From On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs by Dorothy Scarborough (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1925), page 101:

An old song given me by Joseph A. Turner, of Hollins, Virginia, mentions a crude banjo. The music to this was written down for me by Ruth Hibbard, of Hollins College.


BROTHER EPHRUM GOT DE COON AND GONE ON

1. I went down to my pea-patch
To see if my ole hen had hatch.
Ole hen hatch and tellin' of her dream,
And de little chickens pickin' on de tambourine.

CHORUS: Brother Ephrum got de coon and gone on, and gone on, and gone on.
Brother Ephrum got de coon and gone on
And left me here behind.

2. I see a rabbit a-runnin' down de fiel';
I say, "Mister Rebbit, whar you gwine?"
She say, "I ain't got no time for to fool wid you,
Dar's a white man comin' on behind."

3. Marsa bought a yaller gal,
He brought her right from de South,
And de hayr on her head was wrop so tight
Dat de sun shone in her mouth.

4. Lips jes' like a cherry,
Cheeks jes' like a rose.
How I loves dat yaller gal
Lord Almighty knows!

5. I had a little banjo,
De strings was made of twine,
And de only tune dat I could play
Was, I wish dat gal was mine!