How surprising to see people debate this. "Sugaree, Sugaree" in both black and white versions always refers to a person.
Shake can be shooting dice, but it is also a dance, the shimmy-shake, shake your totelo, shake it from the hips on down, shake, baby, shake. Shake is not dejected or poor. The meaning of shaking followed by pawning is, "We had a good time, but the money has run out."
Then, imagine my surprise when someone in this thread referred to a "brown pea shell" -- and no one responded with a correction! In case there is any doubt (and i can hardly believe there is) it's a ground pea shell. How do i know? Because i asked Elizabeth Cotton when she was in Berkeley, and she told me so. I didn't bother to ask what sugaree meant -- i already knew that, from the Marty Robbins song.
I see the ground pea shell as a little boat to carry a sleepy child into the sky, like Wynken, Blynken, and Nod. But at the same time i see the economic oppression of the goober farmers. It was a hard life, and poorly recompensed.
Ah, the lyrics game ... fun for all.
