The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #15777   Message #1210656
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
19-Jun-04 - 08:01 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Bile Dem Cabbage Down
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bile Dem Cabbage Down
The raccoon verse is a really old floater. It appears in Thomas W. Talley, "Negro Folk Rhymes," new ed. p. 191, no. 355 (received by him ca. 1920) and in Newman I. White. All the verses quoted here, except the new ones by PintoVega, are in previous threads and posts.

The raccoon has a bushy tail,
Possum tail, she bear,
The rabbit has no tail at all,
But a little bunch of hair.

The earliest version is in the minstrel song "Uncle Gabriel," pre-Civil War, but where it originally came from ??? See N. I. White, American Negro Folk Songs.
Verses submitted by Amos are well-known to Scouts. As noted in the DT, most verses are floaters added to extend the dance.

Would be interesting to find out when the "Bile dem....." verse came in. Much later, I think, than the floaters.