Lyr. Add: Raz-Ma--Taz-A-Ma-Tee
Missouri, Coll. Mrs Marie Wilbur, Pineville, MO

Players form two parallel lines, boys in one row and girls in the other, about ten paces apart. The boy on the left advances with a peculiar skipping step, singing loudly:

Here comes a duke a-ridin',
a-ridin', a-ridin',
Here comes a duke a'ridin',
The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee.

The boy returns to his place, and all the girls dance toward the boys' line as they sing:

What are you ridin' here for,
Here for, here for?
What are you ridin' here for?
The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee.

The girls return to their former position and the next boy skips forward and sings:

I'm ridin' here to git married,
Married, married,
I'm ridin' here to git married,
The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee.

As this second boy steps back into his line the girls all follow him, singing:

Choose one of us, sir,
Of us, sir, of us, sir,
Choose one of us, sir,
The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee.

The next boy in line makes answer:

You're all too old an' ugly for me,
Too ugly for me, too ugly for me,
You're all too old an' ugly for me,
The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee.

As the girls skip forward this time, they sing in a spirited fashion:

We're just as good as you are,
You are. you are,
We're just as good as you are,
The raz-mz-taz-a-ma-tee.

The next boy advances and chooses one of the girls, kneeling before her as he sings:

You're the fairest one I see,
One I see, one I see,
You're the fairest one I see,
The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee.

And with this he leads her back to the boys' line and the next boy becomes the "duke," so that the whole rigamarole is repeated until all of the girls have been chosen.

Tune provided.
Contributed June 13, 1925.
No. 551, Vance Randolph, 1980, "Ozark Folksongs," Revised ed., vol. III, Humorous and Play-Party Songs, Univ. Missouri Press.