“I Don't Love Nobody”

Description

"I love a nobody, nobody loves me, Ain't gonna get married, Live single and free, They're after my money, ain't after me, I love a nobody, nobody love me."

Notes

Paul Stamler points out that this was a "popular string ragtime song in the 1920s," but I don't know whether that is the immediate source of Randolph's version, which was collected around that time.

Cohen speculates that this is derived from Lew Sully's 1899 song "I Don't Love Nobody," while admitting that that in turn may have been a reworking of something else. - RBW

And the date on the George Gaskin recording suggests it may have been. The chorus is often all that remains of the original, which was a "coon song." - PJS

Recordings

• Elizabeth Cotten, "I Don't Love Nobody" (on Cotten01)
• George Gaskin, "I Don't Love Nobody" (Berliner 928Z/0928Z, 1896)
• Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers "I Don't Love Nobody" (OKeh 45101, 1927)
• Walter Morris, "Crazy Coon" (Columbia 15079-D, 1926)
• Poplin Family, "I Don't Want to Get Married" (on Poplin01)
• Riley Puckett "I Don't Love Nobody" (Columbia 150-D, 1924)
• Hoke Rice & his Gang, "I Don't Love Nobody" (Brunswick 482, 1930)
• Doc Roberts "I Don't Love Nobody" (Perfect 12929/Conqueror 8239, 1933)
• Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers "I Don't Love Nobody" (Columbia 15123-D, 1927; rec. 1926)

References

1. Randolph 782, "I Love a Nobody" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
2. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 384-385, "I Love a Nobody" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 782)
3. Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 229, (no title) (1 fragment, possibly of this)
4. Roud #7414
5. BI, R782