Mary Blane
(Alternately: Mary Blain)

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

Andrew Dale, vocals and tambourine; Tom Power, banjo; Kate Bevan-Baker, fiddle; Justin Merdsoy, sound technician.

Lyrics

I once did lub a pretty gal I lubb’d her as my life,
She came from Lousiana and I made her my dear wife.
At home we lib’d so happy, oh! free from grief or pain,
But in de winter time of year I lost my Mary Blane.

I went into de woods one day, To hunt among de cane,
De white man come into my house and took poor Mary Blane.
It grieb me berry much to tink no hope I entertain,
Of eber seeing my dear gal, My own poor Mary Blane.

When toiling in de cotton field I cry and say good bye.
Unto my brother comrades dat oh soon oh soon I die,
My poor wife gone I cannot lib amidst dis world of pain,
But lay me in de grabe to find out my poor Mary Blane.

Chorus
Oh! fare dee well poor Mary Blane, One feeling heart bids you adieu,
Oh fare dee well my Mary Blane, we’ll neber meet again. 

Publication Information

Publisher: unknown