“Don't Get Weary Children (Massa Had a Yellow Gal)”
Description
"Massa had a yellow gal, He brought her from the south, Her hair it curled so very tight She couldn't shut her mouth." "He took her to a tailor" to repair her defect; "She swallowed up the tailor." Now he uses her nose "to hang his hat and coat."
Supplemental text
Don't Get Weary Children (Massa Had a Yellow Gal)
Complete text(s)
*** A ***
Don't Get Weary Children
As recorded by Uncle Dave Macon, August 15, 1934. Transcribed, with some
difficulty and probable inaccuracies, by Robert B. Waltz.
Nashville's was a big hotel,
Chattanooga's was a loon, [??]
Knoxville's full of Republicans,
And Memphis loves the tune. [??]
Chorus
Don't get weary,
Don't get weary, children.
Don't get weary,
I'm coming from the ball.
Wish I had a sugar rum,
Sugar by the pound,
Great big hole to stir it in,
Pretty girl hand it 'round.
Big bee sucks the blossom,
Little bee makes the honey;
Poor man makes the cotton and corn,
Rich man makes the money.
Massa had a yellow gal,
He brought her from the south,
Hair's so curly on her head
She could not shut her mouth.
People on the corner,
Watching us go by,
Could not see us very long,
So far we could fly.
*** B ***
(No title)
Reprinted in Darling, The New American Songster, p. 355; originally
from p. 382 of White, Negro Folk Songs.
The old bee makes the honey-comb,
The young bee makes the honey;
Colored folks plant the cotton and corn,
And the white folks get the money.
*** C ***
Massa Had a Yaller Gal
From B. A. Botkin, A Treasury of American Folklore, pp. 903-904.
From p. 68 of Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs
Massa had a yaller gal,
He brought her from de South;
Her hair it curled so very tight
She couldn't shut her mouth.
Chorus:
Oh, I ain't got time to tarry,
Oh, I ain't got time to tarry,
Oh, I ain't got time to tarry, boys,
For I'se gwine away.
He took her to de tailor,
To have her mouth made small.
She swallowed up the tailor,
Tailorshop and all.
Massa had no hooks nor nails
Nor anything like that;
So on this darky's nose he used
To hang his coat and hat.
Notes
The version printed in Botkin has almost a ballad flavor; it is the exaggerated story of how a master dealt with a physically unusual slave. Dave Macon has a fuller version, "Don't Get Weary Children." The latter has a much larger set of verses, and might be a separate song -- but who knows how much of it comes from Uncle Dave's imagination?
The texts in Brown don't help much, either; two are fragments and the third a collection of floating verses. Scarborough's several versions also show much diversity. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb10148a: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Cross references
- cf. "Old Bee Makes the Honey Comb" (floating verses)
- cf. "Letter from Down the Road" (lyrics)
Broadsides
- LOCSinging, sb10148a, "Gal From the South," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
Recordings
- Uncle Dave Macon [w. McGee Bros.], "Don't Get Weary Children" (Decca 5369, 1937; Montgomery Ward 8029, 1939)
- Kirk & Sam McGee, "Coming from the Ball" (on McGeeSmith1)
References
- Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 903-904, "Massa Had a Yellow Gal" (1 text, 1 tune)
- BrownIII 406, "Massa Had a Yaller Gal" (1 text plus 2 fragments; the one full text consists mostly of floating verses); also 405, "Dearest Mae" (the "C" excerpt contains the first verse of this song)
- Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 66-68, "Ole Mars'r Had a Yaller Gal," "Ol' Mars'r Had a Pretty Yaller Gal," "Massa Had a Yaller Gal" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune); also p. 110, "Dar Was a Gal in our Town" (1 short text, with the "don't get weary" chorus though Scarborough links it with "Old Virginny Never Tire")
- Creighton-NovaScotia 112, "Coloured Girl from the South" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Darling-NAS, p. 355, [no title] (1 text)
- cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "Massa Had a Yaller Gal" (source notes only)
- ST BAF904 (Full)
- Roud #11744
- BI, BAF904