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"Nelly Bly" (1850)
by Stephen Collins Foster, 1826-1864
1.
Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly!
Bring de broom along,
We'll sweep de kitchen clean, my dear,
And hab a little song.
Poke de wood, my lady lub,
And make de fire burn,
And while I take de banjo down,
Just gib de mush a turn.
CHORUS
Heigh! Nelly, Ho! Nelly, listen lub, to me,
I'll sing for you, play for you, a dulcem
melody.
Heigh! Nelly, Ho! Nelly, listen lub, to me,
I'll sing for you, play for you, a dulcem
melody.
2.
Nelly Bly hab a voice
Like de turtle dove,
I hears it in de meadow,
And I hears it in de grove:
Nelly Bly hab a heart
Warm as cup ob tea,
And bigger dan de sweet potatoe
Down in Tennessee.
(CHORUS)
3.
Nelly Bly shuts her eye
When she goes to sleep,
When she wakens up again
Her eye-balls 'gin to peep:
De way she walks, she lifts her foot,
And den she brings it down,
And when it lights der's music dah
In dat part ob de town.
(CHORUS)
4.
Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly!
Neber, nebber sigh,
Nebber bring de tear-drop
To de corner ob your eye,
For de pie is made ob punkins
And de mush is made of corn,
And der's corn and punkins plenty, lub,
A lyin' in de barn.
(CHORUS)
[Source: pages 93-34 of "Biography, Songs and
Musical Compositions
of Stephen C. Foster" by Morrison Foster,
(Pittsburg: 1896;
AMS Press, New York: 1977)]
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