Origins: Come All You Virginia Girls

Subject: Lyr Add: KANSAS BOYS
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 09 Sep 02 - 07:35 PM

Kansas Boys

Hello, girls, listen to my voice
Don'tcha fall in love with no Kansas boys!
For if you do your fortune, it will be
Hoecake and hominy and sassafras tea.

They'll take you out on a jet-black hill
Take you there so much against your will
Leave ya there to perish on the plains
For that is the way with the Kansas range.

Take you to a cabin with a huge log wall
Nary a window in it at all
Sandstone chimney and a puncheon floor
Clapboard roof and a button door.

When they go to milk, they milk in a gourd
Throw it in a corner and cover with a board.
Some gits plenty and some gits none
For that is the way with the Kansas Run!

When a boy goes courtin' he takes along a chair.
First thing he says, "Has yer daddy killed a bear?"
Next thing he says as he sets down,
"Madam, yer johnnycake is bakin' brown!"

When a young man falls in love
First it's "Honey" and then "Turtle-dove".
After he's married, no sich thing:
"Git up and get m'breakfast, ya good-fer-nothin' thing!"

There are, I am told, a lot of other, less printable verses to this. DRO

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 09 Sep 02 - 07:36 PM

Perhaps others can supply the other verses.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 10 Sep 02 - 01:31 PM

Dave-

I've got a few different versions but have it titled: Arkansas Boys; or Arkansas Sheik. Some times it's- California Boys; East Virginia Girls; Missouri Boys; Hello Girls; Mississippi Gals; or The Mormon Boys.

Also it has the "Come all you (East Virginia Girls)" prefix.

What did you need?

Richie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 16 Jun 03 - 10:43 PM

Back in '97 or '98, some unnamed contributor said he/she had found a bunch more verses to "Kansas Boys", but didn't post any of them. Anybody know any more?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 16 Jun 03 - 11:10 PM

From an "East Virginia Girls" version:

When they come a-courtin' let me tell you what they'll wear:
Old black coat, just about to tear,
Old straw hat, more brim than crown,
A pair of woolen socks they wear the whole year 'round.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 01:12 AM

I have a taped version of the song sung by Barre Toelken back in the mid-1970s. Somewhat kinder in tone, even if the meaning is similar. I'll "trace" this thread and have to find and transcribe the song. It was from a lecture where Toelken compared versions of songs and the process of parody.

SRS

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 04:11 AM

The Traditional Ballad Index has quite a lengthy listing. I'll see if I can get some of these posted in the next few days. Dave - if I don't, remind me.
-Joe Offer-

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Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.)

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you (Virginia) girls and listen to my noise; Don't you court no West Virginia boys; If you do, your fortune will be Johnny cake and venison and sassafras tea." Concerning the dangers of courting and marrying boys from (somewhere)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1841 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: courting hardtimes warning humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES (29 citations):
Belden, pp. 426-428, "Texan Boys" (1 text plus a fragment probably not part of this song)
Randolph 342, "The Arkansas Boys" (3 texts, 2 tunes);
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 277-278, "The Arkansas Boys" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 342A)
High, pp. 12-13, "To Go Asparking"; p. 28, "The Misouri Girls" (sic.) (2 texts)
McNeil-SMF, pp. 186-188, "The Arkansas Run" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 328, "The Carolina Crew" (1 fragment, thought by the editors to be this song); 336, "If You Want to Go A-Courtin'" (1 text, clearly mixed; the first three stanzas are this song, the next four something completely unrelated about a fight and a very bad meal)
BrownSchinhanV 328, "The Carolina Crew" (1 tune plus a text excerpt)
Brwone 81, "Want to Go A-Courting" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Moore-Southwest 144, "Mississippi Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abernethy, pp. 3-4, "Texas Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-2ed, pp. 110-112, "Come All You Mississippi Girls" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 128-129, "Hello, Girls"; "Kansas Boys" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Stout 69, pp. 92-93, "A Married Woman's Lament" (3 fragments, with "A" and "B" probably being "I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female)" and "C" being perhaps "Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.)")
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 95, "The Hunter's Song" (1 fragment)
McIntosh, pp. 25-26, "Illinois Gals" (1 text); pp. 41-43, "If You Want to Go A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 11, "When You Go A-Courtin'"; 12, "The Texian Boys" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Fife-Cowboy/West 9, "Johnny Cake" (4 texts, 1 tune, though the "B" text is clearly "Little Fight in Mexico" and the "C" text is also quite distinct)
Hubbard, #227, "Don't Marry the Mormon Boys" (1 fragment)
LPound-ABS, 81, pp. 175-176, "Cheyenne Boys" (1 text)
Welsch, pp. 54-55, "Kansas Boys" (1 text)
JHCox 58, "The Tucky Ho Crew" (1 text -- a very mixed version which is only partly this song, but the rest doesn't look like anything I know. It may be a conflation with an otherwise lost ballad)
SharpAp 75, "If You Want to Go A-courting" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Cohen-AFS1, pp. 189-191, "De Free Nigger" (1 text plus the first lines of many localizations of the song); p. 214, "West Virginia Gals" (1 text); pp. 361-362, "Arkansas Sheik"; Cohen-AFS2, p. 583, "Cheyenne Boys"; pp. 635-636, "Alsea Girls" (1 text)
Coleman/Bregman, pp. 26-27, "Kansas Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 173, "Kansas Boys" (1 text)
DT, WHNCORT1* WHNCORT2* WHNCORT3* WHNCORT4* WHNCORT5*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 207, "The Old Leather Bonnet" (1 text, fairly full but missing the opening verse)
Richard M. Dorson, _Buying the Wind: Regional Folklore in the United States_, University of Chicago Press, 1964, p. 530, "Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys" (1 short text, in which the girl finds that "Johnny cake and babies is all you'll see")
Suzi Jones, _Oregon Folklore_, University of Oregon/Oregon Arts Commission, 1977, p. 11, "Alsea Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4275 and 2977
RECORDINGS:
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "West Virginia Gals" (Brunswick 318, 1929; rec. 1928)
Cousin Emmy, "Cousin Emmy's Blues" (also issued as "Come All You Virginia Gals") (Decca 24213, 1947)
Riley Puckett, "The Arkansas Sheik" (Columbia 15686-D, 1931; rec. 1928)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Arkansas Sheik" (on NLCR14)
Pete Seeger, "Texian Boys" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Go A Sparking" (theme, structure, tune)
SAME TUNE:
Ballad of Harriet Tubman (by Woody Guthrie) (Greenway-AFP, pp. 90-92)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
California Boys
East Virginia Girls
Missouri Boys
Hello Girls
Mississippi Gals
The Mormon Boys
Free Nigger (title used in the 1841 sheet music)
De Free Nigger
NOTES [173 words]: The Fifes offer deep psychological explanations for some parts of this piece. I incline to believe it means what it says.
The original publication appears to be the version printed by Cohen, "De Free Nigger." Happily, that version seems to be extinct in tradition. McNeil says that it did not list an author, which is probably just as well (although McNeil points out that this might mean that the publishers took it from tradition rather than it being a composed piece. The counter-argument is that there are no reports of it from tradition until John A. Lomax published his "Texian Boys" version).
Most versions of this are warnings to women; a few, like McIntosh's "If You Want to Go A-Courtin',", are either warnings to men or gender-neutral. Roud splits these; #4275 is the women's version and #2977 seems to be the men's. The distinction is probably formally valid; someone rewrote the song. But when fragments turn up, there is no way to classify them with one or the other. So I've lumped them, although it's a tricky decision. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.2
File: R342

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 23 Jan 06 - 06:04 PM

Joe Offer, I think you were going to supply some more verses to this.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: Lyr Add: TEXAN BOYS
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Jan 06 - 07:44 PM

This book is in front of me, so I'll post a "Missouri" form. I wonder if Joe can find a California form.

TEXAN BOYS

Come all ye Missouri girls and listen to my noise;
You must not marry these Texan boys.
For if you do your portion will be
Cold johnnycake and venison is all you'll see.

They'll take you out on the black oak hills,
And that so bitterly against your wills;
They'll leave you there th starve in that place,
And that's just the way with the Texan race.

Down in the mountains where they stay
The sun don't shine till the middle of the day.
At the foot of each mountain they have a little field;
A peck to the acre is a very good yield.

It's gravelly there, as sure as you're born;
They have to carry dirt to cover up the corn.
A pumpkin or squash will grow very fine
Or anything else that'll grow on a vine.

-------------------
The house they live in is hewed out of logs,
Hewed out logs and a puncheon floor,
A clapboard roof and a rawhide door.

When they go to milk they milk in a gourd,
Set it in the corner and cover it with a board.
Some get little and some get none,
And that's just the way with the Texan.

---------------

When they go to meeting what do you reckon they wear?
Their old leather coats, all pitch and tar,
Their old wool hats, more brim than crown,
Their old cotton socks, all ribbed up and down.

When the boys get hungry they bake their bread.
They build up a fire as high as your head.
Shovel up the ashes and roll in the dough;
The name that they give it is dough, boys, dough!

Pp. 426-427, words only. From MS. ballad book of James Ashby, secured in 1906 by Miss Welty.
H. M. Belden, 1940, "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society," Univ. Missouri Press.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE ARIZONA BOYS AND GIRLS
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Jan 06 - 08:09 PM

THE ARIZONA BOYS AND GIRLS

Come all of you people, I pray you draw near,
A comical ditty I promise you'll hear.
The boys in this country they try to advance
By courting the ladies and learning to dance.

The boys in this country they try to be plain-
Those words that you hear you may hear them again
With twice as much added on if you can.
There's many a boy who thinks he's a man.

They'll go to their parties, their whiskey they'll take,
And out in the dark their bottles they'll break;
You'll hear one say, "There's a bottle round here;
So come along boys, and we'll all take a share."

There is some wears shoes and some wears boots,
But there are very few that rides who don't shoot;
More than this I'll tell you what they'll do,
They'll get them a watch and a ranger hat too;

They'll go in the hall with spurs on their heel;
Yhey'll get them a partner to dance the next reel,
Saying, " How do I look in my new brown suit,
With my pants stuffed down in the top of my boot?"

Now, I think it's quite time to leave off these lads,
For here are some girls that's fully as bad;
They'll trim up their dresses and curl up their hair,
And like an old owl 'fore the looking-glass stare.

The girls in the country they grin like a cat,
And with giggling and laughing don't know where they're at;
They think they're pretty, and I tell you they are wise,
But they couldn't get married to save their two eyes.

You can tell a good girl wherever she's found;
No trimming, no laces, no nonsense around;
With a long-eared bonnet tied under her chin,-
She'll marry you if you are broke or if you have the tin.

They'll go to church with their snuff-box in hand,
They'll give it a tap to make it look grand;
Perhaps there is another one or two
And they'll pass it around and it's "Madam, won't you?"

Now I think it's quite time for this ditty to end;
If there's anyone here that it will offend,
If there's anyone here that thinks it amiss,
Just come round and give the singer a kiss.

Sung by Kitt Collins in Deming, NM.
N. Howard (Jack) Thorp, 1921, "Songs of the Cowboys," pp. 1-2.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 24 Jan 06 - 10:46 PM

The indomitable Oscar Brand recorded his personal bawdy version of "Texas Boys" on the LP "Bawdy Western Songs" in 1960. It's made up of standard verses with a few words changed to make it sound naughtier than it is.

My guess is that Brand's version is the source of all rumors about "unprintable" stanzas to this song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Jan 06 - 11:23 PM

The tendency seems to be to trace this group back to the minstrel songs of the 1840's, such as "New York Girls." I'm not sure that this is true.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 25 Jan 06 - 06:34 PM

Q's posting of Arizona Boys and Girls reminds me of a song my mother sang sometimes. It had a 2-line verse and a refrain.

The boys in this country, they're tryin' t' advance
By courtin' the wimmin and larnin' tuh dance.
(ref) And they're down--down and they're down.

Sayin' "How d'ya like my brand new suit
Wi' th' (something something) tucked down in my boots?
(ref) An' I'm down--down and I'm down

They'll go to(something something)they'll take
And out in the bushes the bottles they'll break.
(ref)And they're down--down and they're down.

These are just scraps. Sorry I can't remember more. It was pretty sprightly, and a tad sarcastic and funny.          Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Jan 06 - 12:25 AM

Does anyone have "Mormon Boys"?

Subject: Lyr Add: COME ALL YOU VIRGINIA GIRLS
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 13 - 02:25 PM

Lyr. Add: COME ALL YOU VIRGINIA GIRLS
Trad., singing of Judy Cook

Come all you Virginia girls, listen to my noise,
Don't you court no West Virginia boys.
If you do, your fortune will be:
Johnny cake, venison and sassafras tea!
Johnny cake and venison and sassafras tea!

When they come a courtin', well, I'll tell you what they wear:
Log black coat, just about to tear,
Old straw hat, more brim than crown,
A pair a woolen socks they wear the whole year round!
A pair a woolen socks they wear the whole year round!

When they come a courtin', well, I'll tell you what they'll say.
First they'll say: "Did your daddy shoot a bear?"
Then they'll say, as they sit down,
Honey, can you bake your johnny cake brown?
Honey, can you bake your johnny cake brown?

When they build a house, they build it with log walls
Don't have windows, none at all!
Clapboard roof, and an old slab door.
Sandstone chimney and a puncheon floor,
Sandstone chimney and a puncheon floor.

If you marry them, they'll take you to the Allegheny hills,
There you'll live, there you'll make your will.
There you'll stay and stare in space
For that is the way of the West Virginia race.
For that is the way of the West Virginia race.

So, come all you Virginia girls, listen to my noise.
Don't you court no West Virginia boys.
If you do, your fortune will be:
Johnny cake, venison and sassafras tea.
Johnny cake, venison and sassafras tea.

http://judycook.net/ceijc03/CD3-6.HTM

The Traditional Ballad Index is headed with the title, Come All You Virginia Girls, but I couldn't find lyrics with that title in mudcat.
Joe Offer posted the T.B.I. entry here, so I will add a few versions of this widespread song in this thread. Also see thread: East/West Virginia Girls/Boys 2 part, thread 136771.
East/West

The many versions seem to have the 1841 minstrel song, "De Free Nigger," as the origin.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHEN I WENT A-COURTIN'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 13 - 04:12 PM

Lyr. Add: WHEN I WENT A-COURTIN'

I started out a-courtin' and I knew where to go,
I went to a man's house here below.
The kids cried for bread and the old folks gone,
And the girls they were mad and their heads not combed,
And the girls they were mad and their heads not combed.
2
The old dirty clothes was hanging on the loom,
The house not swept for they had no broom.
There was a long-tailed coat greased all around
And an old leather bonnet with a hole in the crown,
And an old leather bonnet with a hole in the crown.
3
Well, I stayed and sparked till I got ashamed,
Every once in a while they would ask me my name.
I told them it was Johnny and they seemed satisfied,
For they giggled and they laughed till they both cried,
For they giggled and they laughed till they both cried.
4
Well, they called me to dinner and I thought it was to eat,
And the first thing I saw was a big hunk of meat,
Cooked half done and as tough as a moll,
And an old corn dodger baked bran and all,
And an old corn dodger baked bran and all.
5
I had an old dull knife and nary a fork,
Well, I sawed and sawed and I couldn't make a mark.
So I kept on sawin' till I got it on the floor,
Then I up with my foot and kicked it out the door,
Then I up with my foot and kicked it out the door.
6
In came the old man with a double-barreled gun
And the girls said, "Johnny, you'd better run."
But I stood and I fought him as brave as a bear,
And I tangled my fingers in the old man's hair,
And I tangled my fingers in the old man's hair.

Musical Score for "Johnny Cake," p. 22; text C p. 24.
Text C. Fife American Collection II, 492; collected by Hermes Nye.
Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, 1969, 1982, "Cowboy and Western Songs, A Comprehensive Anthology," Bramhall House, Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.

Subject: Lyr Add: ON THE ROAD TO CALIFORNIA
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 13 - 07:53 PM

Way back in '02, Uncle Dave_O asked for more verses to "Kansas Boys."
Here is a similar version sung commercially by Len Nash.

Lyr. Add: ON THE ROAD TO CALIFORNIA
Sung by Len Nash.

1
Come all girls, pay attention to my voice,
Don't you fall in love with the Kansas Boys,
For if you do your fortune will be
Hoe-cake, hominy and sassafras tea.
2
They'll take you out on the jet black hill,
And they'll take you there much against your will,
Leave you there to perish on the plain,
For that is the way with the Kansas range.

Chorus-
Oh, on the road to Californey
It was a hard and a tedious journey,
Far across the Rocky Mountains
Crystal springs and flowing fountains.

3
When they go to meeting the clothes that they wear
Is an old brown coat all fixed and bare.
An old white hat small-rimmed and crowned,
And a pair of cotton socks that they wear the year around.
4
Some live in a cabin with a huge log wall
And a-nary a window in it at all,
A sandstone chimney and a punch board floor,
A clap board roof and a button-hole door.
5
When they go to milk they milk in a gourd
And they heave it in the corner and they cover it with a board,
For that is the way with the Kansas run.
6
When they go a-fishin' they take along a worm
And they put it on a hook just to see it squirm.
The first thing they say when they get a bite
Is, "I got a fish as big as Johnny White."
7
When they go a-courtin' they take along a chair
And the first thing they say, "Has your daddy killed a bear?"
The second thing they say when they sit right down
Is, "Madam, your johnny cake is baking brown."

With musical score, pp. 22-23.
Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, 1969; "Cowboy and Western Songs, A Comprehensive Anthology," 1982 edition by Branhall House.

When was the Len Nash recording made?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Oct 13 - 09:04 PM

The chorus to the Len Nash song is borrowed from a Mormon Batallion song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Oct 13 - 01:59 PM

"On the Road to California" was previously posted in the thread of that name by Joe Offer.

Subject: Lyr Add: HAD A LITTLE FIGHT IN MEXICO
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 15 Oct 13 - 04:29 PM

Don't think this variant has been posted.

Lyr. Add: HAD A LITTLE FIGHT IN MEXICO

Had a little fight in Mexico,
Wasn't for the girls, the boys wouldn't go.

Chorus-
Sing tol de rol, sing tol de ray,
Sing tol de rol, sing tol de rol de ray.

Come to the place where the blood was shed,
The girls turned back and the boys went ahead.

And the girls and the boys where they did meet
They laughed and talked and kissed so sweet.

You better get up, you're mighty in the way,
Choose you a partner and come along and play.

O that little fight in Mexico,
None was killed but John Taylor-o.

I had an old hat with a flop-down brim.
I looked like a toad frog setting on a limb.

I had an old cow and I milked her in a gourd,
Set it in the corner and covered it with a board.

I want to go to Texas, and to Texas I'll go,
And I'll vote for old John Taylor-o.

I went to the fight in Mexico,
Fighting for the gunboats all in a row.

Come to the place where the blood was shed,
The girls turned back and the boys went ahead.

And the girls and the boys where they did meet
They laughed and talked and kissed so sweet.

Lib. Congress # 1732A3; recorded by John A. Lomax. Part of this sounds like a play party song, with a couple of verses taken from "Come all you Virginia girls."
P. 23, with music of "Johnny Cake," p. 22.

Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, 1969 (1982, "Cowboy and Western Songs: A Comprehensive Anthology," Bramhall House).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kansas Boys
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 09:06 PM

The earliest version of the song - or its direct ancestor - is in Thomas Rice's blackface minstrel play, "Oh! Hush! or, The Virginny Cupids" (1833):

Come, all you Virginny gals, and listen to my noise,
Neber do you wed wid de Carolina boys;
For if dat you do, your portion will be:
Cowheel and sugar cane, wid shangolango tea.

Full Chorus:
,

Mamzel ze marrel - ze bunkum sa!
Mamzel ze marrel - ze bunkum sa!

When you go a-courting, de pretty gals to see
You kiss 'em and you hug 'em like de double rule ob free.
De fust ting dey ax you when you are sitting down
Is, "Fetch along de Johnny-cake - it's getting rader brown."

Before you are married, potatoes dey am cheap,
Money am so plenty dat you find it in de street.
But arter you git married, I tell you how it is -
Potatoes dey am berry high and sassengers is riz.