Begg, the poet's sister, has expressed her belief that this was an old production, well known in Ayrshire when her brother was a child."
14. Beard's version is related to "Pretty Little Pink" and "Seventeen" but does not have the "Fly around" stanza.
15. As collected and printed by James Mooney, "Folklore of the Carolina Mountains," The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 2, No. 5 (April-June, 1889), p.104.
16. Ibid-- the notes were edited and appeared in a Mudcat Discussion Forum post.
17. These examples were posted on the Mudcat Discussion Forum (see Pretty Little Pink" thread) and there are many more.
18. This different association which appears similarly with the text "I understand you love another man" is found, for example, in the I.D. Stamper version.
19. Blues researcher Joseph Scott post this on the Mudcat Discussion Forum (find: Google search).
20. See; "Betty Anne" sung by Mrs. Ellie Johnson, NC, dated 1916 and published in Sharp's English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1917.
21. Pretty Little Pink - GE 15740, Bradley Kincaid in April, 1929-- Gennett was located in Richmond, Indiana.
22. Although "Wheevily Wheat" stanzas are of British origin, the term "wheevily wheat" has been traced back to the early 1800s in America.

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Richie