Saturday night
RA, Western 2008
RA, Western 2008
Saturday night and Sunday too
True love on my mind
Monday mornin' good and soon
That white man got me g'win'
Blue Jay drew a four horse plough
Sparrow why can't you
'cos my legs is little and long
And they might get broke in two
Red bird singing in a sycamore tree
Singin' out his soul
Big black snake climbed up that tree
Swallowed that little boy whole
Wild geese flyin' through the air
Through the sky of blue
Now they're floating where the south wind blows
Why not me and you
Saturday night, Sunday too
Yellow gal on my mind
Monday mornin', break o' day
White man got me go'win'
Lightnin' am a yellow gal
She lives in a cloud
Thunder am a big black man
And he can holler loud.
Love it is a killin' thing
Beauty is a blossom
If you want your finger bit
Just stick it at opossum
Monday morning, break o' day
That white man got me goin'
But Saturday night, when the sun go down
That yella gal am mine.
From
I don't know where this comes from. I learned the second version from Dave.
About
The first version is intriguing. Like in Dylan's surrealistic period, you think you almost understand what it's about, but it just escapes you. About slaves, black slaves of course, dreaming of freedom; but the red bird? the black snake?
The second version is much more snappy, and I didn't feel the original tune fitted very well, and in the end I made up one (if you can call it a tune). This could be a genuine negro song, but my guess is (Lightnin' am a yellow gal) that it is like Old Black Joe - a song really based on white people's ideas of how black people thought and spoke.
Still quite nice though.