Jamaican folk song "Come To See Janie"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part IV of a four part series that presents examples of and source songs/rhymes for the African American children's rhyme "Aunt Jenny Died" (or alternative titles).

This post presents a text example of the song "Come To See Janie".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/aunt-jenny-died-childrens-playground.html for Part I of this post.
Part I presents examples of & information about the African American American playground rhyme "Aunt Jenny Died" (or variant titles).

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/jenny-jones-and-other-related-folk-songs.html for Part II of this series. Part II of this series provides examples of the song "Jenny Jones" and versions of that folk song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/jenny-jenkins-folk-song-with-lyrics.html for Part III of this series.
Part III provides information & examples of the song "Jenny Jenkins".

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric, recreational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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PART IV:
Editor's note:
It's my position that the Jamaican folk song song "Come To See Janie" is a variant form of the song "Jenny Jones" and might have been the direct source of the African American "Aunt Jenny Died" playground rhyme.

"Come To See Janie" is like "Jenny Jones" in that the lyrics are about a suitor who comes to the woman's house, is told that the woman can't see him because she's engaged in some household activity, and is eventually told that the woman is dead. Also, like "Jenny Jones", "Come To See Janie" includes rhyming verses about the woman wearing a dress of one color after another. However, besides the fact "Janie" is a variant form of the female name "Jennie" ("Jenny"), the only similarity that the Jamaican song "Come To See Janie" has to the African American rhyme "Aunt Jenny Died" is that the central woman character dies in both of those compositions.

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LYRCS: COME TO SEE JANIE
I come to see Janie (3 times)
An' where is she now?
2
She's washing her clothes (3 times)
You can't see her now.
3
Goodbye (6 times)
I'll call back again.
4
I come to see Janie, etc.
5
She's hanging out her clothes (3 times)
You can't see her now.
6
Goodbye, etc.
7
I come to see Janie, etc.
8
She is ironing her clothes (3 times)
You can't see her now.
9
Goodbye, etc.
10
I come to see Janie, etc.
11
She's sick, (6 times)
You can't see her now.
12
Goodbye, etc.
13
I come to see Janie, etc.
14
She's gone to the doctor (3 times)
You can't see her now.
15
Goodbye, etc.
16
I come to see Janie, etc.
17
She's dead (6 times)
An' cannot be seen.
18
What shall we bury her in, what shall we bury her in?
What shall we bury her in? Bury her in green.
19
Green is for the lizards (3 times)
An' that will not do.
20
What shall we bury her in? (3 times)
Bury her in black.
21
Black is for the mourners, (3 times)
An' that will not do.
22
What shall we bury her in? (3 times)
Bury her in white.
23
White is for the duppies (3 times)
An' here is she now.

"Jane is hidden behind one player and six or eight other players stand some distance away. As they sing," I come to see Janie, and where is she now" they all approach walking abreast. The player behind whom Janie hides replies and they reverse to their former position, singing goodbye excepting at the last verse "White is for the duppies" when Janie comes out of hiding and chases them. The person who is caught is beaten and then becomes Janie."

p. 50, with musical score.
Olive Lewin, Coll., 1973, Forty Folk Songs of Jamaica, General Secretariat of the Organization of American States, Washington, D.C.
-snip-
Hat tip to Q for posting these lyrics and notes in this Mudcat discussion thread: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=40845 "jamaican folk music"
-snip-
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duppy
"Duppy" is a Jamaican Patois word of Northwest African origin meaning ghost or spirit".

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This completes Part IV of this series.

Thanks to all those who I have quoted in this post.

Visitor comments are welcome.