Interviewer: Annie Ruth Davis
Person Interviewed: Hector Smith
Date of Interview: July 14, 1937
Location: Marion County, South Carolina
Age: 79
“I studied en studied what songs would suit, but dem old familiar hymns bout all I know dese days. You see dem old familiar hymns what de spirit sings. It just like I tell you, I put all dem other kind of songs away when I is change to a better way of livin. I does remember first one en den de other of dem frolicksome song dat my grandparents learnt me.”
Nobody Business But Mine
Rabbit in de hollow,
I ain’ got no dog,
How can I catch em?
I do know! I do know!
O Me! O Mine!
Sorry dat if I leave my home,
I gwine to my shack
Wid de chicken on my back,
Nobody business but mine.
Rabbit in de hollow,
Ain’ got no dog,
How can he catch em?
I do know! I do know!
O Me! O Mine!
Let every nigger have his way,
Gwine to his shack
Wid he chicken on his back,
Nobody business but his.