Play-Party Songs in Western Maryland by Florence Warnick
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 54, No. 213/214 (Jul. - Dec., 1941), pp. 162-166
PLAY-PARTY SONGS IN WESTERN MARYLAND
By FLORENCEW ARNICK; 2115 Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. Washington, D. C.
The play-party songs given below were used in Garrett Co., Maryland. Members of Protestant churches were not allowed to dance, but there was no bar to their playing swinging games, some of which were not very different from square dances. In the small backwoods community where the writer was reared, we often had no musical instruments, and almost everyone made an effort to sing the songs which we danced or played. All the verses that the writer and those whom she has consulted can recall are given.*
[* For parallels see B. A. Botkin, The American Play-party Song ("Univ. Nebr. Studies," XXXVII; Lincoln, Nebr., 1937); Vance Randolph, The Ozarks (New York, I93I); Leah J. Wolford, The Play-party in Indiana ("Indiana Hist. Coll.," IV; Indianapolis, 1916). These are cited by the author's names.]
1. RIVELY WHEAT For parallels see Botkin, pp. 67 (2 stanzas similar), 347-51 (8 texts, 1 similar); Randolph, pp. I48-49 (2 stanzas and chorus similar); Wolford, pp. 102-4 (1 stanza similar). Wolford includes a stanza like the first of "My Pretty Little Pink" (No. 5 below) in her version of "Weevily Wheat." The American title is usually "Weevily Wheat." Botkin discusses Jacobite allusions in the texts.
It's over the river to feed my sheep,
It's over the river to Charley's,
It's over the river to feed my sheep
And measure up some barley.
CHORUS: Oh Charley, he's a fine young man,
Oh Charley, he's a dandy,
Oh Charley likes to swing the girls
Because they are so handy.
I don't want none of your rively wheat,
I don't want none of your barley;
All I want is the best of wheat
To bake a cake for Charley.
Come all of ye who trip together
So early in the morning;
Go sporting as ye cannot see
It's you I love so dearly.
2. JIMINY CRANKY For parallels see Botkin, pp. 68, 69, 225 (slight resemblances); Wolford, p. 6I
(vague similarity). Jiminy Cranky is a corruption of Killiecrankie, which like the preceding is a Jacobite air.
Jiminy cranky, this is my song,
Sing it and dance it all day long;
From my heel unto my toe,
Jiminy cranky here we go.
If you had been where I have been,
If you had seen what I have seen,
Four and twenty years ago;
Jiminy cranky here we go.
3. THE DUSTY MILLER Botkin, pp. 47, 250, calls this "The Miller Boy," an accretionary dance song, and traces it back to the seventeenth century. See also Randolph, p. I45; Wolford, pp. 67-68. "Dusty Miller," an old song improved by Robert Burns, has no relation to this dance song.
There was an old man who lived by the mill,
The wheel goes around with a free good will,
One hand on the hopper, the other on a sack.
The ladies go forward, but the gents turn back.
4. THE ICE WAS THIN For parallels see Botkin, pp. 65, 331-32; Wolford, p. 88. Botkin gives a very different version which mentions skating rinks. He traces it back to a nursery rhyme entitled "Three Old Maids."
Four young ladies asliding went,
Asliding went, asliding went.
Four young ladies asliding went
All on a summer's day.
The ice was thin, and some fell in,
And some fell in, and some fell in.
The ice was thin, and some fell in,
And the rest did run away.
Four young gents asliding went, etc.
5. MY PRETTY LITTLE PINK For parallels see Botkin, pp. 296-97 (minor variations); Randolph, p. I47, "Old Quebec." The final stanza, which is lacking in Randolph's Ozark version, leads an independent existence; see, e.g., Randolph, p. I55; Botkin, pp. 88, 122, I30, I64, 167, I68, I69, 230; Wolford, p. 33. It also attaches itself to various play-party songs.
My pretty little pink, I once did think
That you and I would marry,
But now I've lost all hopes of you
And I can no longer tarry.
I'll take my knapsack on my back
And my rifle on my shoulder,
And away I'll go to Mexico
To be a Union soldier.
Where money grows on white oak trees
And rivers flow with brandy
And the hills are covered with gingerbread
And the girls are sweet as candy.
6. SKIP TO MY LOU The foregoing rests on a fragmentary recollection. For parallels see Randolph, p. I42; Botkin, pp. 75-80 (parallels to first and third stanzas); Wolford, p. 89 (third stanza).
Pretty as a redbird, prettier, too (3 times).
Skip to my Lou, my darling.
My wife's gone an' I'll take you.
Chicken in the haymow, shoo, shoo, shoo.
If I can't get a white one, a black one will do.
7. OLD DAN TUCKER For parallels see Paul G. Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana ("Indiana Folklore Series," I; Bloomington, Indiana, I940), pp. 340-41 (four versions from Indiana; references to I5 versions in print); Wolford, pp. 78-79 (three versions, one quite distinct); Botkin, pp. II9, 262, 263; Randolph, pp. 149-151.
Old Dan Tucker went to town,
Saluting ladies all around,
First to the right
And then to the left
And then to the one you love best.
Get out of the way for old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to get your supper.
Old Dan Tucker was a fine old soul,
Lived nine days in a tater hole.
8. POP GOES THE WEASEL For parallels see Botkin, p. 93 (widely varying); Wolford, pp. 82-84 (three types of versions). Bartlett (Familiar Quotations11, 1937, p. 510) cites an English popular song of I852-53 which refers to a music-hall where drinks were sold; he explains "weasel" as a tool used by hatters and "pop" as "pawn."
It's all around the chicken house
The monkey chased the weasel,
And that's the way the money goes,
Pop goes the weasel.
9. GO IN AND OUT THE WINDOW For parallels see Wolford, pp. 47-48.
Go in and out the window (3 times)
See how we've gained the day.
Go forth and face your lover.
I kneel because I love you.
I measure my love to show you.
One kiss and that's to prove it.
10. NEEDLE'S EYE For parallels see Wolford, pp. 72-73 (four versions which vary widely from the following.)
Needle's eye as we pass by,
The threads that run so truly,
And many a lass that I have passed
Because I wanted you.
You, you, you,
Because I wanted you.
They bow so neat,
They kiss so sweet,
We do intend before we end
To have this couple meet.
11. COME, MY LITTLE ROVING SAILOR
Come, my little roving sailor,
Come, my little roving bee,
Come, my little roving sailor,
Won't you ring around with me?
Won't you be right and left with me?
Won't you change partners with me?
Won't you promenade with me?
12. SWEET POTATOES
Sweet potatoes in the pot,
Take them out and eat them hot,
Take them out before they burn,
Kiss her quick and then return.