“Skinner's Song”
Description
"I looked at de sun and de sun looked high, I looked at de captain and he wunk his eye, And he wunk his eye, and he wunk his eye, I looked at de captain and he wunk his eye." "I looked at de sun and de sun looked red... de captain... he turned his head."
Notes
A skinner is a teamster. Scarborough explains that "The Negro is not eager to work overtime." Understandable, since he certainly wouldn't get paid for it!
Scarborough's fragment doesn't look quite like anything else I've seen, but it feels as if it's derived from "On the Road Again," or something in the "Joseph Mikel" family. One of those railroad/rambler songs, anyway. - RBW
Cross references
- cf. "On the Road Again" (form)
References
- Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 230, "Skinner's Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
- BI, ScaNF230