Little Pink

DESCRIPTION: "My pretty little Pink, I once did think, That you and I would marry." The singer complains that the girl has taken too long to make up her mind. In some versions he is a soldier who sets out to see the sights and fight in the Mexican War
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting love separation soldier floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 166, "My Pretty Little Pink" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 793, "Careless Love" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "B" text belongs here if it belongs anywhere)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 150-153, "Pretty Little Pink" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #103, "Pretty Little Pink" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly composite; about half of it is "Black is the Color" although it does not use those words; some of it is probably "Little Pink"; the end, in which the singer prepares to die and says she can look at his grave, seems to be from a third song)
Spurgeon-WaltzTheHall-AmericanPlayParty, pp. 140-141, "My Pretty Little Pink" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 287, "Darling Little Pink" (1 text); also 78, "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees" (7 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more, but almost all mixed -- all except "H" have the "Coffee grows" stanza, but "A" also has verses from "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; "and "C" through "H" are mostly "Little Pink"; "B" is mixed with "Raccoon" or some such)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 78, "Coffee Grows" (2 tunes plus text excerpts; based on the text in Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3, both tunes probably go here)
Killion/Waller-ATreasuryOfGeorgiaFolklore, p. 219, "My Pretty Little Pink" (1 text)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 85, p. 212, "Going to the Mexican War" (1 fragment, with the "Knapsack on my Shoulder" text and also the "Coffee Grows" stanza; there isn't much "Little Pink" in it, but it clearly goes with the Brown texts cited above)
Baring-Gould-AnnotatedMotherGoose #808, p. 301, "(My little pink)" (a fragment that appears related but may be a by-blow)
Newell-GamesAndSongsOfAmericanChildren, #175, "My Pretty Pink" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, David S. McIntosh, "Marching Down to New Orleans," Volume 4, Number 3 (Fall 1954), pp. 139-138, "Marching Down to New Orleans" (9 texts, 3 tunes, mostly "Marching Down to Old Quebec" although one should probably be filed with "Little Pink" and several use the "Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle)" stanza)
ST San166 (Full)
Roud #735
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Marching Down to Old Quebec" (floating verses)
File: San166

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