292. Manley Pankey


292
Manley Pankey

In 1947 the present editor [A.P.H.], through Mrs. Mabel Brittain
of Chapel Hill, obtained the following information about this song
from Mrs. L. M. Russell of Troy. Manley Pankey was the Negro
hired hand of a Montgomery county white farmer named Curry.
He enjoyed a local reputation for high temper, and skill as a singer
and guitar player. One day while he was singing and playing on
Curry's porch, a neighbor approached the house, and Curry told
Manley to stop. An hour later, Pankey shot Curry to death. He
was convicted of murder and hanged, as Professor Brown notes.
Mrs. Russell confirms the local belief that Pankey made up a song
about his fate, such as is here recorded. She states that she set out
to attend the hanging but fainted at the sight of Manley riding on
his coffin to the place of execution.

From Miss Jewel Robbins, Pekin, Montgomery county (later Mrs. C. P.
Perdue, Gastonia), 1921-24. Note by Dr. Brown: "Sentenced at Troy
Court House, Montgomery Co. Sang on day of hanging, standing in
court house door, 40 years ago (i.e., about 1895)." With music.

1 Here I stand in the jail house door,
Here I'll stand no more.
Good-bye to my mother

And friends forevermore.

2 My mother she did warn me.
She warned me when I 'as young,
'I'll raise you up for the gallows ;
My son, you will be hung.'

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292

Manley Pankey

'Manley Pankey.' Sung by Miss Jewell Robbins. Recorded at Pekin, Mont-
gomery county, between 1921 and 1924. As this, as well as several other re-
cordings by the same singer turned out to be impossible for transcription because
of the noise emanating from the records, the editor made several trips to Gas-
tonia, the present home of Mrs. Perdue, formerly Miss Jewell Robbins, in order
to obtain a complete version of the various songs. This song was obtained on
a visit made on July 31, 1954. Mrs. Purdue said: "This song was sung by the
Negroes en our plantation and my brothers. I was so small when I heard it
and we were living in such seclusion from other white people that I cannot
recall having heard any other people sing it."

 

Scale: Hexachordal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: ab (4,4). Circular Tune
(V).