The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #11867 Message #721973
Posted By: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
03-Jun-02 - 01:04 AM
Thread Name: All My Friends are Gone
Subject: LYR ADD: DELIE ( a different Delia)
This from John Garst, Univ. Georgia. In 1900 in Savannah, two teenagers; Moses "Cooney" Houston shot and killed Delia Green. "Cooney" claimed Green was his girl while she objected. The incident inspired the popular song "Delia's Gone" (aka Delia), "All I have is gone," and "All I got Done Gone." John Garst contributes to Mudcat; he may enlarge on this story. In the DT, Delia 1 and 2 depart rather far from this story. Is there another Delia? Here is another version from "American Negro Folk Songs." It doesn't really fit the story either.
Lyr. Add: DELIE
Delie, Delie, was a-goin' her last round, When ole coon came by An' shot her to the groun'. All I done had done gone.
Delie, Delie, why didn't yo' run, When yo' seen dat coon a-comin' Wid his forty-fo' caliber gun? All I done had done gone.
Rubber-tired cayage, rubber-tired hack Done took poor Delie to de bone yard, Ain't never brought her back. All I done had done gone.
Men in Atalanta tryin' to pass fo' white, Delie's in de bone yard Six foot out o' sight. All I done had done gone.
Men in Atalanta drinkin' out a silver cup, Delie's in de bone yard, Ain't never goin' to get up. All I done had done gone.
Reported from Durham, NC, 1924. "from memory of a song taught Frank Goodell of Spartenburg, SC,...by an old Negro to whom he paid $1.00 to teach him to play the guitar. Learned possibly between 1900 and 1904." Note the convergence with "Frankie and Albert." "Ole coon" in the song may be a mis-hearing of "Cooney." Atalanta commonly replaces Atlanta in rural Georgia. From Newman L. White, 1928, American Negro Folk Songs, 1965 reprint, p. 215. @crime @Negro @ballad