496
JiNGER Blue
It is not clear whetlier this is iust a f(jrm of 'Walk in the Parlor'
or not. The rhydnn seems to be different. Dr. WhUe notes on the
N.C.F.. Vol. III. (.'8)
c;58 NORTH CAROLINA FOLKLORE
manuscript that it "comes direct from the minstrel books of 1840-
60. But I think this is greatly different in most lines." The
spelling with / instead of g is used by the contributor, and may
come from the minstrel-book print. Cf. ANFS 381 (Alabama; 2
lines only), and Ford 34 (as a square-dance tune).
This seems to be a traditional development of "Ginger Blue,'
which appears in The Popular National Songster, etc. (Philadel-
phia, 1845), pp. 157-8, of which the first stanza and chorus run
as follows :
Oh, my name's Ginger Blue, what I tell you is miglity true ;
I came from the Tennessee Mountains ;
My paragraph is short, and my life is sweet,
As the water that fluws from the fountain :
The first ting that I said when I raised this ncgga head
To the darkies on the plantation,
Chorum:
Walk, chalk. Ginger Blue, git over double trouble.
And old Varginny never tire.
'Walkin' Talkin' Jinger Blue.' Contributed by Miss Jewell Robbins of
Pekin, Montgomery county (later Mrs. C. P. Perdue), probably in 1921.
Walkin' talkin' Jinger Blue,
I can tell yoti might true
I'm just from the Tennessee mountains.
Take a drink of beer as sweet as the water
That flows from the Tennessee fountains.
-----------
496
Jinger Blue
'Walkin', Talkin', Jinger Blue.' Sung by Miss Jewell Robbins, Pekin, Mont-
gomery county, about 1921.
F-449
Walk - in' talk - in' Jin - ger Blue,
tell you might - y true I'm just from the Ten - ne - see
tains. Take a drink of beer as sweet as the
wa - ter That flows from the Ten - ne - see moun - tains.
Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: b-flat. Structure: abab^
(2,2,2,2) = aai (4,4).