"Mammy's Little Baby..."

[Johnny Lloyd]

1) Three little children lyin' in bed,

Two of them sick and the other most dead.

Called for the doctor, the doctor said,

"Feed them children some shortning bread."

[chorus]


* * *


CHORUS:

Mammy's little baby loves shortning, shortning,

Mammy's little baby loves shortning bread.

Mammy's little baby loves shortning, shortning,

Mammy's little baby loves shortning bread.

____________


2) When them children lying in the bed

Heard that talk about shortning bread,

Thay all got up and began to shout,

Laughin' and a-singing and a-dancing about.

[chorus]


* * *


3) Put on the skillet, put on the lid,

Mammy's gonna make a little shortnin' bread.

Then after that, there's a treat for you,

Mammy's gonna make a little coffee too.

[chorus]

I had a debate about this song with a friend... given the rhythm, the tune and the rhime is this song a pre-war/mid-19th century minstrel song?

I said it was one and of possible African origins- sure sounds like a tune along the lines of "Cluck Old Hen". I just cannot prove it for a fact with references. I have heard it sung at events, but no references to its possible origin.

Been hummin' it all day...:p

Any thoughts from the group? -Johnny Lloyd

[Old Cremona]

Re: "Mammy's Little Baby..."

Well, a google search will yield extensive discussions like this one http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=51174 but I don't see anyone definitely establishing it as an ante-bellum tune. I checked both the LOC American Memory and the Duke University Historic Sheet Music collection, searching the word "Mammy." I got plenty of hits with turn-of-the-century pieces, but only one mid-century tune, and in that piece the word "Mammy" wasn't even used in a minstrel or African-American context.

[Johnny Lloyd]

Re: "Mammy's Little Baby..."

Well, a google search will yield extensive discussions like this one http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=51174 but I don't see anyone definitely establishing it as an ante-bellum tune. I checked both the LOC American Memory and the Duke University Historic Sheet Music collection, searching the word "Mammy." I got plenty of hits with turn-of-the-century pieces, but only one mid-century tune, and in that piece the word "Mammy" wasn't even used in a minstrel or African-American context.

See, there's the disconnect for me for this song... much like folk music with no writer/attribution to a writer but with a rhyme/rhythm/lyrics that sound from a certain ethnic provenance/era/geographical region- I cannot find a single resource stating this song is pre-war or for that matter postwar. If anyone can help with this research, please let me know. This is quite vexing to me. ;)

Sometimes the word "momma" was substituted in place of the politically-incorrect "Mammy" in the few versions of the song I've seen.

The darn thing sure sounds pre-war, but that doesn't mean it is.

Thanks- Johnny Lloyd

[Jubilo]

Re: "Mammy's Little Baby..."

Dear Secesh ,
I have been trying to locate information on this song for years but alas , always in vain. The best I could find was the subtitle "A Plantation Melody " . Perform at your own risk . My group perofrms it at mainstream events , not at total immersion events. Like all show-biz , one has to determine one's audience.
all for the old flag ,
David Corbett