Lyr Add: Ring, Ring de Banjo (Stephen C. Foster)

Subject: Lyr Add: RING, RING DE BANJO (Stephen C. Foster)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 13 - 06:04 PM

Lyr. Add: RING, RING DE BANJO
First published as RING DE BANJO
Stephen Collins Foster, 1851 (1850?)

1*
Oh! nebber count de bubbles
While dere's water in de spring,
De darkey hab no troubles
While he got dis song to sing.
Be beauties ob creation
Will nebber lose der charm
While I roam de old plantation
Wid my true lub on my arm.

*Chorus-
Ring, ring de Banjo!
I like dat good old song.
Come again my true-lub,
Oh! wha you been so long.

2
De time is nebber dreary,
If de darkey nebber groans;
De ladies nebber weary
Wid de rattle ob de bones;
Den come again Susanna
By de gaslight ob de moon;
We'll tum de old Piano
When de banjo's out ob tune.

Chorus

3
Once I was so luckcy,
My massa set me free,
I went to old Kentucky
To see what I could see:
I could not go no farder,
I turn to massa's door,
I lub him all de harder,
I'll go away no more.

Chorus

4
Early in de morning
On a lubly summer day,
My massa send me warning
He'd like to hear me play.
On de banjo tapping,
I come wid dulcem strain;
Massa fall a napping---
He'll nebber wake again.

Chorus

5
My lub, I'll hab to leabe you
While de ribber's runnin' high;*
But I nebber can deceibe you---
So don't you wipe your eye.
I's guine to make some money;
But I'll come anodder day---
I'll come again my honey,
If I hab to work my way.

Chorus

*The earliest printed copies lack the first verse given here.
The music seems to have been used first in 1850.

* Chorus usually sung twice by most singers.

*When the river is high, the escapee is less likely to be sniffed out by dogs.

There are printed parodies, some of which I will post. One version for children is given at several websites.

Chords: http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/stephen-foster/008684.HTM

Sheet music at American Memory and Levy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ring, Ring de Banjo (Foster
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 13 - 06:17 PM

Lyr. Add: RING, RING THE BANJO (KiDiddles)
Adapted by Terry Kluytmans

The time is never dreary,
If a person never moans,
A hoofer's never weary
With the rattlin' of the bones.
Ring, ring the banjo!
I like that good old song.
Come again, good fortune,
Oh! where you been so long?

Oh! never count the bubbles
When there's water in the spring,
A trav'ler's got no troubles
If *they've got this song to sing. *sic
Ring, ring the banjo!
I like that good old song,
Come again, good fortune,
Oh! where you been so long?

Copyright 1999 KiDiddles.com

http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/r047.html

Subject: Lyr Add: WALK IN THE PARLOR
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 13 - 06:49 PM

Lyr. Add: WALK IN THE PARLOR
Anon.

I'm right from old Varginny, with my head so full of knarledge,
I never went to free school, or any udder college;
But I will tell you one thing, it is a certain fact.
I'll git you 'scription of de world in a twinkling of a crack.

1st Voice- So walk in
2nd Voice- Walk in!
3rd Voice- Walk in, I say
4th Voice- Walk into the parlor and hear de banjo play.

Chorus-
Walk into de parlor, and hear de banjo ring,
And watch de darkey's fingers while he picks it on de string.

Lightning is a yaller gal who libs up in de cloud,
Thunder is a black man, and he can holler loud,
When he kisses Lightning, she darts up in a wonder,
He jumps up and grabs de cloud, and dat's what makes it thunder.
1st Voice, etc.
Walk into de parlor, etc.

Noah built de ark, and filled it full of sassage,
All de odder animals took a cabin passage;
De elephant he cum last,-- Noah said "You're drunk!"
"No," said he, "it took me all dis time to pack away my trunk."
1st Voice, etc.
Walk into the parlor, etc.

O Noah sent de bird out to look for dry land,
When he cum back, he had de banjo in his hand;
I took up de banjo, and played 'em dis ere tune---
All the animals, 'cept the elephant, fell into a swoon.
1st Voice, etc.
Walk into the parlor, etc.

Song sheet, (1 of 2), J. Andrews, NYC.
Nineteenth C. song sheets, American Memory.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY POLLY ANN
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Oct 13 - 12:59 PM

Lyr. Add: MY POLLY ANN
Sung by Dave Read, Bryant's Minstrels.

At the fancy ball, the other night,
My Polly Ann and me
Were dressed to death, in all our best,
Be happy, light and free!
When Pompey Smash, a colored *moak,
Came rushing in the hall,
And swore that none should dance with Poll,
There, at the fancy ball.

Chorus
Now, strike up the fiddle, and let the banjo ring;
Then join in the chorus, while merrily we sing;
Let the darkies quarrel, and emigrate to France;
I'm a happy darkie, oh! with this breakdown dance.

My Polly Ann, she looked at me,
And then she gave a sigh.
While Pompey Smash he shook his fist,
With vengeance in his eye;
I kissed my hand to Polly Ann:
The leader gave a call---
Away went Pomp with Polly Ann,
The gayest of them all.

Soon, Pomp and Poll were married;
Pomp cleaned the gemmen's clothes,
And Polly shouted: Hot corn! where
The summer breezes blow;
And now they have retired,
And you'll see them here no more,
'Cause Pompey's made his fortune,
And has gone to Baltimore.

*moak ?

Another minstrel song using the tune of "Ring, Ring the Banjo."

H. de Marsan, New York; song sheet.
From American Memory.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PIG IS GREASED BEHIND
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 07 Oct 13 - 02:55 PM

Lyr. Add: THE PIG IS GREASED BEHIND
Union song sheet, U. S. Civil War

Come, listen all, ye jolly Boys;
It's now I'm going to sing;
I'm right from the South, boys,
To make the banjo ring.
For, I know you want to hear
Something to please your mind;
Now, we'll whip the South, boys:
For, the pig is greased behind.

Jeff Davis is a traitor, boys
As all of you do know;
We're going to fetch him here, boys,
And have a tremendous show;
While Beauregard has shown his best,
And tried that he might find,
With all the other traitors, boys,
That the pig is greased behind.

They have tried to catch it, boys;
But, ah! just then it sneezed;
And, though they had it then, boys,
They found that it was greased;
For, it walked off before their eyes,
And though they tried to bind...
They saw what others are, boys,
That the pig was greased behind.

They hold a few things now, boys;
But they are getting hot;
And soon, we'll let them feel, boys,
A little cold steel and shot,
And there will be the D---l to pay,
While something they will find;
That there's Patriots in the North, boys,
And the pig is greased behind.

H. de Marsan, New York City. American Memory.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Ring, Ring de Banjo (Foster
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Oct 13 - 12:23 AM

Hi, Q. Thanks for the verses from so long ago. I can see a group of Cub Scouts loving that song about Noah's ark.

That word 'moak' is probably 'moke.'

Dictionary.com says 'moke' is

1. Older Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a black person.
2. British Slang. a donkey.
3. Australian Slang. a poor-looking, inferior horse.

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Origin:
1840–50; origin uncertain