Annotation:Nigger and the White Man
X:1 T:N______ and the White Man T:Seven Up M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel S:Rance Willhite (Jefferson County, OK.) B:Marion Thede - "The Fiddle Book" (1967) K:D [df]b/b/ a/e/f/e/|f/e/b/e/ de|f/e/b/e/ f/e/f/e/|d/f/e/d/ [df]|
NIGGER[1]
- ↑ Some of items in the Traditional Tune Archive may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes. Such materials should be seen in the context of the time period and as a reflection of the attitudes of the time. The items are part of the historical record, and do not represent the views of the administrators of this site.
AND THE WHITE MAN. AKA and see "Seven Up." American, Reel. USA, Oklahoma. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. This ditty was sung to the tune:
N..... and the white man playin' seven up,
N..... won the money and afraid to pick it up.
The verse is a 'floating' one, and have been traced back to 19th-century work songs, which were noted in an 1870s newspaper article [c.f. Giles Oakley, Giles, The Devil's Music: A History of the Blues, 1997]. Paul Oliver, in his book The Story of the Blues (p. 22) gives more detail::
In 1876 Lafcadio Hearn had published in the Commercial of Cincinnati, Ohio, a number of
roustabout songs which he had collected on the city's levee waterfront. They included Kentucky
slave songs, work songs with alternating line and chorus, as well as verse and refrain songs
with an Anglo-Scots origin: "Farewell, Liza Jane" and "The Wandering Steamboatman." One of
these, "Limber Jim," had clusters of verses which moved freely between the songs of the period
and had a hitherto unnoted asperity:::
N..... an' a white man playing seven-up
White man played an ace; an' n..... feared to take it up,
White man played ace an' n..... played a nine,
White man died, an' n..... went blind.
The couplet can also be found in later blues songs such as Tommy McClennan's 1930 recording "Bottle It Up and Go, and "Julius Daniels' 1927 song "Can't Put the Bridle on that Mule this Morning" (Victor 21359-A). The latter contains::
N..... an' a white man playin' seven-up this mornin'
N..... an' a white man playin' seven-up this mornin'
N..... an' a white man playin' seven-up,
Well n..... win the money but he scared to pick it up,
This mornin' that' too soon for me.
The lines about playing Seven Up were also used in the Georgia Pot Lickers 1930 recording "Up Jumped the Rabbit," albeit somewhat sanitized; the racist meaning would have been clear to the record-buying audience, however.
- ↑ Some of items in the Traditional Tune Archive may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes. Such materials should be seen in the context of the time period and as a reflection of the attitudes of the time. The items are part of the historical record, and do not represent the views of the administrators of this site.