Here's somemore fodder. From the Bahamas comes:
"O why those yella gals love me so
Yea, Suzianna
Cause Pappie don't talk everything I know
Round the Bay of Mexico"
From the Manhaden Fisheries come :
I got a long haired yella gal
See you when the sun goes down"
and then from a version of "Good Morning Ladies All" you have the lines in it's chorus:
"Ah-ha, me yella gals, good morning ladies all"
Now in "Doodle Let Me Go" or "Yellow Gals" there's the lines:
Doodle let me go me gals
Doodle let me go
Harrah me yella gals doodle let me go
It's easy to imagine that doodle might have come from DouDou. In a version or "Good Morning Ladies All" (also know as Roller Bowler) "as I roved out one morning I met a DouDou fair". In St. Peter's there's the line "darling DouDou I'm taking you with me". Bear with me now. DouDuo is a West Indian term for sweetheart, so seeing that these songs would pre-date Leadbelly & the prison worksong Yella Gal maybe yella gal is just someone's West Indian sweetheart. Would those in the islands be considered light or fair skined. Barry