MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
(collected by Carl Sandburg)

Yonder come Roberta! Tell me how do you know?
By de color ob her apron and de dress she wo'.
Umberella on her shoulder, piece o' paper in her han',
She says to de cap'n: "I want my man!"
Let de Midnight Special shine a light on me,
Oh twenty long years in the pin-i-ten-tiar-y!

This arrangement is from the song as rendered by midnight prowlers in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas. It is impressionistic in style, delivering the substance of two lives in brief array. We see the man behind the bars looking out toward Roberta, who carries a document given her by some politician or precinct worker. The warden tells her, probably, the day is not Visitor's Day. As her man considers that he has twenty years yet to serve, he cries out that he would rather be under the wheels of a fast midnight train. Arr. H.J.

______________
Arr. H.J. means Henry Joslyn, Composer, violinist, conductor, New York City. Born, Elmira, New York. Symphonic suite, "Native Moments," produced by Stokowski and Philadelphia Orchestra. etc. The note on page xv in the front matter is longer, but I wanted some reference to Sandburg's arrangement notation.

The song on pages 26-27 of the The American Songbag, 1927, by Carl Sandburg, has been referred to in this thread but the verse and author's note were not entered into the record until now. It looks like a one-verse fragment.
MD