De Color'd Fancy Ball
(Alternately: Our Colored Fancy Ball)

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 The Mid-Atlantic Minstrel Show -- another item in this project's 'Artists Respond to Juba' section.

Credits

Art Babayants, piano; Alison Jutzi, vocals; Dennis Patrick, sound technician.

Lyrics

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

Verse 1
Now dem Gemblemen please to be quiet,
De Ball am gwarn to begin
If you dair make a mus or a riot
Twill cost you a kick on the shin
Now de music sweetly sound
Dark eyes now are glancing
Chassez croisez prombernade
Oh de joys of dancing
Now ‘tis de time to whisper soft tings,
Sigh as if gwain to expire
Talk ob de little boy dats got wings
Den swear dat your heart am on fire

Verse 2
Observe dat lubly Juno,
Wid de luxuriant head ob Wool;
She beats all de gals dat you know,
I guess above a jug full.
Just look at how she toe and heel it,
As she Ballensays to de crowd;
And dat color’d Gent seems to feel it,
For no Globber was ever so proud.
See he offers a glass ob Ice Cream,
Wid a real silver spoon jus stuck in it;
She takes it but surely I dream,
For by golly ‘tis gone in a minute.

Verse 3
See dat Nig in de Blue Satin vest,
Wid his heel sticking out a feet sirs;
Cutting such capers and doing his best,
To charm eb’ry Gal dat he meets sirs.
Sich a darky as dat has no right at de ball,
Tell him to quit and be off;
He had two years in Singsing and came out last fall,
For picking up tings on de warf.
An now he takes his pleasure,
On his light Bombastic toe;
An dance de Polka measure,
Or thro’ de Waltz he go.

Chorus
Oh what enchanting pleasure
On de light Bombastic toe
To dance de Polka measure
Or thro’ de Waltz to go
Specially wid de wenus
Dat holds your heart in thrall
What sweet words pass between us
At de color’d Fancy Ball

Publication Information

British Library Shelf Number: H.1435