coony

[Joel S. Berson]

Mark, sounds like a cunning raccoon to me -- making the 'possum do
all the work!  For example, the chorus (spoken by the 'coon?) may be

"Th[r]ow them 'simmons down, possum, thow them 'simmons
down...sweetest sound I ever heard...thow them' simmons down."

OTOH, just how badly does the 'coon end up?

BTW, "'possum up a 'simmon tree" sounds familiar to me too -- one of
the '50's folk singers?   Banjo -- Pete Seeger?

Joel

At 2/4/2010 10:42 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:

>OTOH...
>
>Possum up a simmon tree
>Raccoon on the ground.
>Raccoon says, "Mister Possum,
>Won't you shake some simmons down?"
>
>(CHO:)
>Unca Reuben got a coon, dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick),
>dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick), dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick),
>Unca Reuben got a coon, dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick),
>And left me here behind.
>
>(That is, "dang-gonnit" and a voiceless repeated mouth sound that really
>doesn't have any vowels.)
>
>Here the raccoon doesn't seem more skillful at all, and ends badly.
>
>I learned the song off a record (LP? 78?) as a kid in the 50s. I may be able
>to track it down if anyone cares.
>
>m a m
>
>On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 8:40 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
>wrote:
> >
> > Raccoons are reputed to be very clever.  A folksong as old as 1822 begins
> >
> > Opossum up a Gum Tree
> > Tinkey none can follow;
> > Him damn quite mistaken,
> > Racoon in de hollow.
> > Opossum him creep softly,
> > Racoon him lay mum,
> > Pull him by de long tail,
> > Down opossum come.
> > Jinkum, jankum, beaugash,
> > Twist'em, twin'em, run:
> > Oh de poor opossum,
> > Oh de sly racoon
> >
> > GAT
> >
> > George A. Thompson
> > Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org