“Do, Do, Pity My Case”

Description

"Do, do pity my case, In some lady's garden, My clothes to wash when I get home, In some lady's garden." Repeat with substitutions in the third line: "My clothes to iron when I get home," "My floors to scrub," "My bread to bake," etc.

Supplemental text

Do, Do, Pity My Case
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

From W. W. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, item
#24, p. 87. From Louisiana. Reproduced on p. 805 of B. A. Botkin,
American Folklore.

Do, do pity my case,
  In some lady's garden,
My clothes to wash when I get home,
  In some lady's garden.

Do, do pity my case,
  In some lady's garden,
My clothes to iron when I get home,
  In some lady's garden.

"And so on, the performers lamenting the duty which lies upon
them of scrubbing their floors, baking their bread, etc."

Notes

There is a whole complex of "In Some Lady's Garden" songs (see the cross-references), many if not most surely related. And many of them seem to be one-shots. Roud lumps some of them and ignores others. But they're different enough that I've split them. This one appears to be by far the most popular. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Ransum Scansum" (lyrics)
• cf. "The Closet Key" (lyrics)
• cf. "In Some Lady's Garden (I)" (lyrics)
• cf. "In Some Lady's Garden (II)" (lyrics)

References

1. Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 805, "Do, Do Pity My Case" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. ST BAF805 (Full)
3. Roud #11590
4. BI, BAF805