The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93653   Message #1806595
Posted By: GUEST
10-Aug-06 - 04:42 PM
Thread Name: Songs & Jingles in Political Campaigns
Subject: RE: Songs & Jingles in Political Campaigns
Two early ones from US not nec campaigns

ROCKABYE BABY (ca. 1920's)
Rockabye baby, on the tree top,
When you grow up, you'll work in a shop,
When you are married, your wife will work too,
So that the rich will have nothing to do.

Hush-a-bye baby, on the tree top,
When you grow old your wages will stop.
When you have spent the little you've made,
First to the poorhouse, then to the grave.

(1800-1864 approximately)
JEFF DAVIS AND ABE LINCOLN
The form of this fragment is very reminiscent of the English piece
Big bees fly high
Little bees gather the honey
The poor man work hard
The rich man pocket the money.

BLACK SHEEP, BLACK SHEEP
This small lullabye is said to have been sung by the negro slave nurse, forced to neglect her own black child in order to tend to the white children in the 'big white house', as the home of the plantation owner was so often called.

Jeff Davis rides a big white horse,
Lincoln rides a mule
Jeff Davis is a gentleman
Lincoln is a fool.

Black sheep, black sheep, where's your lamb?
Way down in the valley.
Bees and the butterflies picking out his eyes,
Poor little thing cryin' 'Mammy!'
Black sheep, black sheep, where's your lamb?
Way down in the valley.
My mamma told me before she went away
To take good care of the baby,
But I went out to play
And the baby ran away
And the poor little thing cryin' 'Mammy!'

(Repeat part 1)