Nelly Gray

Subject: Nelly Gray
From:
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 02:26 PM

I see the digitrad list makes mention of the fact that the melody to "Nelly Gray" is very similar to that of 'Maggie May", and wonders which came first. May of the Tyneside traddies will be very familiar with "Keep yer feet still Geordie hinny", and will recognise the 'Nelly Gray " melody as being practically identical. So is "Geordie Hinny" the first in the field? Boab

Subject: RE: Nelly Gray
From: Songster Bob
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 02:30 PM

No, Nelly Gray is, what, Stephen Foster, circa 1840s? A very, very popular tune, it was spread via stage shows and songsters far and wide. The later songs you mention all derived from "Nelly Gray," not vice-versa.

Bob Clayton

Subject: RE: Nelly Gray
From:
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 02:35 PM

From the Contemplator Website:

Darling Nelly Gray was written by Benjamin R. Hanby in 1856. His father was an Ohio minister with strong abolitionist sympathies. His home was a station on the "Underground Railroad." The tune was based on the story of a slave who was sold away from her home and family. The tune was very popular in the North before and during the Civil War. It is said that the tune was inspired by a runaway slave named Joseph Selby who stopped at the Hanby home on the way to Canada. Selby hoped to earn sufficient money in Canada to buy the freedom of his sweetheart, a slave named Nelly Gray. One version of the story says that Nelly was traded to a Georgia slaveholder on the day before she and Selby were to be married.

Benjamin Hanby only lived to be 33 years old. During his lifetime he wrote over 80 tunes. Another of his tunes is Up on the Housetop.

Hope that helps! It's one of my favorite tunes.

V

Subject: RE: Nelly Gray
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 02:53 PM

Hanby's "Nelly Gray", 1856, is in the Levy sheet music collection (Mudcat's Links).

Subject: RE: Nelly Gray
From: kendall
Date: 01 Nov 00 - 03:31 PM

Oh my darling Nellie Gray kicked the bucket yesterday
That cross eyed girl that lived up on the hill
She took strychnine and died, now, I hope she's satisfied
'Cause she done the whole damn thing against my will.
Oh, I held her on my knee when she said goodby to me
Said she'd meet me at the golden door I took it as a joke didnt think that she would croak 'Cause she never died so suddenly before.

She's my darling my daisy, humpback and crazy
Knockneed bowlegged and she's lame
They say her breath is sweet but I'd rather smell her feet
Shes my pidgeon toed consumptive Nellie Gray.

Now that she has gone to rest
I'll fulfill her last request
And plant a bunch of onions on her grave
So, when I'm passing by, I can pucker up and cry
'Cause those goddmn things always made me rave.

She's my darling my daisy humpback and crazy knock kneed bowlegged and she's lame
They say her teeth were false from eating Epsome Salts
She's my pidgeon toed bowlegged Nellie Gray.