Juba

Cast Bronze, 2006
18" x 14" x 35"


Miss Juba, she dance!
Miss Juba, she prance
She look at you
Wid a smiling glance,

Skirttail floppin
Fingas be poppin'
Tweren't no stoppin'

Miss Juba she happy
Hair jus' as nappy
Ribbons tied tightly
Comes here nightly
Steppin' sprightly

Dark feet beatin' mud
Ole cow chewin' cud
Mens jumpin' high
Feelin' dey blood

No ropes a stretchin'
De devil ain't a catchin'
Jus' dancin' in the woods
Doin'everything we could

Juba be a smilin'
Menfolks a stylin'
Crab soup's a bilin'
On Mule Head Island

Big house up on de hill
White folks 'sleep, everything still.

White sheet blowin'
Over her head
Jim Crow
so they said,
no more toilin',
He be dead

White sheet no more filled
Snatched from Jeb Tate
From Old Mobile

When Juba dance
The mules they bray
Preacher cain't stop us
Any old way

Flyin' haints overhead
Drunken eyes turnin' red

Moonshine sloshin'
Ole men joshin'
Night bugs flyin'
Chinches we squashin'

Skirttail swirlin'
Brown lips a curlin'
Hangman's noose restin'
Words writ' by Preston