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by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864)

Way Down in Ca‑i‑ro
Language: English 
Oh! ladies don't you blush
when I come out to play;
I only mean to please you all,
and den I's guine away.
CHORUS
 I hear my true-lub weep,
 I hear my true-lub sigh,
 Way down in Ca-i-ro
 dis nigga's guine to die.

Sometimes de nigga's life is sad,
sometimes his life is gay,
When de work dont come too hard
he's singin all de day.
(CHORUS)

Now we libs on de fat ob de land,
now we libs on de lean
When we hab no cake to bake
we sweep de kitchen clean.
(CHORUS)

Massa bought a bran new coat
and hung it on de wall,
Dis nigga's guine to take dat coat,
and wear it to de ball.
(CHORUS)

All de ladies in de land,
and all de gemmen too,
Am guine to hear de darkey band
and see what dey can do.
(CHORUS)

Text Authorship:

  • by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864), "Way Down in Ca-i-ro", published 1850. [voice and piano] [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: T. P. (Peter) Perrin

This text was added to the website: 2011-11-10
Line count: 29
Word count: 154

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