Mark Weems, Oct. 8, 2013
Old Joe Sweeny's big hit of 1842 and one of the most popular of all Minstrel Stage numbers.
This version of "Miss Lucy Long" doesn't include "the n word". Read #1 in the Mudcat Discussion Thread excerpt below for most of the lyrics that are sung (In this song the line is "She can dance the Juba" instead of "She can dance Cachucha".
Notice that Mark Weems is playing a gourd banjo. This is like the banjo that originated in West Africa and were reproduced from memories by enslaved Africans in the Caribbean, the United States, and South America.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of the minstrel song "Miss Lucy Long" and presents information and comments about that song. Lyrics from some versions of "Miss Lucy Long" are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the Mark Weems for his video of that song.
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WARNING - The song "Miss Lucy Long" includes the derogatory referent that is commonly now known as "the n word". Consequently, articles and comments about that song also usually include "the n word".
Pancocojams blog uses amended spelling for "the n word". That spelling is indicated by a dash within that word and and asterisk immediately after that word.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/miss-lucy-had-baby-text-examples-videos.html for Part III of a three part pancocojams series on the playground rhyme which is called "Miss Lucy Had A Baby" and other similar titles. That post showcases various text examples of "Miss Lucy Had A Baby". That post also showcases two videos of this rhyme. Comments about the early source of these rhymes and the possible dates for the origin of these rhymes are also included in this post.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/wikepedias-article-about-miss-lucy-had.htmlfor Part I of this series. In that post I critique the Wikipedia article about "Miss Lucy Had A Baby".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/who-was-lady-in-alligator-purse.html for Part II of this series. In Part II I present five theories about the role played by the lady with the alligator purse in "Miss Lucy Had A Baby" rhymes. Comments from two Mudcat Cafe discussion threads about this rhyme are reposted to present these theories.
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ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT THE SONG "MISS LUCY LONG"
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Lucy_Long
" "Miss Lucy Long", also known as "Lucy Long" as well as by other variants, is an American song that was popularized in the blackface minstrel show.
After its introduction to the stage by the Virginia Minstrels in 1843, "Miss Lucy Long" was adopted by rival troupes. George Christy's cross-dressed interpretation standardized the portrayal of the title character and made the song a hit in the United States. "Miss Lucy Long" became the standard closing number for the minstrel show, where it was regularly expanded into a comic skit complete with dialogue.
Versions were printed in more songsters and performed in more minstrel shows than any other popular song in the antebellum period.
In blackface minstrelsy, the name Lucy came to signify any sexually promiscuous woman.
History
The first published edition of "Miss Lucy Long" is uncredited in an 1842 songster called Old American Songs. Billy Whitlock of the Virginia Minstrels later claimed the song in his autobiography: "I composed ... 'Miss Lucy Long' (the words by T. G. Booth) in 1838."[1]
Despite predating the minstrel show, "Miss Lucy Long" gained its fame there.[2] The song was the first wench role in minstrelsy. The Virginia Minstrels performed it as their closing number from their earliest performances. Dan Gardner introduced what would become the standard Lucy Long costume, skirts and pantalettes.[3] George Christy's interpretation for the Christy Minstrels became the standard for other troupes to follow.[4] The New York Clipper ignored Gardner completely and wrote "George [Christy] was the first to do the wench business; he was the original Lucy Long."[5]
By 1845, the song had become the standard minstrel show closing number,[6] and it remained so through the antebellum period.[7] Programs regularly ended with the note that "The concert will conclude with the Boston Favorite Extravaganza of LUCY LONG."[8] The name Lucy came to signify a woman who was "sexy, somewhat grotesque, and of suspect virtue" in minstrelsy. Similar songs appeared, including "Lucy Neal".[9] In the late 1920s, a dance called the Sally Long became popular; the name may derive from the minstrel song.[10]
Musicologist Robert B. Winans found versions of "Miss Lucy Long" in 34% of minstrel show programs he examined from the 1843–52 period and in 55% from 1843 to 1847, more than any other song.[11] Mahar's research found that "Miss Lucy Long" is the second most frequent song in popular songsters from this period, behind only "Mary Blane".[12] The song enjoyed a resurgence in popularity from 1855 to 1860, when minstrelsy entered a nostalgic phase under some companies.[13]
Lyrics
Many different "Miss Lucy Long" texts are known.[12] They all feature a male singer who describes his desire for the title character. In the style of many folk song narratives, most versions begin with the singer's introduction:[14]
[...]
For nineteenth-century audiences, the comedy of "Lucy Long" came from several different quarters. Eric Lott argues that race is paramount. The lyrics are in an exaggerated form of Black Vernacular English, and the degrading and racist depictions of Lucy—often described as having "huge feet" or "corncob teeth"—make the male singer the butt of the joke for desiring someone whom white audiences would find so unattractive.[17] However, in many variants, Lucy is desirable—tall, with good teeth and "winning eyes".[18] Musicologist William J. Mahar thus argues that, while the song does address race, its misogyny is in fact more important. "Miss Lucy Long" is a "'public expressions of male resentment toward a spouse or lover who will not be subservient, a woman's indecision, and the real or imagined constraints placed on male behaviors by law, custom, and religion."[19] The song reaffirms a man's supposed right to sexual freedom[20] and satirizes courtship and marriage.[21] Still, the fact that the minstrel on stage would desire someone the audience knew to be another man was a source of comic dramatic irony.[20]
[…]
Structure and performance
"Miss Lucy Long" is a comic banjo tune,[9] and there is little melodic variation between published versions.[12] Nevertheless, the tune is well-suited to embellishment and improvisation. The verses and refrain use almost identical music, which enabled troupes to vary the verse/chorus structure and to add play-like segments.[9] A repeated couplet binds the piece together and gives it a musical center around which these embellishments can occur.[27]
The lyrics of the comic banjo tune, are written in exaggerated African American Vernacular English and tell of the courtship or marriage of the male singer and the title character. "Miss Lucy Long" satirizes black concepts of beauty and courtship and American views of marriage in general. The song is misogynistic; the male character dominates Lucy and continues his sexually promiscuous lifestyle despite his relationship with her.
Minstrels usually performed the song as part of a sketch in which one minstrel cross dressed to play Lucy Long. The blackface players danced[9] and sang with regular interruptions of comic dialogue. The part of Lucy was probably not a speaking role and relied entirely on pantomime.[21]”…
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Excerpt #2 - SELECTED COMMENT FROM MUDCAT DISCUSSION THREAD
[Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.]
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=119975
1.
Subject: Lyr Add: Miss Lucy Long (minstrel)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Apr 09 - 04:43 PM
MISS LUCY LONG
No composer cited, 1842
1
Oh I jist come out afore you,
To sing a little song
I plays it on de banjo
And dey calls it Lucy Long.
Cho.
Oh! take your time Miss Lucy
Take your time Miss Lucy Long
Oh! take your time Miss Lucy,
Take your time Miss Lucy Long.
2
Miss Lucy she is handsome
And Miss Lucy she is tall,
To see her dance Cachucha
Is death to Ni-gers* all.
3
Oh Miss Lucy's teeth is grinning
Just like an ear ob corn,
And her eyes dey look so winning!
Oh would I'd ne'er been born.
4
I axed her for to marry
Myself de toder day,
She said she'd rather tarry
So I let her habe her way.
5
If she makes a scolding wife
As sure as she was born,
I'd tote her down to Georgia
And trade her off for Corn.
George Willig, Philadelphia, 1842.
Sheet music at The Detroit Public Library, the E. Azalia Hackley Collection, 19th and 20th Century Sheet Music of Negro Themes.
http://www.thehackley.org/gsdl/cgi-bin/library?p=about&c=dplhacsm
2.
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Miss Lucy Long (minstrel)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Apr 09 - 05:17 PM
This minstrel song is mentioned in chanteys and was revised in presentations by several minstrel groups. It has persisted in folk use, and was collected in the John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip (collected in Texas, recording at American Memory).
Lucy Long is included in the Fiddlers Companion.
3.
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Miss Lucy Long (minstrel)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 09 Apr 09 - 05:11 PM
I have surveyed all the versions I could find on the Internet. Here is a summary:
…Additional verses found in a broadsheet at Library of Congress:
I took Miss Lucy walking, I did not mind expense,
I bought her dat ere parasol, it cost me eighteen pence.
Miss Lucy, when she trabbels, she always leaves de mark
Ob her footsteps in de gravel, you can see dem in de dark.
The world was made in six days, an' 'twas built up very strong,
But I guess it took de sebenth, to finish Lucy Long.
Lucy cuts de widgeon ping, and dances fancy reels,
Fust time I eber seen her, I cotch'd her skinnin' eels.
An additional verse found somewhere else: (I lost the citation!)
My mamma's got de tisic and my daddy got de gout.
Good morning, Mister Phisick. Does your mother know you're out?”…
4.
Subject: Lyr. Add: Take Your Time Miss Lucy (1842)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Apr 09 - 11:13 PM
Lyr. Add: TAKE YOUR TIME MISS LUCY
Words by A. Allan, Melody by George Loder, 1842
1
When young my heart was bent, sir,
Upon a nice young beau,
So to my ma I went, sir,
And she reprov'd me so.
"Indeed, my dear, you're joking,
You're still too young you know,
So take your time Miss Lucy,
Miss Lucy, Lucy, oh!
So take your time Miss Lucy,
Miss Lucy. Lucy oh!"
2
But not content with that, sir,
To father I did go;
But he my head did pat, sir,
And plumply answer'd, "No!
There's time enough for Lovers,
So don't impatient grow,
Just take your time Miss Lucy,
Miss Lucy, Lucy, oh!
Just take your time Miss Lucy,
Miss Lucy, Lucy, oh!"
3
And now I'm sent to you, sir,
I thought I had a beau-
Like them you snub me too, sir,
And tell me "'tis no go;"
The burthen will be ever,
"Till I an old maid grow."
"Oh! take your time, Miss Lucy," &c.
A comic ballad as sung ... at Mitchell's Olympic Theatre by Miss Taylor...
Atwill, NY, 1842
Published in 1842, the same date as the minstrel song, "Miss Lucy Long."
This could be the origin of the Lucy Long minstrel tunes, some verses of sea chanteys, etc. The 'take your time' chorus is used in the Willig 1842 printing of "Miss Lucy Long." It also explains why the "Miss Lucy Long" printing by Willig is not credited to a composer.
ADDENDUM
The bawdy (dirty/vulgar song "Bang Bang Lulu" (and other "Lulu" songs) are another key source of "Miss Lucy Had A Baby" and "Miss Lucy Had A Steamboat" children's recreational rhymes.
In addition to the names "Lulu" and "Lucy" being very similar, "Lulu" songs and "Miss Lucy Had A Baby" share the same verse in which a baby (or in some later versions) a brother or a turtle named "Sonny Jim" (and later "Tiny Tim") almost drowns because he (or it) can't swim.
While earlier versions of "Lulu" songs didn't hid their sexually explicit references, later versions used innuendos or went right to the "Bang Bang Lulu" chorus or another verse that begins with a similar word just like the format in "Miss Lucy Had A Steamboat" recreational rhymes that developed from those songs.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/04/my-lula-gal-and-bang-bang-lulu.html for the pancocojams post entitled " "
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This verse that was quoted by Jim Dixon in comment #3 Mudcat Discussion Thread (given above) reminds me of the "person being sick/call the doctor" verses in the children's recreational rhymes "Miss Lucy Had A Baby":
ReplyDelete"My mamma's got de tisic and my daddy got de gout.
Good morning, Mister Phisick. Does your mother know you're out?”
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My guess is that the word "tisic" is a shortened form of the word "appendicitis".
I think that "Master Phisick" means "Mr. Physician (Mr. Doctor)".
I also think that 'Does you mother know your out"? means "Does your mother know you're out here (since the speaker's parents have those diseases which older people thought were contagious.).
Corrections are welcome.