Note: Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown, I come to court your daughter / Sir Mr. Brown (repeats) Mr. Brown, I'm going to give you a quarter. Sir Mr. Brown. // [accelerates] … One-eyed lady, Sir Mr. Brown, / Cock-eyed lady, Sir Mr. Brown, / Fly around, ladies, Sir Mr. Brown … (etc.) "The workshop group persisted in singing both the second and fourth lines of this tune with the descending cadence ending on the tonic note. Mrs. Jones stating plainly her feelings about the inter-relationship of text and tune said 'The first time you say it you're asking for her – Sir Mister Brown?' (singing unfinished cadence: B A G B). 'The second time you've done paid for her and you got her – Mister Brown!' And she ended triumphantly on the tonic note of G. The Islanders had a lot of fun with this rather satiric lyric acting out obsequiousness during the first two lines and so on." --Step It Down" Setting: Alan Lomax's apartment, 3rd Street
About the session: The tenth of 21 recording sessions with Bessie Jones.
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