Page 39 of Frog Music


  The performers of this song, whether black men or white, usually wore drag. In 1889 it was used to brand a pancake mix, and Aunt Jemima gradually became a generic nickname for black women, especially rural ones.

  “Bang Away, Lulu,” aka “Bang Bang, Lulu,” “(My) Lulu (Gal),” “(My) Lulu Lula,” “She Is a Lulu,” and “When Lulu’s Gone”

  This dirty crowd-pleaser seems to have been widespread in the United States, Canada, and England by the end of the nineteenth century but for reasons of prudery was published only in censored versions until the second half of the twentieth. Ed Cray offers this undated composite in the first edition of his wonderful collection The Erotic Muse (1968), calling it a Southern Appalachian ballad and emphasizing that these verses are just a handful out of hundreds known. Other versions of the song feature (Miss) Rosie or Susie.

  CHAPTER VIII: WHEN THE TRAIN COMES ALONG

  “When the Train Comes Along,” aka “When That Train Comes Along”

  A new nineteenth-century American musical form, the Negro spiritual drew on both African and European traditions. “When the Train Comes Along” is a spiritual first published in 1909 (in Howard W. Odum’s Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes). The version Blanche hears was collected on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, in 1913 and published in Carl Diton’s Thirty-Six South Carolina Spirituals (1930). The song appeared in many variations in the 1920s and became popular in white gospel and blues too.

  “I’ll Eat When I’m Hungry”

  The lines Jenny sings here were collected in an untitled three-verse fragment by Emma Bell Miles (1879–1919) in her The Spirit of the Mountains (1905). Variations on this floating stanza can be found in “Rye Whiskey”/”Jack o’ Diamonds” and “The Cuckoo” as well as “Drunkard’s Song,” “Drunken Hiccups,” and “(Way Up on) Clinch Mountain.” Jürgen Kloss, in his tireless investigation of the British/American song lineage that includes “Rye Whiskey,” manages to trace versions of the eat/drink quatrain back through Civil War songs (“The Rebel Soldier,” “The Rebel Prisoner”) to an English play of 1737, Robert Dodsley’s The King and the Miller of Mansfield; see Kloss’s “From ‘Earl Douglas’ Lament’ to ‘Farewell Angelina’: The Long and Twisted History of an Old Tune Family,” http://justanothertune.com/html/tarwathie.html.

  “Who Gonna Shoe Yo’ Pretty Little Feet?”

  This maverick stanza about parted lovers derives from a mid-eighteenth-century Scots ballad generally known as “The Lass of Loch Royale.” Variations on these shoe/glove lines were widespread in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America, sometimes taking the spotlight in composite songs called “Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot” and “Oh, Who Will Shoe My Foot,” but more often turning up in other songs, including “Poor Boy,” “Don’t Let Your/My Deal Go Down,” “Fare You Well, My Own True Love,” “The True Lover’s Farewell,” “The False True Lover,” “(Fare You Well, My) Mary Anne,” “The Storms Are on the Ocean,” “Ten Thousand Miles,” and “Turtle Dove.”

  The version sung in this novel is from “John Henry” (variant E), the famous lament for a heroic black railway man, in Negro Workaday Songs, edited by Odum and Johnson (1926).

  GLOSSARY OF FRENCH

  (IN ORDER OF USE IN THE NOVEL)

  Dors, min p’tit quinquin, / Min p’tit pouchin, / Min gros rojin; / Te m’f’ras du chagrin / Si te n’dors point qu’à d’main

  Sleep, my little child, / My little chick, / My fat grape; / You’ll annoy me if you don’t / Go to sleep till tomorrow

  qu’est-ce?: What?

  merde: shit (human or animal); exclamation of annoyance

  micheton: (literally, “little Michael”) prostitute’s trick or john

  allumeuse: (literally, “she who lights/turns on”) cocktease

  cigare: (literally, “cigar”) penis

  l’heure bleue: (literally, “the blue hour”) dusk

  gamin: urchin, street child

  ça va, mademoiselle?: All right, miss?

  cuisses de grenouille au beurre noir: frog legs in black butter

  mon vieux: my old friend (masc.)

  dehors: outside

  connard: jerk

  bordel: brothel; exclamation of annoyance

  chérie, ça va?: Darling (fem.), how are you?

  Blanche la danseuse: Blanche the dancer

  mac/maquereau: boyfriend of a prostitute

  ami intime: bosom buddy (masc.)

  Au clair de la lune, on n’y voit qu’un peu: By moonlight, you can’t see much

  Maman: Mom

  quelle salope: what a bitch

  la vie de bohème: bohemian life

  Courrier de San Francisco: a French-language San Francisco newspaper

  con: (literally, “vulva”) fool

  enchanté: delighted to meet you (masc.)

  pantalon: trousers

  chacun ses goûts: to each his own

  qu’importe: no matter

  mon beau: my handsome (masc.)

  heureux au jeu, malheureux en amour: lucky at gambling, unlucky in love

  petite amie: girlfriend, lover (fem.)

  ma puce: my flea; term of endearment

  le Cirque d’Hiver: the Winter Circus

  les jours anciens: past times

  des conneries: bullshit

  satané: (literally, “satanic”) damn

  Français: the French, or Frenchmen

  à table, messieurs-dames: come and eat, ladies and gentlemen

  Monsieur Loyal: traditional title of circus ringmaster

  vous comprenez?: you understand?

  Voici la fin de la semaine: / Qui veut m’aimer? / Je l’aimerai. / Qui veut mon âme? / Elle est à prendre.

  Here’s the weekend: / Who wants to love me? / I’ll love him. / Who wants my soul? / It’s for the taking.

  putain: whore; exclamation of annoyance or surprise

  prends-la dans le cul: take her in the ass

  chatte: (literally, “female cat”) vulva

  l’amant de Blanche: Blanche’s lover (masc.)

  merci: thanks

  bisou: kiss

  regarde le beau cheval: look at the handsome horse

  chut: shh

  voilà: there

  caca: poo

  viens ici, mon gars: come here, my lad

  gulli gulli: tickling taunt

  putain de merde: (literally, “shit-whore”) exclamation of extreme annoyance

  mon amour: my love (masc.)

  pauv’ bébé: poor baby

  qu’est-ce que ce sera?: What’ll it be?

  choucroute: sauerkraut

  j’en ai marre: I’ve had enough

  bordel de merde: (literally, “shit-brothel”) exclamation of extreme annoyance

  patron: boss

  foutu: (literally, “fucked”) damn

  bel ami: boyfriend, boy toy

  hein: now (conveying insistence)

  Chapeau sur côté, Musieu Bainjo / La canne à la main, Musieu Bainjo, / Botte qui fait crin crin, Musieu Bainjo …

  Hat on one side, Mr. Banjo, / Cane in hand, Mr. Banjo / Boots that squeak, Mr. Banjo …

  la vie est trop courte pour boire du mauvais vin: life’s too short to drink bad wine

  la ville sans honte: the shameless city/town

  désolée: sorry (fem.)

  Mais il est bien court, le temps des cerises … / Cerises d’amour au robes pareilles, / Tombant sous la feuille en gouttes de sang …

  But cherry time is very short …/ Cherries of love in the same dresses, / Falling under the leaves in drops of blood …

  bonne nuit, mes amis: good night, my friends

  hou-hou: yoo-hoo

  comme il faut: as it should be done

  cuisses de grenouille à la poulette: frog legs chicken-style

  à bientôt: see you soon

  bonne chance: good luck

  libre: free (to do)

  gratuit: free (in price)

  cul: ass (meaning sex in general)

/>   ta gueule: shut your trap

  enchantée: delighted to meet you (fem.)

  l’une pour l’autre, double paix-paroli, masque, sept-et-le-va: faro jargon

  que ça pue: what a stink

  va te faire foutre: go fuck yourself

  bon voyage: have a good trip

  jamais de fumée sans feu: there’s no smoke without fire

  fille de joie: (literally, “joy girl”) prostitute

  Mardi i’ r’viendra m’ voire, / O gai! vive la rose; / Mais je n’en voudrai pas, / Vive la rose et le lilas!

  He’ll come back to see me on Tuesday, / Hey, long live the rose; / But I won’t want him back / Long live the rose and the lilac!

  gouine: dyke

  ma pauvre: poor thing (fem.)

  qu’est-ce que c’est que ça?: What’s this?

  qu’est-ce qui m’est arrivé?: What’s happened to me?

  gendarmes: French police

  corbillard: hearse

  croque-morts: undertaker’s assistants

  le voilà enfin: there he is at last

  un enfant sauvage: a wild child

  enceinte: pregnant

  mari de convenance: husband of convenience

  santé: to your health (a toast)

  pommes frites: French fries

  Ma chandelle est morte, / Je n’ai plus de feu. / Ouvre-moi ta porte / Pour l’amour de Dieu.

  My candle’s out, / I’ve got no more fire. / Open your door to me, / For the love of God.

  dernier cri: the last word in fashion

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Born in Dublin in 1969 and now living in London, Ontario, EMMA DONOGHUE writes short stories and literary history as well as drama for stage, radio, and screen, but she is best known for her novels both historical (Slammerkin, Life Mask, The Sealed Letter) and contemporary (Stir-fry, Hood, Landing). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 and a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, and Orange Prizes. For more information, go to emmadonoghue.com.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  ALSO BY EMMA DONOGHUE

  Astray

  Room

  Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature

  The Sealed Letter

  Landing

  Touchy Subjects

  Life Mask

  The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits

  Slammerkin

  Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins

  Hood

  Stir-Fry

  CREDITS

  Cover illustration: Emma Farrarons

  Cover design: Katie Tooke

  Copyright

  Frog Music

  Copyright © 2014 by Emma Donoghue Ltd.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPub Edition MARCH 2014 ISBN 9781443429146

  Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

  First Canadian edition

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

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  Emma Donoghue, Frog Music

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