04
THE BLUE SONG

Hot mush and molasses all in a blue bowl —

Eat it, it's good for you, sonny.

’T will make you grow tall as a telephone pole —

Eat it, it's good for you, sonny.

 

Fresh fish and potatoes all on a blue plate —

Eat it up smart now, my sonny.

’T will make you as jolly and fat as Aunt Kate —

Eat it up quick now, my sonny.

 

Sweet milk from a nanny-goat in a blue cup —

Drink it, it's good for you, sonny,

’T will fill you, expand you, and help you grow up,

And make a real man of you, sonny.

[NOTES] This rhyme is said to a boy to make him eat his food and drink his milk. Father tells the boy in this rhyme to eat corn with milk called mush. Father has added the water from sugar cane called molasses into the mush. People thought this food made children grow and when they ate it they would be healthy so father says it is good for the boy.

Father tells the boy to eat fish and potatoes so he will be smart. Father says when the boy eats this food he will be happy and he will get fat like his aunt.Father tells the boy to drink his milk. Father says the milk will make the boy big so one day he will be a man.

mush—cornmeal

molasses—sugar from sugar cane

sonny—little son (boy child)

’twill - it will

telephone pole—the long wood that holds the electrical lines

jolly—happy

aunt—father's sister

nanny-goat—mother goat

expand—make big

grow—get bigger