THE BROWN GIRL
(Son of Child #295)
(Bob Coltman)

I am as brown as brown can be,
My eyes as black as a sloe,
I can sing pretty as a nightingale,
And dance like any doe,
CHORUS
And dance like any doe,
I can sing pretty as a nightingale,
And dance like any doe.

My love sent me a love letter
From his palace up in town,
He said he could not fancy me
Because I am so brown,
CHORUS
Because I am so brown, etc.

Well, I don't care, and I will not care,
And I don't care a pin,
He may go on just how he likes,
And he may kiss the wind,
CHORUS
And he may kiss the wind, etc.

There's a many and there's a crowd
That's anxious for my arms,
And there's fine fellows more than one
That loves a brown girl's charms,
CHORUS varying as before

No some six months were past and gone,
And I'd about forgot,
He wrote me a new love letter,
Sounding desperate,
CHORUS

Says, Betsy, pretty Betsy,
Oh, won't you please come quick?
For lack of you and thinkin' of you,
My love has made me sick,
CHORUS

I tell you how I hurried,
It might well make you smile,
I was a lee long summer's day
Going a quarter mile,
CHORUS

Now when I came to his bedside,
I could not hide my sass,
I tried to make my face behave,
But I just broke out and laughed.
CHORUS

Says, Here is your broken faith,
The same you gave to me,
I give it fully back to you
As broken as can be.
CHORUS

If you insist on dying,
Don't look for me to rave, -
I'll dance my prettiest dances on
Your sad and lonesome grave.
CHORUS

If you insist on dying,
Don't look for me to cry,
I'll be in the greenwood with
Some handsome neighbor boy.
CHORUS

But if you're thinkin' of living,
Don't call, for I won't come,
I'll be charmin' the eyes of them
That don't think I'm too brown!
CHORUS

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Click to play (joeweb)

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"No some six months were past and gone" - is that right, Bob?