The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156887 Message #3702011
Posted By: GUEST,Joseph Scott
15-Apr-15 - 01:57 PM
Thread Name: Book: On the Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs - online
Subject: RE: _... Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs_ online
Scarborough was born in Texas in the 1870s. Wishing she had the same attitudes we have about blacks and whites is pointless.
In general, cheerful patronization aside, her commentary is often not very well-informed. For instance, Abbe Niles, a notable blues enthusiast of the day, noticed that she didn't have much of an idea what "blues songs" were and weren't.
It's the songs she prints themselves that are extremely valuable. For instance, the lyrics she obtained for "Hop Joint" are valuable when compared to the song about "Went in the drugstore, store full of smoke" that L.J. Farmington remembered, the song about "I went down to the depot to get my baby's trunk" that F. Le Tellier remembered, the "Hop Joint" that John Hurt learned in about 1902, the song about "Baby, take a look at me" that Gates Thomas remembered, and the song about "Comin' down State Street, comin' down Main" that Howard Odum collected before 1909.