Johnny Come Down to Hilo

Never see de like since I been born
When a big buck nigger wid his sea boots on,
chorus:
Says: "Johnny come down to Hilo,
Poor old man! Oh, wake her, oh, shake her!
Oh wake dat gal wid de blue dress on!
When Johnny comes down to Hilo,
Poor old man!

l lub a little gal across de sea,
She's a 'Badian beauty, and she says to me:

Oh, was you ebber down in Mobile Bay,
Where dey screws cotton on a summer day?
Dld you ebber see de old plantation boss,
And de long-tail filly and de big black hoss?"

From American Ballads and Folk Songs, Lomax
Recorded by Forebitter, also Oscar Brand
RG