Rolla Trudum- William Lassiter
[Lassiter's version (circa 1865) pre-dates other versions including Horton Barker's "Rolly Trudum" which Barker learned in Nashville, TN probably in the late 1890s. The first collected version was 1909, Belden, p. 266, "Mother and Daughter." The song appears in Burl Ives' "Sing Along Songbook" as "Lolly Tu Dum" and in "Folk Song: U.S.A., The 111 Best American Ballads", c1947 by John A. and Alan Lomax, as "Lolly-Too-Dum."
It's related to and probably derived from "I Must and Will Get Married," also known as "The Fit is on me Now," and in the British Isles, "The Humor Is On Me Now."
R. Matteson 2014]
ROLLA TRUDUM
1. As I walked out one morning to take the morning air,
Rolla trudum, trudum, tru rolla day!
As I walked out one morning to take the morning air,
I heard a mother talking to her daughter fair
Rolla trudum, trudum, tru rolla day!
2. "Hush your silly talking and hold your rattling tongue,
You say you're going to marry; you know you are too young."
3. "Pity my condition mother, by your own
Sixteen years and better you've lived yourself alone?"
4. "Now my daughter's married and what shall I do
Ha, ha, my jolly boys, I believe I'll marry too."
5 . Merchants , lawyers , doctors , and some are for the plow,
Mother she got married and both are happy now.
The repetition of the first line of each verse, and the "Rolla trudum," etc are the same for each stanza, of course. This song was sung by W.H.C. Lassiter, father of Mrs. L.L. McDowell. He learned it in his youth, about the time of the War between The States.