The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #128220 Message #3095357
Posted By: Gibb Sahib
14-Feb-11 - 06:40 PM
Thread Name: The Advent and Development of Chanties
Subject: RE: The Advent and Development of Chanties
1864 Fanny, Aunt. _Good Little Hearts._ Vol. 4. New York: Hurd and Houghton.
The setting is a plantation near the Ashley River near Charleston, SC "many years ago" (i.e. before 1864). An enslaved Black man named Jupiter has been asked to row a boat. On the journey, he is requested to sing. Pp. 60-61:
// …then, in a fine, clear voice, he broke out in a long-shore melody, keeping perfect time with the beat of his oars: —
"Ole maum Dinah, she hab 'leben chillen, Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray. One he was a stevedore, an 'toder was a barber, Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray. Wid a head like a tin pan, a back like a crowbar, Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray. He done row dis boat so bad, boys, he could n't make it go far, Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray. And it's hurrah! massa barber, wen did you get to Charleston, Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray. An he row to de landin', wid tank you berry much, sar, Fol de rol de ri, oh, fol de rol de ray." //
It's a version of the song MUDDER DINAH that Hugill and Bullen later published as chanties.