Burl Ives used to sing this in the '50s


OLD UNCLE NED
As recorded by Burl Ives on Decca 24619 A, (1944)

"There was an old Brother and his name was Uncle Ned
And he died long ago, long ago,
And he had no wool on the top of his head
In the place where the wool ought to grow.

CHORUS: Then lay down the shovel and the hoe,
Hang up the fiddle and the bow,
For there's no more work for poor old Ned,
He's gone where the good brothers go.

His fingers were as long as the cane in the brake
And he had no eyes for to see,
And he had no teeth for to eat the hoe-cake,
So he had to let the hoe-cake be.

One cold frosty morning Old Ned died
Massa's tears they fell like the rain
For he knew when Ned was laid in his grave
That he'd never see his like again.


This is similar to a song I found once in the Glasgow Collection which had stronger slavery-related words, and there's another (No. 35) in The Common Muse about a naval vessel attacking a slave ship in 1850s.