His Songs: V. Christmas Play-Song. Hi my rinktum! Black gal sweet.

HIS SONGS

V. Christmas Play-Song

(Myrick Place, Putnam County - 1858) FN 1

Hi my rinktum! Black gal sweet. FN 2
Same like goodies that the white folks eat;
Ho my Riley! don't you take and tell her name,
And then if something happens you won't catch the blame;
Hi my rinktum! better take and hide your plum;
Joree don't holler every time he find a worm. FN 3

Then it's hi my rinktum!
Don't get no other man;
And it's ho my Riley!
Fetch out Miss Dilsey Ann!

Ho my Riley! Yellow gal fine;
She may be yours but she ought to be mine!
Hi my rinktum! Let me get by,
And see what she mean by the cut of that eye!
Ho my Riley! better shut the door --
The white folks'll believe we were tearin' up the floor.

Then its ho my Riley!
Come a siftin' up to me!
And it's hi my rinktum!
This the way to twist your knees!

Hi my rinktum! Ain't the east gettin' red?
The squinch owl shiver like he want to go to bed;
Ho my Riley! but the gals and the boys,
Just now gettin' so they can sort of make a noise.
Hi my rinktum! let the yellow gal alone;
Niggers don't hanker after sody in the pone. Fn 3

Then it's hi my rinktum!
Better try another plan;
And it's ho my Riley!
Trot out Miss Dilsey Ann!

Ho my Riley! In the happy Christmas time
The niggers shake their clothes a-huntin' for a dime.
Hi my rinktum! End then they shake their feet,
And grease themeselves with the good ham meat.
Ho my Riley! they eat and they cram,
And by and by old Miss'll be a-sendin' out the dram.

Then its ho my Riley!
You hear that, Sam?
And it's hi my rinktum!
Be a sendin' out the dram!

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FN 1 - Myrick Place, Putnam County 1858. There is a Myrick Place as a subdivision near Baton Rouge LA - see ://www.eachtown.com/place.php/id/559103. There is a Putnam County in Georgia - see ://www.classmates.com/directory/school/Putnam%20County%20High%20School_2.jsp?org=10260. No other info.

FN 2 - Rinktum - a variety. A New England form of Welsh Rabbit (Rarebit?)- see http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/RINKTUM-DITTY-11705. Or Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch?) at ://www.astray.com/recipes/?show=Rinktum%20ditty

This looks more like it - a role - in this song, "Rosy Rinktum Mary," (this lady does everything) at http://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/1358/index.html

FN 3 - Joree - a kind of raillery or chaff, see "joree-jaw" in this Time article, about the "Black Ulysses," Howard W. Odum, at ://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,787135,00.html. Joree is also a name given to children baptized from Jordan water, from the Hebrew, see ://www.babynamer.com/Joree

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