Hamboning (was prissy, 1842 (?))

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 23, 2004, at 8:39 AM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: prissy, 1842 (?)
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>
> I'd think Busey would be up to this challenge. Wasn't they some
> god-awful TV mini-series in which a wimpy guy followed Busey around,
> with Busey abusing him as he (Busey) did "manly" things and the wimp
> whined and suffered? I'd turn the tables on that fore you could say
> "Hambone, hambone where you been?"
>
> dInIs
>

There's another hambone chant that I've heard only in St. Louis. It's
what I can remember of the chant that my long-time friend, Billy the
Hamboner, used. It goes:

I went down the road.
I met my brothuh
By and by.
I aksed my brothuh
For a dolluh an' a half.
He come talkin'
'Bout the cow an' the calf.
I went down the road
A little piece mo'.
I saw ol' Hambone
At de do'.
Hambone, Hambone,
Where you been?
[Forgotten line(s) re being invited in]
I went upstairs
To git some gin.
Fell in a pisspot
Up to my chin.
Could not swim.
Had to float.
A big brown turd
Went down my throat.
Hambone.
[Many more forgotten lines]

This is all that I can remember of it, quite understandably so, since
I haven't heard it since about 1945. You may notice that the last line
before "Hambone, Hambone" has "de" instead of "the." The reason is
that, in
the recitation, the article is clearly enunciated as [di]. Elsewhere,
"the" is sounded as [th@] or, perhaps, [d@]. The performance opens with
a spate of hamboning and each line is separated from the following line
by a spate of hamboning.

There's also Bo Diddley's version. As you've probably already noticed,
all that you have to do is to replace "Bo Diddley"  wherever it occurs
in Mr. Diddley's (love that NYT!) version with "Hambone" and you end up
with a hambone chant.

-Wilson