"She's My One Black, Two Black" Songs (Complete Reprint Of Comments From The Discussion Thread For The 2012 Pancocojams Post-#1-#26)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part series on versions of "She's My One Black, Two Black" songs and rhymes. "She's My One Black, Two Black" songs/rhymes have their source in the 1928 Blues song "Chocolate To The Bone".

This post is a reprint of #1-#26 of the comments that were published in the discussion thread for the 2012 pancocojams post about the camp song/children's rhyme "She's My One Black, Two Black". Some of those comments include examples of the "One Black Two Black" camp song/children's rhymes.  

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/shes-my-one-black-two-black-complete.html for Part I of that pancocojams post. That post presents a complete reprint of the 2012 pancocojams post with the title "Examples of & Comments About The Song And Rhyme "She's My One Black, Two Black".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/shes-my-one-black-two-black-songsrhymes.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post reprints comments  #27-#50 of the comments that were published in the discussion thread for  2012 pancocojams post. Some of those comments include examples of the 2012 pancocojams post with the title "Examples of & Comments About The Song And Rhyme "She's My One Black, Two Black".

The content of this post is presented for historical ,socio-cultural, and recreational purposes only.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks also to all these who are quoted in this post. 

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COMPLETE REPRINT OF COMMENTS FROM THE 2012 PANCOCOJAMS POST FROM #1- #26
 These comments are reprinted as they appear in the discussion thread for the 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Examples of & Comments About The Song And Rhyme "She's My One Black, Two Black"."

Because of replies, some of these comments skip from [for instance] 2013 to 2023.

I wrote most of the replies and a few of the other comments. My comments are given "as is" with no spelling or punctuation corrections and no additions.

Numbers are added for all of these comments for references purposes only.

1.Azizi Powell, December 4, 2012 at 6:22 PM
"With regard to the use of color references in children's songs, I think it's interesting that the Caribbean singing game "Brown Girl In The Ring" uses the color word "brown" and not "black".

I think that's because in the past and still in the present in Caribbean and in the United States, people of some African descent considered to be more acceptable to be called "brown" than to be called "black"."

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2. Anonymous, July 1, 2013 at 2:29 AM
"We sang this song when we were children (I am 73 now). Our rendition went: "Oh she's my one black, two black, honest to gawd shoe black, chocolate to the bone; and if you see that gal of mine you sho' bettah leave her alone; cause she's got eyes like a diamonds, teeth like a pearls, great gawd amighty shes a wonderful girl, cause she is one black, two black, honest to gawd shoeblack, chocolate to the bone.....you bettah leave her aloooooone."

We jazzed up, and sang it faster and faster as we repeated the verses, except "you bettah leave her aloooooone." That phrase was drawn out and harmonized."

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3. Azizi Powell, July 1, 2013 at 2:05 PM
"Thanks anonymous for sharing your memory of this song.

For the folkloric record, it would be great if you would share some demographical information such as how you learned this song, where [in what state] you learned this song, your race & gender and your recollection of whether this song was sung mostly by Black people and mostly by girls. Also, did you do any handclaps or jumpe rope while you sang this song?

Thanks again!"  

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4. Sheila, August 2, 2023 at 2:58 PM
"This is exactly How I remember the words of this song, taught to me from my father who was born in 1911 in Arkansas.. Except he said "gosh" instead of gawd. I'm 83 now, but remember it well because our family sang a lot when we traveled. Another song was "Georgia Pine" (pining for you). And, "Ole Mamie Riley" (gone far away...)"

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5. SheilaAugust 2, 2023 at 2:58 PM
This is exactly How I remember the words of this song, taught to me from my father who was born in 1911 in Arkansas.. Except he said "gosh" instead of gawd. I'm 83 now, but remember it well because our family sang a lot when we traveled. Another song was "Georgia Pine" (pining for you). And, "Ole Mamie Riley" (gone far away...)

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6. Azizi Powell, August 2, 2023 at 11:32 PM
:Hello, Sheila. Thanks for sharing your memories of this song along with demographic information. I don't know the other two songs that you mentioned, I found at least two songs with the words "pining for you" but I don't know if they're old enough to fit your memories and I found a mention of some troops marching while singing the chorus of "Ole Mamie Riley". I'd love more information about those songs.

Thanks again and best wishes!"

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7. Anna, December 14, 2013 at 2:04 AM
"Hello! I know this song!!! My mother sang it to me and told me only "It's the REAL ending to the railroad song." She first explained our heritage.

We are caucasian north Floridans, but in our history, we never owned or condoned slavery and worked plantation fields after we came here from England. My great-grandmother picked cotton to help provide for our family. Anywho, this is the version.

"She's a one black,two black,

honest to God shoe black

chocolate to the bone.

If you see my girl walkin' down the street

you better leave my girl alone.

She's got eyes like a jezebel

teeth like a pearl

Good Gosh almighty

she's a gift to this world.

She's a one black two black

honest to God shoe black

Chocolate to the bone

You better leave her alooooooooooone.

 

I used to play hand clapping games with my sister to this song. The hand clapping was to the beat on "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should".."

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8. Azizi Powell, December 14, 2013 at 8:11 AM
"Hi Anna!

Thanks for that version of "She's a one black,two black". Also, thanks for including demographical information and informaton about its tune & performance activity.

I'm curious, what was the year (decade) you learned this song from your mother, and how did she learn it?"

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9. Anna, December 14, 2013 at 2:10 AM
"I also learned a watermelon (watermelyon) song and many of the lyrics seem cleaned up... and only performed my white artists with no history of the origination."

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10. Azizi Powell,December 14, 2013 at 8:13 AM
"Hello, again.

What song was this- title at least, because as per the policy of this blog, I will delete any comment with pejorative words."

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11.  Azizi Powell, March 21, 2016 at 7:10 PM
"I'm re-reading this (March 21, 2016) and I hope that I didn't scare off Anna's reply. I'm sincerely curious about the "watermelon song" that she mentioned.

Please share, Anna. Thanks!"

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12. Anna, December 14, 2013 at 2:16 AM
"As white as I am, these song as close to my heart. They are part of me any my culture. Deeply engrained and unapologetically.... me."

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13. Azizi Powell, December 14, 2013 at 8:18 AM
"Greetings, Anna.

I can appreciate that some songs whicht may not be socially correct now are part of a person's fond memories of their childhood and/or their parents' and grandparents' childhood.

The question is should socially insensitive & therefore problematic songs* & rhymes be passed on to children, generation after generation without those songs being "cleaned up", if possible.

*I don't include "One Black Two Black" in the category of socially insensitive & therefore problematic songs."

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14.  AnonymousJanuary 12, 2014 at 7:52 PM
"Hi All,

This is the version I remember singing as a little girl:

 

She's a one black, a two black, a honey black a shoe black,

a chocolate to the bone, a boney boney bone,

If you see my sweety walkin' down the street, you better leave her a alone,

'cause she's got eyes like a jelly bean, teeth like a pearl,

good gosh O'mighty she's a gift to the world,

she's a one black a two black a honey black, a shoe black, a chocolate to the bone....yeah!"

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15. Azizi Powell, January 13, 2014 at 6:57 AM
"Greetings, Anonymous.

 Thanks for sharing that version of "One Black Two Black".

 I hope that you are reading this response and will post some demographical information for the folkloric record. I think it's particularly important to document if this song was sung by Black people to reaffirm their sense of esteem, and/or if it was sung by non-Black people (who may have heard it from Black people or not). I also think its important to document the decade and location that people sung their versions of this song.

Thanks again!"

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16. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2014 at 11:59 AM
"My name is Laura and my dad was just posting some original recordings of songs we learned from my great grandparents who were white, from England and came to America in the 1950's. One Black Two Black was one of our favorites, which I have taught to my kids. We sing it in 2 part harmony and it has a different part at the end. It goes:

She's Got One Black Two Black

Eyes like shoe black

Chocolate to the bone.

If you see that girl walkin down the street,

you better leave that girl alone.

She's got eyes like a jezebel, teeth like pearls

Gosh oh gee she's out of this world.

She's got one black two black eyes like shoe black

chocolate to the bone

Harmony, my baby harmony

first thing you do is you get 4 boys

next thing you do is you make a lot of noise

Harmony, my baby harmony

This is harmony, my baby harmony...yeah!"

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17. Azizi Powell, January 21, 2014 at 2:52 PM
"Hello, Laura. Thanks for your comment.

It's interesting that the line says "She's Got One Black Two Black

Eyes like shoe black". I think this was a way to make sense out of the song by those who didn't know that "black" and "chocolate to the bone" referred to Black people.

I wonder whether the Harmony verse was composed by someone in honor of their baby whose name was Harmony(and who had four brothers).

Thanks again!"

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18. UnknownFebruary 22, 2015 at 11:03 PM
"The version passed down to me - grandmother to mother to daughter (me) to my daughter and now granddaughter is almost exactly like the one above (including the 4 boys and harmony lines). The only line really different is - gosh, oh jeez, she's a gift to the world. I don't really know where my grandmother learned it, but she was born in 1923 in Nevada and lived in California most of her life. She was a "scout" leader and sung it around the campfire (for many years) at Camp Fire Girls' camps. We've always known it was referencing a Black girl, but thought it was celebrating her beauty and spunk."

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19. Azizi Powell, February 23, 2015 at 2:19 AM
"Greetings, Randy.

Thanks for sharing that information. I like the interpretation that you gave to that rhyme. I wish I had known it when I was growing up, and when my children were growing up. But it occurs to me that I can start a new tradition and share it with my grand daughter, and reinforce its meaning as celebrating a Black girl's beauty and spunk.

I love it!!"

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20. Anonymous, October 6, 2020 at 3:47 PM
"I learned this version at a (very white) girl scout camp in Colorado in the early 2000s. Someone had changed the word "girl" to "cow;" eventually another camper intuited what the original word was. After that, we all found it very sinister---we interpreted the "four boys" lines as being about an assault on the black woman described earlier in the song. That impression was (probably inadvertently) strengthened by whoever had decided that "cow" was a good substitute for "girl."

Thanks for collecting all this history, the memory of this song has haunted me for 20 years and I had always wondered about it. I last did a google search in 2010 and didn't turn anything up."

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21. Azizi Powell, October 6, 2020 at 8:25 PM
"anonymous Oct. 6, 2020

Thanks for adding to the folkloric record about the song "She's My One Black, Two Black" by sharing your memories of this song and also for remembering to share demographics (your gender, race, and where and when you learned this song).

I appreciate your comments about my collecting this history. I'm surprised there's not more information online about the "She's My One Black, Two Black Song".

Notice that one other person in this discussion thread remembers that the word "cow" was substituted for "girl" and also included the "Harmony..." verse. (Anonymous March 28, 2018 at 9:51 AM.

That commenter wrote that "I learned this song at a summer camp when I was 11 or 12. A female, white counselor around 18 yrs old taught it to us."...
-end of quote-

The commenter's noting that the counselor was "white" leads me to guess that that commenter isn't white, since White race is usually a default position in the United States (with people in the mainstream media assuming that people are White and only mentioning race or ethnicity (meaning Latinx) if the person or people aren't White.

Thanks again, Anonymous!"

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22. Azizi Powell, October 8, 2020 at 10:35 PM
"Here's a comment that was written by commenter Oct. 6, 2020 in response to mine. I deleted it because it contained a curse word that was fully spelled out. (As this is a family friendly blog, I only use and quote amended spelling for profanity.)

Anonymous, October 8, 2020 at 11:37 AM
"I saw that comment too, and it made me wonder if we had gone to the same camp that summer. I was about the same age when I learned the song; I don't remember exactly who taught it.

I'm also white; I noted race partly because I saw in the other comments you were interested in learning demographic information about who knew the song. That was also the summer I first learned that some white southerners are taught in school that the Civil War "wasn't about slavery, it was about states' rights." This is a f--ked* up country, we need to understand our history if we can ever hope to do better."
-end of quote-

Thanks again, Anonymous. I appreciate your inclusion of demographics in your comment as it adds to the folkloric record for that rhyme/song.

I also agree with your assessment of this nation and how it will (continue) to get better.

Best wishes, and stay safe!"

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23. Kim, December 8, 2014 at 7:20 PM
"I was taught this song by my mother, born 1927, in the mid 50's. She learned it from her mother, born in the 1880's in Arkansaw. I was taught as the ending to "I've Been Working on the Railroad" "

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24. Azizi Powell, December 8, 2014 at 7:58 PM
"Kim, thanks for sharing that demographical information.

I'm curious about your mother's racial demographics as a way of suggesting whether this song/verse was known by White people and Black peopl in Arkansas."

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25.Anonymous, March 10, 2015 at 3:01 PM
"I went to college in North Dakota and one of the fraternities sang this song. Their version was "she's my one black, two black, blacker than a shoe black, chocolate to the bone, if you see my baby walking down the street you better leave her alone. She's got eyes like a Jezebel, teeth like a pearl, man o man she's a whale of a girl, she's my one black, two black, blacker than a shoe black, chocolate to the bone."

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26. Azizi Powell, March 10, 2015 at 4:51 PM
"Thanks anonymous for sharing that version.

My assumption is that the fraternity members singing this song were White. Is that correct? And if so, what was the context in which that song was sung. Was it meant to be a put down of Black women?"

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

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