Sweet Mama

DESCRIPTION: "Sweet mama, treetop tall, Won't you please turn your damper down? I smell hoecake burning, Dey done burnt some brown. I'm laid mah head On de railroad track. I t'ought about Mama An' I drugged it back. Sweet mama, treetop tall, Won't...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food love suicide
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 242, "Sweet Mama" (1 short text)
RECORDINGS:
Birmingham Jubilee Singers, "Sweet Mama, Tree Top Tall" (Columbia 14190-D, 1926)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Honey, Turn Your Damper Down
NOTES [102 words]: Birmingham Jubilee Singers verse is very close to Scarborough's: "Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby, turn your damper dowm. I smell your bread cooking, honey, Done got good and brown"; couplet, sometimes floating; "Sweet mama, treetop tall, baby turn your damper down." Some floating couplets are "Standing on the corner with my hat in my hand, I'm waiting for the woman ain't got no man" and "If you don't like my peaches don't you shake my tree, Get out of my orchard let the peaches be." For more versions see https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24332#3250985 at the Mudcat Cafe (accessed June 16, 2020.) - BS
Last updated in version 5.2
File: ScNF242b

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