426. I Was Born About Tex Thousand Years Ago
This bragging song probably originated as a vaudeville produc-
tion. As a humorous performance it is known — or has been — in
Virginia (AMS loi), Tennessee (JAFL xxvi 160). and Michigan
(BSSM 448-9), and Sandburg (ASb 330-1 ) gives it without saying
where he found it. Whether as known by Negroes (ANFS 146,
Alabama from Florida) it is consciously humorous or not is not
clear; but a text from Maryland (JAFL xxvi 190) obviously de-
rived from our humorous song is quite clearly religious in temper.
It deals onlv with events in the life of Christ. See also 'The
Highly Educated Man' (ABFS 346-50).
A. 'I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago.' Reported by H. F. Shaw from the "eastern part of North Carolina." without date.
1 I was born about ten thousand years ago
And there is nothing in this world that I don't know.
I was behind the Inishes, beating, when that apple Eve was eating.
I can prove that I was the man what ate the core.
2 I was there when Cain slew Abel in the glade.
I know that the game was ])oker that they played ;
But right here coities the rub : some say it was a club,
Btit I'll bet it was a diamond or a spade.
3 I was there when Noah built his famous ark
And I crawled in one evening after dark.
I twisted the lion's tail, and made Jonah swallow the
whale,
And I swam the Atlantic on a l(jg.
4 Queen Victoria she fell in love with me.
We were secretly married in Milwaukee;
But I got tired and shook her and jcMued Cieneral Hooker
Fighting- skeeters down in sunny Tennessee.
B. "I Was Born Ten Tliousand Years Ago.' From Miss Eura Manguin
of Durham, in 1922. With the tune. Only the first five lines.
1 was horn ten thousand years ago.
There isn't anything that I don't know.
I saw Peter, Paul, and Moses playing ring-around-the-
roses
And I'll lick the man who says it isn't so!
I taught Solomon his little A B C's
c
'I Was Born About a Thousand Years Ago.' Reported by Miss Aura
Holton of Durham about the year 1924. But the text seems not to have
been preserved.
The two fragments here following show a confusion of our brag-
ging song with another song quite different not only in temper but
in verse structure, 'Goodbye, Susan jane.'
'I Went to See My Susan.' Contributed by C. L. Walker, place and
time not noted. In the manuscript the third stanza is marked "chorus"
and the fifth stanza "chorus to first verse" ; which probably means that
stanza 3 is the chorus of the biblical burlesque and stanza 5, or the
first half of it, is the chorus of 'Susan Jane.'
1 I went to see my Susan ;
She met me at the door
And told me that I need not come
To see her any more.
2 She fell in love with Rufus
Ahram Jackson Pane.
I looked her in the eye and said,
'Goodhye, Susan Jane.'
3 I was horn ahout ten thousand years ago.
Ain't nothing I don't know.
Standing on Mount Zion I saw Sampson slav the lion ;
And I can lick any man that says it ain't so.
4 Saw Noah when he Iniilt dat famous ark.
Crept in one night right after dark.
514 NORTH CAROLINA F L K L K K
I twistt'd a lion tail and saw Jonah swallowed the whale
And rid through the land of Canaan on the ark.
5 Oh. Susan, stop your fooling
And give your heart to me.
Oh, give me back nn- own true love
And I will let you be.
I useter love you dearly,
And I will never love again.
1 looked her in the eye and said
'Goodbye, Susan Jane.'
E
'Saw Noah When He Built dat Famous Ark.' From D. C. Crawford,
w^ithout notation of time or place. Made of the same elements as D,
and no less confused. It appears in the Collection in two sheets. On
one of them the Noah stanza is followed by stanza 5 of D labeled
"chorus" ; on the other the first two stanzas of D are followed by the
"I was born" stanza labeled "chorus." Apparently the two songs are
actually combined in some way by singers, but our manuscripts do not
enable one to make out how.
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426
I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago
T Was Born Ten Thousand Years Ago.' Sung by Miss Eura Mangum,
Durham, in 1922.
F-395
I was born ten thou - sand years a - go.
And there is - n't an thing- that I don't know.
Pe - ter, Paul, and Mos - es play - ing
'Ring a - round the
Ros-es' And I'll lick the man who says it is- n't so!
For melodic relationship cf. ***FSUSA 30, the first four measures are
identical, our measures 5-6 are reversed there; **BSSM 448, our measures 5-
6 and 9-1 1 there; *ASb, measure 6.
Scale : Heptachordal, plagal. Tonal Center : f. Structure : aa^a^a^ (2,2,2,2)
= aai (4,4).