Annotation:Parsley Girls (The)

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PARSLEY GIRLS, THE. Old-Time; Breakdown and song. USA; Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri. A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). AABB. Thede relates that Billy Parsley was an engineer on the railroad in Douglas County, Missouri, at the turn of the 20th century. Parsley, it seems, was renowned for his tall tales and yarns as well as for his ability to dispose of tobacco juices "without moving any part of the anatomy except the lips and tongue." Notwithstanding these convivial talents, he was a man of "rugged and violent nature," who was not particularly enamored of the young men who hung about his house seeking the company of his numerous daughters. However, when he was on his runs it was an occasion for merriment at home and "his house would be responding to music, song, and dance." Out of these gatherings came a folk processed song, "The Parsley Girls."

Oh them girls of Old Bill Parsly, I-de I-de I-de,
Oh them girls of Old Bill Parsley, I-de I-de I-de;
Girls in the cook house, boys in the parlor, I-de I-de-de die-de.
Oh Boys in the cook house, girls in the parlor
Oh them girls of Bill Parsley.

Source for notated version: the Collins Family (Oklahoma) [Thede].

Printed sources: Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pp. 93-95.

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