The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #21666   Message #3927145
Posted By: GUEST,Bob Coltman
25-May-18 - 07:44 PM
Thread Name: bamalong - what is it?
Subject: RE: bamalong - what is it?
I hear it as "Ain't goin' be no" (or any) "second bamalong," and my hunch is that the word means a lover or "easy rider." That would make sense, not wanting to play (metaphorical) second fiddle ...

Black Betty's bam-a-lam is widely believed to represent the blow from an overseer's whip, but as a second meaning could in some contexts be taken to refer to a woman, I suppose. In that case it could well be implying the same thing as "bamalong" ... it certainly does have the sound of a flat-spring cot.

But I have no certain knowledge to prove that interpretation of either term.

Bob