Little Fight in Mexico

DESCRIPTION: "They had a little fight in Mexico, It wasn't for the boys but the gals, you may know, Sing fa la la, sing fa la la, sing fa la la la day." Boys and girls "came to the place where the blood was shed," where (girls/boys) turned back but the dance continues
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting dancing fight
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 549, "Little Fight in Mexico" (2 texts, 1 tune, although the texts do not really look related)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 79, "Little Fight in Mexico" (1 fragment)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 141, pp. 288-289, "Had a Big Fight in Mexico" (1 text)
Hudson-FolkTunesFromMississippi 36, "Had a Big Fight in Mexico" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol5, p. 14, "Jimmy Taylor, Oh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 66-67, "Had a Little Fight in Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife/Fife-CowboyAndWesternSongs 9, "Johnny Cake" (4 texts, 1 tune, but the "B" text, entitled "Had a Little Fight in Mexico," is clearly this piece)

Roud #736
NOTES [57 words]: Based on the content of this song, I would guess that it is not related to the Mexican War (Hudson states otherwise, but this is based only on the date of collection; he knew people who claimed to have heard it c. 1860). - RBW
There is a town called Mexico in Missouri, although it's in the northern part of the state, not in the Ozarks. - PJS
Last updated in version 6.0
File: R549

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