Clare de Kitchen (Clear the Kitchen)

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Folk songs--United States

Enslaved persons--Songs and music

Animals--Songs and music

Virginia--Songs and music

Kitchens--Songs and music

Nonsense songs

Old Jim Crow, Clear the Kitchen

AC.113 Isaac Garfield (I.G.) Greer Papers and Recordings

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

PDF

English

Text

Clear De Kitchin

An old bay horse lay in the road,
And on his hipbone sat a toad,
He raised his voice to the woods around,
Harkfrom the tomb a doleful sound,
Of clar de kitchen, old folks young folks,
Old Virginia never tire!

A little old man came riding by,
Says he, Old man, your horse will die,
Well, if he dies I will tan his skin,
But if he lives I will ride him again,
So clar de kitchen, old folks, young folks,
Clar de kitchen, old folks, young folks,
Old Virginia Never tire!

Now this old horse lay on the ice,
And on his hipbone sat a mice,
He raised his voice to the stemboats round
Hark! for Lickings coming down,
So clar de Steamboats, thick Ice, thin Ice
Clar de Steamboats, thick Ice, thin Ice.
Old Virginia never tire.

The Ice came down with a rushing din,
And shove the steamboat’s cabin in,
It raked her sore both oft and fore,
And left her kitchen on the shore,

So clar de steamboats, thick ice, thin ice,

Clar de steamboats, thick ice, thin ice,

Old Virginia never tire.



I have a sweetheart in dis town,

She wears a cloak and a new silk gown,

And as she walks the streets around,

The hollow of her foot makes a hole in the ground,

So clar de kitchen old folks, young folks,

Clar de kitchen old folks, young folks,

Old Virginia never tire.



As I went to market tother day,

I got so drunk thatI lost my way

My master says, Where have you been,

The way I lights on you’s sin.

So clar de kitchen old folks, young folks,

Clar de kitchen, old folks, young folks,

Old Virginia never tire!



A jaybird sat on a swinging limb,

He winked at me and I winked at him,

I cocked my gun, and split his shin,

And lift the arrow sticking in,

So clar the kitchen, old folks, young folks,

Clar de kitchen, old folks, young folks,

Old Virginia never tire!

Brown, Blackface Minstrel, Negro Songs -- 413

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