Possum Up The Gum Stump
'Possum up the gum stump
Dat {That} raccoon’s in de {the} holler
Twis' im {him) out and get 'im down
An' I’ll gin {give} you half a dollar.
‘Possum up the gum stump
Yes, cooney’s in de holler’
A pretty girl down my
house
Jes {Just} as fat as she can waller.
Possum up de gum stump.
His jaw is black an' dirty.
To come an' kiss you, pretty gal
I’d run lak {like} a goobler tucky {turkey}
Possum up the gum stump
A good man's hard to fin' {find}:
You'd better love me, pretty gal
You'll git {get} de yudder {other} kin' {kind}.
---
Category: Dance Song
Source:
Thomas W. Talley, Negro Folk Rhymes (Kennikat
Press, Port Washington, N.Y., p 3; originally published by The Macmillan
Company, 1922
Note: a word in parenthesis is meant to
clarity the meaning of the preceding word; after the first use, a
parenthesis word is no longer given
“Possum Up The Gum Stump” is a dance song that was
composed by one or more anonymous African Americans sometimes during the
three centuries of American slavery.
The sentence “possum up the gum stump, raccoon in
a hollow’ is part of a floating verse that is found in a number of other
Black non-religious songs of those times.
‘Possum' is a shortened form of the word 'opossum', an rather
uncommonly known animal for most contemporary Americans.
“Cooney” is another referent for raccoon. A “gum
stump” means the stump of the gum tree.
A ‘holler” means a “hollow” a hole in the ground. “Woller” means “to wobble”.
The term “a “goobler” turkey” comes from the
“gooble, gobble, gobble” sound the turkey is said to make.
During slavery in the United States, African Americans supplemented their
meager diet by hunting, killing {with stones}, cooking, and eating both raccoons & possums.
In the first verse, the speaker is promising to pay a
person to capture a raccoon for him {or her}. However, it should be
remembered that this was a dance song. Therefore it shouldn't be
surprising that the song quickly turns to the subject of courting a pretty
girl. *
To enhance the
meaning of the third line of the 2nd verse, in my opinion, it should read
"A pretty girl goes {or comes} down my
house".
The line "A good man is hard to find" found in the fourth verse has
withstood the test of time {perhaps because it's universally true?}.
The last line of this rhyme may be more easily understood
if it were written "Or you'll get the other kind"-meaning if the woman
doesn't love the good man, she's likely to get a bad one.
It also should be noted that "Possum Up A Gum
Stump" demonstrates how African American rhymes, like African rhymes
before them, personalized animals & other living creatures. In rhymes like
this the listener can assume that the words apply to only animals
themselves, or to the animals sometimes and then to humans, or to the
animals and humans at one in the same time. This creative use of layered
{coded} meanings can act as a protective device if someone where to take
exception to words spoken or sung. Given this custom of layered meanings,
it is possible that there really is a connection between the possum & coon
references and the man's statements to his girl that she's better choose
him because good men are hard to find.
Could it be that for the man stating his case
to his gal 'bad men' were equated with the possum with its black &
dirty jaws? Certainly there is plenty of documentation in Black slavery
rhymes that are testimony to the fact that there was widespread Black bias
against dark skin color. Furthermore, there are numerous Black
slavery rhymes that equate black {color} with being dirty.
For example, in "Here Comes A Young Man Courting" the man responds to
women asking him to court them with these words "You is too black and
rusty." The man ends up choosing "Miss Lula, who is described as the
fairest among the 'yaller' girls. In this context, 'fair' means light
skinned. Other examples of African American slavery rhymes that
demonstrate Black color bias against dark skin are "Stand Back, Black
Man"; Johnny Cuckoo", and "When My Wife Dies". And there are many many
more.
--
*Some people may be surprised that the speaker in "Possum
Up The Gum Stump"
describes a pretty gal as being fat. Although thin has long been the
standard of feminine beauty for Western society, many traditional African
cultures consider a beautiful woman to be one who had "meat on her bones".
It would therefore not be beyond the bounds of expectations that some
African Americans, then and now, retained that traditional standard of
feminine beauty. This is not said to discount the increasing documentation
that there are adverse health consequences to being "overweight". Rather
I'm mentioning this to point out the cultural difficulties probably will
be encountered in promoting weight lose to African American women.
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