My Pretty Quadroon, Lyric Variant 01, Copy

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

Lovesickness--Songs and music

Enslaved persons--Songs and music

Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)--Songs and music

Pretty Quadroon

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

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.

Brown, Additional Songs - 711

113_MyPrettyQuadroon_Lyric_01_copy_ocr