Negro Folk Rhymes (1922) ("lemonade" rhyme)

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Big Bill Broonzy, Black, Brown And White

This little song that I'm singin' about,
People, you all know that it's true,
If you're black and gotta work for livin',
Now, this is what they will say to you,
They says: If you was white,
You's alright,
If you was brown,
Stick around,
But if you's black, oh, brother,
Get back, get back, get back.
I was in a place one night,
They was all havin' fun,
They was all buyin' beer and wine,
But they would not sell me none.
They said: If you was white,
You's alright,
If you was brown,
You could stick around,
But as you's black, hmm, hmm, brother,
Get back, get back, get back.
I went to an employment office,
I got a number, I got in line,
They called everybody's number,
But they never did call mine.
They said: If you was white,
You's alright,
If you was brown,
You could stick around,
But as you's black, hmm, hmm, brother,
Get back, get back, get back.
Me and a man was workin' side by side,
Now, this is what it meant:
They was payin' him a dollar an hour,
And they was payin' me fifty cent.
They said: If you was white,
You'd be alright,
If you was brown,
You could stick around,
But as you's black, oh, brother,
Get back, get back, get back.
I helped win sweet victories,
With my plow and hoe,
Now, I want you to tell me, brother,
What you gonna do 'bout the old Jim Crow?
Now, if you is white,
You's alright,
If you's brown,
Stick around,
But if you's black,
Hmm, hmm, brother,
Get back, get back, get back.


G7) Me and my wife went all over town
And everywhere we went people turned us down
Lord, in a (C7) bourgeois town
It?s a (G) bourgeois town
I got the (D7) bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all a- (G) round

Home of the brave, land of the free
I don?t wanna be mistreated by no bourgeoisie
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, me and my wife we were standing upstairs
We heard the white man say ?I don?t want no niggers up there?
Lord, in a bourgeois town
Uhm, bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

Well, them white folks in Washington they know how
To call a colored man a nigger just to see him bow
Lord, it?s a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

I tell all the colored folks to listen to me
Don't try to find you no home in Washington, DC
?Cause it?s a bourgeois town
Uhm, the bourgeois town
I got the bourgeois blues
Gonna spread the news all around

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilson Gray" <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 4:15 PM
Subject: Re: Negro Folk Rhymes (1922) ("lemonade" rhyme)


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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Negro Folk Rhymes (1922) ("lemonade" rhyme)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mar 31, 2005, at 12:38 AM, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       bapopik at AOL.COM
>> Subject:      Negro Folk Rhymes (1922) ("lemonade" rhyme)
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --------
>>
>> NEGRO FOLK RHYMES
>> Wise and Otherwise
>> with a study
>> by Thomas W. Talley
>> New York: The MacMillan COmpany
>> 1922
>>
>> Pg. 10:
>> STAND BACK< BLACK MAN
>> Oh!
>> STAN' back, black man,
>> You cain't shine;
>> Yo' lips is too thick,
>> An' you hain't my kin'.
>>
>> Pg. 63:
>> DON'T ASK ME QUESTIONS
>> DON'T ax me no questions,
>> An' I won't tell you no lies;
>> But bring me dem apples,
>> An' I'll make you some pies.
>>
>> Pg. 113:
>> DOES MONEY TALK?
>> DEM whitefolks say sat money talk.
>> If it tak lak dey tell,
>> Den ev'ry time it come to Sam,
>> It up an' say: "Farewell!"
>>
>> Pg. 114:
>> I'LL EAT WHEN I'M HUNGRY
>> I'LL eat when I's hungry
>> An' I'll drink when I'se dry;
>> An' if de whitefolks don't kill me,
>> I'll live till I die.
>>
>> In my liddle log cabin,
>> Ever since I'se been born;
>> Dere hain't been no nothin'
>> 'Cept dat hard salt parch corn.
>>
>> But I knows what's a henhouse,
>> An' de tucky he charve;
>> An' if ole Mosser don't kill me,
>> I cain't never starve.
>>
>> Pg. 153:
>> HERE I STAND
>> HERE I stan', raggity an' dirty;
>> If you don't come kiss me, I'll run lak a tucky.
>>
>> Here I stan' on two liddle chips,
>> Pray, come kiss my sweet liddle lips.
>>
>> Here I stan' crooked lak a horn;
>> I hain't had no kiss since I'se been born.
>>
>> Pg. 159:
>> ASPIRATION
>> IF I wus de President
>> Of dese United States,
>> I'd eat good 'lasses candy,
>> An' swing on all de gates.
>>
>> Pg. 163:
>> THE END OF TEN LITTLE NEGROES
>> TEN liddle Niggers, a-eatin', fat an' fine;
>> One choke hisse'f an' date lef' nine...
>>
>> Pg. 171:
>> DEEDLE, DUMPLING
>> DEEDLE, deedle, dumplin'! My boy, Pete!
>> He went to bed wid his dirty feet.
>> Mammy laid a switch down on dat sheet!
>> Deedle, deedle, dumplin'! My boy, Pete!
>>
>
> Diddle, diddle, dumpling
> My son John
> He went to bed with his stockings on
> Diddle, diddle, dumpiing
> My son John
>
>> Pg. 186:
>> DON'T SING BEFORE BREAKFAST
>> DON'T sing out 'fore Breakfast,
>> Don't sing 'fore you eat,
>> Or you'll cry out 'fore midnight,
>> You'll cry 'fore you sleep.
>>
>> Pg. 207:
>> LEARN TO COUNT
>> NAUGHT'S a naught,
>> Five's a figger.
>> All fer de white man.
>> None fer de Nigger.
>>
>> Ten's a ten,
>> But it's mighty funny;
>> When you cain't count good,
>> You hain't got no money.
>>
>> Pg. 209:
>> INDEPENDENCE
>> I'se jes as innnerpenunt as a pig on ice.
>
> Didn't someone once publish a book with the title, "A Hog On Ice"? I've
> never heard either version used in real life.
>
>> Gwineter git up ag'in if I slips down twice.
>> If I cain't git up, I can jes lie down.
>> I don't want no Niggers to be he'pin' me 'roun'.
>>
>> Pg. 211:
>> DRINKING RAZOR SOUP
>> HE'S been drinkin' razzer soup;
>
> I once heard someone telling a "preacher" joke say, "Neebuck took a
> [raz@] an' stahted slewin' them Jews." At the time, I thought he had
> simply made up that pronunciation of "razor" to make the joke funnier.
> Now, I guess that "razzer/rozzer" or something like them are/were
> actually used, like "stab/stob," etc.
>
>> Dat sharp Nigger, black lak ink.
>> If he don't watch dat tongue o' his,
>> Somebody'll hurt 'im 'for' he think.
>>
>> He cain't drive de pigeons t' roost,
>> Dough he talk so big an' smart.
>> Hain't got de sense to tole 'em in.
>> Cain't more an' drive dat ole mule chyart.
>>
>> Pg. 244:
>> "Here's yo' col' ice lemonade,
>> It's made in de shade,
>> It's stirred wid a spade.
>> Come buy my col' ice lemonade.
>> It's made in de shade
>> An sol' in de sun.
>> Ef you hain't got no money,
>> You cain't git none.
>> One glass fer a nickel,
>> An' two fer a dime,
>> Ef you hain't got de chink,
>> You cain't git mine.
>> Come right way,
>> Fer it sho' will pay
>> To git candy fer de ladies
>> An' cakes fer de babies."
>>