Dink's Song

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: Fare thee well/Oh, honey, fare thee well." Floating verses: "If I had wings like Noah's dove/I'd fly 'cross the river to the man I love"; "When I wore my apron low..." "One of these days... You'll look for me, and I'll be gone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (collected by John Lomax)
KEYWORDS: nonballad lyric pregnancy love separation floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Lomax/Lomax-FolkSongUSA 21, "Dink's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 195-196, "Dink's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Seeger-AmericanFavoriteBallads, p. 88, "Dink's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 186, "Dink's Song" (1 text)
DT, DINKSONG*
ADDITIONAL: _The Nation_, Volume 105, #2719, August 9, 1917 (available on Internet Archive), John A. Lomax, ppp. 141-145, "Self-Pity in Negro Folk-Songs" (no title, but the text is in there)
Francis L. Utley, "'The Genesis and Revival of 'Dink's Song,''" article published 1966 in _Studies in Language and Literature in Honor of Margaret Schlauch_; republished on pp. 122-137 of Norm Cohen, editor, _All This for a Song_, Southern Folklife Collection, 2009
Roud #10057
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Dink's Song" (on PeteSeeger24)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Careless Love" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] (floating lyrics)
NOTES [110 words]: While this shares a great deal of material with the cross-referenced songs, the unique tune and chorus make me believe it deserves a separate entry. - PJS
It is, however, so close to "Careless Love" in its text that I may have classified some versions there. The reader is advised to check the entries for both songs. Given that it comes from the Lomaxes, I'm not sure I trust its origin, either. Supposedly it was collected from a prostitute who called herself "Dink."
Utley's article is less about Dink and the Lomaxes than about how the song was modified by performers in the folk revival -- an interesting commentary on what performers can do to a song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: PSAFB088

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