Hamboning (was: prissy, 1842 (?))

[Wilson Gray]

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

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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
>

"Up to yo' house and gone again," dInIs.

What you've described sounds like the very TV show that I was referring
to. On one of the episodes, Busey hamboned. Unfortunately or, maybe,
fortunately, only the hamboning caught my attention. It was the first
time that I'd seen a non-black person do the hambone and the first time
that I'd seen the hambone done by anyone on national TV since the
"Hambone Kids," back in the very early '50's. One of the Kids grew up
to be Dee Clark, popular in R&B circles in the late '50's and early
'60's.

There's another hambone chant that I've heard only in St. Louis. 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 lines]

This is all that I can remember of it, quite understandably, given that
I haven't heard it since about 1945. You may notice that the last line
before "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.

-Wilson

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