MINSTREL SONGS
I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN (Music arr. Harry Gilbert)
WALKY-TALKY JENNY
HAYSEED (Music arr. Alfred G. Wathall)
GOOD-BY LIZA JANE (Music arr. Alfred G. Wathall)
WIZARD OIL Henry (Music arr. Francis Parks)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I WISH I WAS SINGLE AGAIN
A lawyer with a larger divorce practice than he can handle conveniently tells us that half the time when divorced men marry again they pick the same kind of a wrong woman a second time. However that may be today, it seems that the minstrels of a generation past won wide popular success with a song voicing the troubles of a man who made the same mistake twice. The ditty spread to mountains and prairies. The version here is one that Edwin Ford Piper heard in Nebraska when a boy.
1. When I was single, then, then,
When I was single, O then,
When I was single, my money did jingle,
I wish I was single again, again,
And I wish I was single again.
2. I married me a wife, then, O then,
I married me a wife, O then,
I married me a wife, she's the plague of my life
And I wish I was single again, again,
And I wish I was single again.
3. My wife she died, then, then,
My wife she died, O then,
My wife she died, and then I cried,
To think I was single again, again,
To think I was single again.
4. I married another, the devil's grandmother,
I wish I was single again,
For when I was single, my money did jingle,
I wish I was single again, again,
I wish I was single again.
WALKY-TALKY JENNY
This has the saunter and the swagger of the southern mountaineers when they are having a luminous good time. Its style is comic rather than humorous; it has dangerous moods; its eyes have odd twinkles from under the hat brim; it says to the city slicker, "You all better looka out, we might be tellin' you to not let the sun go down on you hereabouts." This version of " Walky-Talky Jenny" came from H. Luke Stancil of Pickens County, Georgia. He wrote the verses and monologues on the porch of the Holden home in Athens, Georgia, a house which is the residence of a niece and grandriiece of Alexander Stephens. Long ago, perhaps before the Civil War, a minstrel troupe played one-night stands in the valley towns, performed with this song, and it was picked up by the mountaineers and made into what we have here. The mingling of comic bucolic monologue with song lines and chorus was a minstrel feature.
WALKY-TALKY JENNY
Yonder comes dat ole Joe Brown,
De bigges' liar in town;
He eats more meat dan any man's dog,
An* his belt won' reach aroun'.
Chorus: O, walky-talky Jenny an' a bubble for your trouble,
An* a walky-talky Jenny, I say;
O, walky-talky Jenny an' a bubble for your trouble,
I'm a nigger from de state of Alabam!
[Spoken] I went down de road de udder day, I did, I did, so I did. When I got down dere I seed an ole man settin' on de bank o' de road, an' I says, " Hey ! ole man, what time is it?" He said, " 'Bout one o'clock," an' about dat time he knocked me down twice 'fore I could get up once. I said, "Ole man, I sho' would hate to pass yo' house 'bout twelve o'clock. If you eber do cross my path agin I'm gwine-a make you ..."
[Sing] Chorus: O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble,
An' a walky-talky Jenny, I say;
O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble,
I'm a nigger from de state of Alabam!
[Spoken] I went on down de road a little f udder, I did, I did, so I did. I got down dere an* I seed a great big fine house afire. Dat house sho' was a-burnin' up. I got up a little closer an' seed somebody settin' up on top o' dat air house. I got up a little closer an* seed it was ole Aunt Dinah. I says, " Ole gal, yo' sho' am in a mell of a hess. I wonder how yo' gwine to git down from dere." I got up a little closer an' stuck a plank up to de side o' de house an' said, "Ole gal, yo' slide down dat air plank!" Here she come, a-slidin' down into my arms. When she got down dere, she made a face at me. I says, "Ole gal, what am de matter wid you?" She says, "I don' know, mister, dere musta been a little nail in dat air plank, mighta scratched me a little as I come down." I says, "Ole gal, yo' de bigges* fool I eber did see. If you eber do cross my path agin, I'm gwine-a make you . . ."
[Sing] Chorus: O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble,}
An' a walky-talky Jenny, I say;
O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble,
I'm a nigger from de state of Alabam!
[Spoken] I went on down de road a little f udder, I did, I did, so I did. I went down in my corn patch to sec how my field was a-growin'. I got down dere an' along come a punkin runnin' along, an' he picked up a calf in his mouth an' trotted off wid it. I went back to de house an' dere stood my baby in de door wid my wife in her arms. I stood dere a few minutes an' here conie a little ole bark around de house a-doggin'. I put my pocket down in my hand, pulled out my tail an' cut his knife off. "Ole dog, if you eber do cross my path agin, I'm gwine-a make you . . ."
[Sing] Chorus: O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble,
An' a walky-talky Jenny, I say;
O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble,
I'm a nigger from de state of Alabam!
HAYSEED
The minstrels always enjoyed giving their audiences songs about the accidents and calamities that country people met with in the large cities. Out of many songs having to do with the ignorant ones who blew out the gas, and the adventures of "hayseeds" in the big city, we present one with a don't-eare tune. It is communicated by Mrs. William Pitt Abbott of Duluth, Minnesota.
1 A hayseed one day to himself did say,
"I've worked just a year and a minit."
To the city he flew, his money he drew,
This hayseed was bound to be in it.
2. He went to a hotel, he engaged him a room;
It cost him five dollars a minit.
But he did not care, he had money to spare;
This hayseed was bound to be in it.
3 He went to his room, he blew out the gas,
He pulled down the bed and got in it.
Next morning at nine, in a coffin of pine
This hayseed was strictly dead in it.
GOOD-BY LIZA JANE
When the Rutledge & Rogers mammoth and mastodonic circus travelled the mid-west many years ago, this minstrel song was on the program of its concerts. We give it here from the recollection of C. W. Loutzenhiser of Chicago, who was a boy at the time. The drollery and the mathematics of the nonsense here will stand comparison with some of the best in "Alice in Wonderland." Also, with some of the worst in " Hostetter's Almanac."
1. Our horse fell down the well around behind the stable,
Our horse fell down the well around behind the stable,
Well he didn't fall clear down but he fell, fell, fell, fell, fell, fell,
As far as he was able. Oh! it's good-by Liza Jane.
2. Our goose swallowed a snail, and his eyes stuck out with wonder,
Our goose swallowed a snail, and his eyes stuck out with wonder,
For the horns grew through his tail, tail, tail, tail, tail, tail,
And bust it all asunder. Oh! it's good-by Liza Jane.
3. My gal crossed the bridge, so she wouldn't get her feet wet,
My gal crossed the bridge, so she wouldn't get her feet wet,
Well she didn't cross the bridge, but she would, would, would, would, would, would,
But the bridge it wasn't built yet. Oh! it's good-by Liza Jane.
WIZARD OIL
Earlier than 1880 patent medicine men and their wagons were traveling. Kickapoo Indian Sagwa as a spring tonic and Kickapoo Snake Oil for rheumatism and neuralgia were bespoken and proclaimed by dancing and shouting Indians. The Wizard Oil remedies had their merits sung by slick-tongued comedians with banjos. Flaring gasoline lamps lighted their faces as the throngs surged about listening to the promises made to the sick, lame, sore. Harry E. Randall of San Diego, California, heard the Wizard Oil mountebanks in Illinois in the late 1870's, and the following is a text and air communicated through Neeta Marquis of Los Angeles, California.
WIZARD OIL
Oh! I love to travel far and near throughout my native land;
I love to sell as I go 'long, and take the cash in hand.
I love to cure all in distress that happen in iny way,
And you better believe I feel quite fine when folks rush up and say:
Chorus: "I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two;
I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two."
Now, listen to what I'm going to say, and don't you think I'm jesting
When I tell you for your aches and pains that Wizard Oil's the best thing.
It's healing and it's soothing, it's refreshing and it's thriving,
The proof of which, wherever it's sold the people all are thriving.
Spoken: That's so! Wherever Wizard Oil is used, the people always thrive. I never get up to sell the second time in a town but I'm interrupted by the sweet silvery voice of a young lady or the sonorous tones of a gentleman. They rush up to me with a half-dollar in their hands and soon I hear their sweet exclamations, which sound very much like:
"I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two!
I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two!"
Once while selling 'way out West in the State of Illinois,
The people all came running up to see what made the noise.
The merchants laughed in their counting rooms, the farmers laughed a-hoeing,
Amongst the rest a Dutchman came, a-puffing and a-blowing.
Spoken: "Mein Gottin Himmel, vot a country und vot a peoples! Stab me in the back mit a double-barrelled bootjack, he's the same man I saw in Chicago last week! I buys von bottle of oil of him, I takes him home, und py dam, he's good stuff! So ...
"I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two!
I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two!"
Soon after this a lady came up, just fresh from the Em'rald Isle,
Says she, "Mister, if you will, I'll spake wid you a while!"
Says I, " Certainly, madam, don't be afraid. Let's hear what you have to say.
Are you sick, or lame, or going blind, or what's the matter, I pray?"
Spoken: "No, no, it's me husband, bad luck to the lazy divil! Divil the bit of work has he done for the past six months. He lies in bed till ten in the mornin', and I think your oil a profitable quality to pull the lazy divil out of bed. So ...
"I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two!
I'll take another bottle of Wizard Oil,
I'll take another bottle or two! "