{"id":19257,"date":"2023-03-22T14:52:52","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T14:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=19257"},"modified":"2023-11-08T09:39:28","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T09:39:28","slug":"my-gal-is-a-high-born-lady","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/my-gal-is-a-high-born-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"My Gal is a High Born Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This song uses racist language and draws on stereotypes in a way that was commonplace at the time but is no longer acceptable today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AKA<\/strong><\/td>My girl …<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1896<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Writer\/composer<\/td>Barney Fagan (adapted by Richard Morton)<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN21078<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Eugene Stratton<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Herrington, Delmar; USA : Tennessee, 1980
Macon, Uncle Dave; USA : Tennessee; 1926<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Original US version<\/strong>\nMy Gal is a High Born Lady\n(Barney Fagan)\n\nThar' is gwine to be a festival this evenin'\nAnd a gatherin' of color mighty rare\nThar'll be noted individuals of prominent distinctiveness\nTo permeate the colored atmosphere;\nSunny Africa's Four Hundred's gwine to be thar\nTo do honor to my lovely fiancee,\nThar will be a grand ovation of especial ostentation\nWhen the parson gives the dusky bride a way!\n\nMy gal is a high born lady\nShe's black but not too shady\nFeathered like a peacock, just as gay,\nShe is not colored, she was born that way,\nI'm proud of my black Venus,\nNo coon can come between us\n'Long the line they can't out shine this high born gal of mine.\n<\/em>\nWhen the preacher man propounds the vital question,\n\"Does ye' take the gal' for better or for wuss?\"\nI will feel as if my soul had left my body, gone to glory,\nAnd I know my heart will make an awful fuss,\nI anticipates a very funny feelin'\nNigger's eyeball, like a diamond sure to shine,\nBut I'll bask in honeyed clover, when the ceremony's over,\nAnd I press the ruby lips of baby mine)\n\n\n\nAs adapted for Eugene Stratton by Richard Morton<\/strong>:\n\nThere is gwine to be a festival this evening,\nIt's the most exclusive function of the year;\nThere'll be noted individuals of prominent distinctiveness\nTo permeate the coloured atmosphere.\nOnly black folks of the bluest blood will be there,\nTo do honour to my lovely fiancee-\nThere will be a grand ovation of especial ostentation,\nWhen the parson gives the dusky bride away.\n\nMy gal is a high born lady\nShe's black but not too shady\nFeathered like a peacock, just as gay,\nShe is not colored, she was born that way,\nI'm proud of my black Venus,\nNo coon can come between us\nThey know she belongs to me<\/em>\nThis high born gal of mine.<\/em>\n\nShe's a wench that don't eat dinner with her fingers,\n'Cept she asks to be allowed to pick a bone;\nen she does it in a manner of remarkable refinery,\nWith her little finger cocked by way of tone.\nWhen she promenades with Ma to Church on Sunday, \nFolks can see she's in society indeed;\nBut she gives them a reminder, when she swings her skirts behind her\u2014\n'Deed, the movement's emblematical of breed!\n\nShe's a girl that's most punctilious in her habits, \nFirst time she let me kiss her was to-day ;\nWhen I tasted all the sweetness of her classic physiognomy,\nI didn't want to tear myself away.\nI declare to goodness I gets mighty flustered,\nAnd I don't know if to cry or if to laugh,\nTo think she'll be my honey when I've paid the parson's money\u2014\nSuch a lady for a dollar-and-a-half.\n\n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
An American comic song from the late 19th century which based its humour on racist stereotypes of African Americans, at the time such songs were known as \u201ccoon songs\u201d. The song was a huge hit throughout the English-speaking world, and a version  for British Music Hall was written for UK audiences by Richard Morton. It was performed by blackface Music Hall comedian Eugene Stratton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song has been collected from traditional singers in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n