We have a couple of "Delia" threads going. Following up on my last and posting these wherever the Bahamian branch of the tree gets mention. My Gilbert-Lofthouse sheet music is still MIA. More to follow… hopefully.

Delia Gone

Tony shot his Delia, on a Christmas night,
First time he shot her she bowed her head and died–
Delia gone–one more round Delia-gone –
Delia gone–one more round Delia gone.

Send for the doctor, doctor came too late,
Send for the minister to lay out Delia straight.
        Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone.

Delia's mudder dressed herself in brown,
Went to the cemetery to see her daughter layed down.
        Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone.

Rubber tired buggy, double-seated hack,
Take my Delia to de graveyard an' never brought her back.
        Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone.

Tony axed the jailer, "What is my time?"
"Sixty-four years in ------- -------'s mine."
        Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone.

Sixty-four years, that ain't no time!
Old Joe Bagstack is servin' ninety an' nine!
        Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone.

All you gamblers that likes to bet,
Come down to de courthouse and witness Delia's death.
        Delia gone, one more round! Delia gone.


No doubt this popular tho' tragic ballad has its basis in some episode of Nassau history now forgotten. There is, however, a faint resemblance in theme to a song that originated in St. Louis called "Frankie and Johnnie."

"Thomas Beer, in his 'Mauve Decade,' places this ballad as early as 1850, but Emerson Hough dates it fully ten years ealier." – Read 'Em and Weep. One stanza is particularly reminiscent:

                "O bring your rubber-tired hearses;
                        O bring your rubber-tired hacks.
                They're takin' your Johnnie to the buryin'ground
                        And they won't bring a bit of him back."


McCutcheon, John & Evelyn, The Island Song Book, (Chicago Tribune Tower, private printing, Jan. 15, 1927) p.11

Note:
History has not been kind to Thomas Beer and justly so. When did rubber-tired buggies, hearses, hacks and whatevers come to your neck of the planet?