Topic: This sounds familiar...

[Bunker Hill]

I was paging through Dorothy Scarborough's 1925 "On The Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs" searching for something (no index!) when I lighted upon the following on pages 274-275. Mrs Bartlett was from Marlin, Texas and she gave her husband's old clothes to local male Negroes if they taught her songs. These she wrote down as they were sung and sent to Scarborough over a ten year period prior to publication of the book:

Mrs. Bartlett says of the next: "You will brand me as a shameless woman when you read this. I write it without a blush, however, and say that I have read as bad or worse in classic verse and fiction."

Late last night
When the moon shone bright,
Felt dizzy about my head.
Rapped on my door,
Heard my baby roar,
"Honey, I'se gone to bed!"
"Get up and let me in,
'Case you know it is a sin.
Honey, you haven't treated me right:
I paid your big house-rent
When you didn't have a cent."
"Got to hunt a new home to-night!"

Chorus
"Baby, if you 'low me
One more chance!
I've always treated you right.
Baby, if you 'low me
One more chance!
I'm goin' to stay with you to-night!
Baby, if you 'low me
One more chance,
I'll take you to a ball in France.
One kind favor I ask of you,
'Low me one more chance!"

Then this coon begin to grin,
Hand in his pocket,
Pulls out a ten.
Then her eyes begin to dance,
"Baby I'll 'low you
One more chance!"

My contributor adds, "Now that I have written it out, I am aware that there is a wide discrepancy between the first and second stanzas.

Surely it wasn't so much worse that Dr. Shaw blushed and faltered. I cannot account for the missing lines"

[uncle bud]

she gave her husband's old clothes to local male Negroes if they taught her songs.

!!!

Great to see the song in another source. I'm including the link to the "Honey Just Allow Me..." thread here. Thanks for this.

[Bunker Hill]

Apologies, it didn't occur to me to perform a search to ascertain whether or not this song had been the subject of discussion previously. Silly me I've hung around here long enough to have known better!

I've just now looked at the McCormick transcription in the booklet accompanying the 1974 Herwin double album and at the end of that he refers readers to the item in Scarborough.

Speaking of such matters, the sleeve of the 1961 Henry Thomas Origin LP bears the legend "Lyrics, background will appear in the 1962 OJL Blues Annual". Anybody know if this "annual" ever materialized or if Origin produced a booklet for later repressings containing such?

[uncle bud]

Not a problem - I only remembered it because I started the thread off another Henry Thomas lyric thread. I'm amazed I remembered it myself!

That OJL annual sounds intriguing.