Skip To My Lou (1832)
This is one of the celebrated folk songs of all time here in America, although no one seems to know anything of its origin. It has been continually popular with our people since the early nineteenth century, and was featured in the 1944 Hollywood movie "Meet Me In St. Louis". This folk song was well used by our frontiersmen settling down in their homesteads and those still traveling westward over covered wagon trails. It was sung by bear hunters, Indian fighters, wild cowboys and miners on their night off.
"Skip To My Lou" was quite a favorite song with the teenage children of our American pioneers. In those days the young people were faced with strong religious taboos against dancing, holding a girl by the waist, and lovemaking, which resulted in their inventing the "play-party," an innocent type of game-with-song which entailed a minimum of physical contact between boy and girl. Thus they gained the approval of their elders.
The play-party generally took the form of couples holding hands in a large ring, and they sang as they skipped around and around in rhythm. One boy was left in the center of the ring seeking to "steal" (choose) a partner. The word "Lou" means sweetheart in the South, and "Loo" is the Scottish word for "love."
Some of the nonplaying young folks joined n with their elders in singing, clapping hands in rhythm, and stamping the floor with the heel of their heavy boots. Although musical instruments were not permitted, this did make quite a lively scene and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. This song was perhaps the best play-party song, an "icebreaker" for such an inhibited and restricted group of people.
~The American Song Treasury by Theodore Raph
9 сен 2024
