The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #28882 Message #1954174
Posted By: Richie
31-Jan-07 - 10:10 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Ain't Nobody's Business
Subject: Lyr Add: 'TAIN'T NOBODY'S BIZNESS BUT MY OWN
I found the collected version, usually titled T'Ain't Nobody's Bizness ('Tain't Nobody's Bizness):
The Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. 24, No. 94—October-December, 1911.
"Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes" by Howard W. Odum
'TAIN'T NOBODY'S BIZNESS BUT MY OWN
Jingling rhymes are sought at the sacrifice of meaning and the sense of the song. Rhymes are thus more easily remembered. If the sentiment of the subject of the song appeals to a negro, he may take it and make his own rhymes, departing from the original version. The frequent omission of words, and the mixing of dialect and modern slang, usually result. "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness but my Own" represents the more reckless temperament of the wanderer.
Baby, you ought-a tole me,
Six months before you roll me,
I'd had some other place to go,
'Tain't nobody's bizness but my own.
Sometimes my baby gets boozy,
An' foolish 'bout her head,
An' I can't rule her,
'Tain't nobody's bizness but my own.
I'm goin' to happy Hollow,
Where I can make a dollar,
'Tain't nobody's bizness but my own.
I want to see my Hanner
Turn tricks in my manner,
'Tain't nobody's bizness but my own.
Don't care if I don't make a dollar,
So I wear my shirt an' collar,
'Tain't nobody's bizness but my own.