The Tuckville Grand Ball

Origen Dickerson called the figgers
With a voice like a cart ex that needed some grease.
He and his partner would fiddle like niggers
For supper an' dollar an' fifty apiece.
With forty couple upon the floor--
There wasn't an inch for no one more,
We done the honors for all three towns
At the high, old Tuckville spanker-downs.
Yeak, yawk,
Grab for your pardners!
Yawk, yawk,
Wo' hi-i-ish inter line!
Yankity, yump-de,
Yankity, yah-h de!
--For a fife and two fiddles that music was fine.
And we pelted the floor and sashayed through the door,
And balanced to pardners and sashayed some more.
And when we got orders to "all hands around!"
Warn't half of the girls that could stay on the ground.
For-rud and back! Wo' haw, there, to Ella.
Wo' buck inter line and balance to Grace.
Grab holt o' hands, there, and swing by yer feller,
Clek--clek, gid-dap-along, git inter place.
And the dust would rise and the lamps would shake
Till ye'd think their chimblys was goin' to break.
For we'tended to dancin' right up brown
At a high old Tuckville spanker-down.
Squeak, squawk,
Pick out yer feller!
Raw-w-wk, raw-w-wk,
Form on your set!
High-deedle, do-o-o de,
High-deedle, dah-h-h-de!
We swung by the waist in them dances, you bet.
There wasn't kid slippers, there wasn't tight boots,
There wasn't silk dresses, there wasn't dude suits,
There wasn't no banquet--ten dollars for two--
But a good brimmin' bowlful of hot oyster stew.
We'd darnce twenty numbers and all the encores,
--Get home in the mornin''bout time for the chores--
And all the next day the work was like play,
The girls doin' housework would waltz and sashay;
The boys would astonish the stock in the yard
By forgettin' and yellin', "Hi, all promunard!"
Hi-i-i, yah-h-h!
Ladies to center, there!
Hi-i-i, yah-h-h!
Balance ye all!
Wo' hi-ish up the middle, bear down on the fiddle,
By ginger,'twas fun at the Tuckville Grand
Ball.