Lucy Neal
(Alternately: De Rose Ob Alabama - Lucy Neal, Miss Lucy Neale)

For information on this song as part of the blackface minstrel tradition, please see
its page in The Juba Project's Minstrelsy Database.

For an alternate interpretation of this song, see Minstrels in the Parlour -- another item in this project's 'Artists Respond to Juba' section.

Credits

AndreIw Dale, lead vocals and spoons; Tom Power, banjo; Kate Bevan-Baker, fiddle; Justin Merdsoy, sound technician.

Image c. British Library, all rights reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited

Lyrics

Verse 1
I was born in Alabama
My Massa name was Beale
He us’d to own a Yallar gall
Her name was Lucy Neal
She us’d to go out wid us
Picking cotton in de field
And dere’s whar first I fell in lub
wid my sweet Lucy Neal

Verse 2
One night de Niggers gabe a ball
Miss Lucy danc’d a reel
Dere war no darkies in de hall
Could dance like Lucy Neal
My Massa he did sell me
Bekase he thought I’d steal
Which caus’d a separation ob
Myself and Lucy Neal

Verse 3

Image c. British Library, all rights reserved. Further reproduction is prohibited

Publication Information

Published by John Mitchell, Publisher to her Majesty. 33, Old Bond Street, London.

British Library Shelf Number: H.1435(1)