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Band 7
Rabbit in the Pea Patch
Angie Clark, vocal. Recorded 1937in Mullins, S.C., by John A. Lomax. Library of
Congress Archive of American Folk Song AFS 1030 B3.
Old Grandpaw Yet
Mrs. Nell Hampton, vocal.
Recorded 1937 in Salyersiville, Ky., by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax. Library of
Congress Archive of American Folk Song AFS 1585 B2.
Roxie Anne
Samuel Clay Dixon, vocal.
Recorded 1938 in Mt. Vernon, Ind., by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax. Library of
Congress Archive of American Folk Song AFS 1749 B1.
"Play-party," "josie," and "frolic" were singing games played at gatherings.
They were composed of borrowed elements
from children's games and the "twistifications" of square dancing: grand right
and left, partner-to-partner progression, and
the daring waist swing, among others.
Play-parties flourished in rural communities before canned entertainment offered
alternatives. They were held winter or
summer, indoors or out, with refreshments or without.
If you heard about it, you were invited, and everyone in a rural community was
apt to hear about a party. All ages
attended, but the dancers were usually unmarried young people with a few
marrieds mixed in. Sometimes the players
grouped by age in separate rooms and played different games. A play-party didn't
serve its function unless there were
opportunities to meet privately with a loved one. Drinking at the well and the
escort home served this purpose.
Instrumental music, drinking whiskey, and rowdy behavior were frowned on.
Undesirable individuals were ostracized.
Occasionally a fight might break out because of jealous competition, but this
was unusual.
The social dynamics of a play-party can be glimpsed in the appendix of B. A
Botkin's the American Play-Party Song (pp. 361
and 371). In one community,
The typical leader is usually some boy that's well-liked…loud-mouthed and
funny….Not a smart aleck…He goes to all the
parties (and) knows all the game they play…if it's "old Joe Clark is a married
man," he substitutes someone's name…to
embarrass them.
In another community, girls usually led, but the role was similar: the leader
had to introduce strangers and make them feel
at home, see that they had partners, and get the crowd's attention if the
stranger had a new game to teach. The leader
would tell jokes and tease people and had to take a teasing herself in good
humor. When one leader ran out of steam,
another would take over.
The games translated courting into an art form. Performers could act, clown,
turn on the charm, or dance shyly. The
games formalized choosing loved ones, stealing others, changing partners,
flirting, teasing, and rejecting. They mixed
everyone in progressions. A young person might leave with someone other than
expected and give rise to plenty of gossip.
In "Rabbit in the Pea Patch," couples skip hand in hand around a lone boy, who
steals the girl of his choice. Her partner
then becomes the loner. "Old Grandpaw Yet" seems to be a game with a loner
sitting in a chair in the center of a ring.
"Roxie Anne" is a variation of the Virginia reel.
Rabbit in the Pea Patch
Rabbit in the pea patch, shoo-lye love, (3 times) Shoo-lye love, my darling.
You love Miss Dreslo (or other name), shoo-lye lover, …
You stole my partner, shoo-lye love, …
But I'll get another one, shoo-lye love, …
Pretty as the other one, shoo-lye love,…
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