The following is only a snatch, but it is enough to show that the economic factor was not yet predominant. In it we still see traces of the Bible’s influence:
O Lord, sinner, you got to die,
It may be to-day or to-morrow.
You can’t tell the minute or the hour,
But, sinner, you’ve got to die.
Refrain.
We now come to songs originated by the present generation of negroes. They all deal with work and love. The following might be entitled:
THE SONG OF THE FORTUNATE ONE.
The reason why I don’t work so hard,
I got a gal in the white folks’ yard;
And every night about half past eight,
I steps in through the white man’s gate;
And she brings the butter, and the bread, and the lard;
That’s the reason why I don’t work so hard.
The next I have termed the “Skinner’s Song.” Skinner is the vernacular for teamster. The negro seldom carries a watch, but still uses the sun as a chronometer; a watch perhaps would be too suggestive of regularity. Picture to yourself several negroes working on a levee as teamsters. About five o’clock you would hear this:
I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt high;
I lookt at the Cap’n and he wunk his eye;
And he wunk his eye, and he wunk his eye,
I lookt at the Cap’n and he wunk his eye.
I lookt at the sun and the sun lookt red;
I lookt at the Cap’n and he turned his head;
And he turned his head, and he turned his head,
I lookt at the Cap’n and he turned his head.
The negro occasionally practices introspection. When he does, you are likely to hear something like this:
White folks are all time bragging,
Lord, Lord, Lord,
’Bout a nigger ain’t nothing but waggin,
Lord, Lord, Lord.
Or,