Two Camp Songs
by Jane Bagby
Hoosier Folklore, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1948), pp. 126-127
TWO CAMP SONGS
By Jane Bagby
(Editor's note: Miss Bagby, a high school junior, sent the following two songs in foridentification. Asked to provide some description of the songs to aid in the identification, she supplied the accompanying notes. Hoosier Folklore's expert in songs and ballads could do no more with the songs than go along with the guess that the first sounds somewhat calypso and the second somewhat like a minstrel or game song.)
1. I Don't Want Your Greenback Dollar
I don't want your greenback dollar;
I don't want your watch and chain;
All I want's your loving, baby.
Won't you take me back again ?
I don't want your greenback dollar;
I don't want your watch and chain;
All I want's your fifty-two twenty
To blow out your dirty brain.
This song is really a conversation with its verses, of which there are many, telling the whole story. Perhaps someone can supply other verses. I've never seen any of them in print. I heard this song on a ranch forty miles south of Rawlins,
Wyoming. At first I thought it was from Virginia ; for it was sung by two Virginia boys with their guitar. Later I heard
it sung by a native of Wyoming, who knew more verses and an extra chorus. It was sung with a Western slur?"wan-n-nt"?to a repetitive tune built about a few notes, tempo fast or slow, and with harmony that was close, painful, and effective.
(Can anyone explain the fifty-two twenty, a very unusual gauge for a gun?)
2. She's a One-Black, Two-Black
She's a one-black, two-black,
Honest to goodness shoe-black,
Chocolate to the bone.
And when you see my gal
Walkin' down the street,
You better leave my gal alone.
She's got eyes like Jezebel,
Teeth like a pearl,
Good Gosh a'mighty,
She's a gift to this world!
She's a one-black, two-black,
Honest to goodness shoe-black,
Chocolate to the bone.
(You'd better leave her alone !)
This is another song I heard at the same time and place, summer of 1947 and Wyoming. The same two Virginian boys
sang it and prompted us until we had learned the words. I have no idea of the origin of the song. The rhythm is synco
pated and delayed, giving the effect of clapping the hands or tapping the feet.
Hammond, Indiana