My Pretty Quadroon, Lyric Variant 01
 


Citation

“My Pretty Quadroon, Lyric Variant 01,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed November 21, 2024, https://am.library.appstate.edu/items/show/31731.


Social Bookmarking


Warning: file_get_contents(https://cache.addthiscdn.com/services/v1/sharing.en.json): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Server Error in /var/www/omeka2020/plugins/SocialBookmarking/helpers/SocialBookmarkingFunctions.php on line 44

Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>

Title

My Pretty Quadroon, Lyric Variant 01

Description

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.

Subject

Folk songs--United States
Lovesickness--Songs and music
Enslaved persons--Songs and music
Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)--Songs and music

Alternative Title

Pretty Quadroon

Publisher

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Contributor

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

Format

PDF

Language

English

Type

Text

Transcription

My Pretty Quadroon.

Oh’ Who was as happy as I?
She’d a brow like the blossoming pea,
And the light of her violet blue eye
Was shown on a darky like me.
Her face was exceedingly fair
She’d a cheek like the wild rose of June.
And the ringlets of her dark glossy hair,
Was the pride of my Pretty Quadroon.

Chorus:
My Pretty Quadroon, My flower that faded so soon.
My heart like the strings of my banjo,
Was broke for my Pretty Quadroon.

I knew not that I was a slave
So kind was my Massa to me,
So gentle so loving and true,
I had not one wish to be free.
For Massa had gardens and flowers
The flowers were always in bloom
But he grudged me one pretty wild flower
‘Twas Cola, my Pretty Quadroon.

Because I with grief tore my hair,
With a hand that was as white as his own,
He shackled and sold me afar,
To die in the rice fields alone.
I heed not the sting nor the smart
Nor the heat of the hot Summer noon,
‘Tis nothing I fear but this heart,
That breaks for my Pretty Quadroon.

add -
Farewell to those beautiful shades,
Farewell to the little corral,
Where Colea and I often strayed
Farewell to Kentucky’s green hills,
My sorrows will soon be forgot,
My heart will soon rest in the tomb,
But my soul will fly back to the spot
And watch o’er my Pretty Quadroon.

Scholarly Classification

Brown, Additional Songs - 711

File name

113_MyPrettyQuadroon_Lyric_01

Social Bookmarking


Warning: file_get_contents(https://cache.addthiscdn.com/services/v1/sharing.en.json): failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Server Error in /var/www/omeka2020/plugins/SocialBookmarking/helpers/SocialBookmarkingFunctions.php on line 44

Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>