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"Dinah, Dinah Show us your Leg" is an American bawdy song.
The formula is a descending scale: "Rich girl [does something,] Poor girl [does something else], my girl don't [do whatever the other two do, usually with comic effect.]. The twentieth century versions are possibly the result of merging a minstrel song with "Coming Round the Mountain".
In "Negro Singers' Own Book" (c 1846) there is a song about animals:
Mr. Coon he is a mighty man, He carries a bushy tail, He steals old massa's corn at night, And husks it on a rail. De mink he is a mighty thing, He rambles in de dark; The only ting disturbs his peace Is my old bull dog's bark.By 1915 this had become a comment on the fashion tastes of white women:
Well a white lady wears a hobble skirt, A yaller gal tries to do the same, But a poor black gal wears a Mary Jane, But she's hobbling just the same. Well a white lady sleeps in a feather bed, A yaller gal tries to do the same, But a poor black gal makes a pallet on de floor, But she's sleeping just the same.Notably lacking in those songs, is a chorus. Another song, "Charmin' Betsy", noted in 1908, is clearly related to "Coming Round The Mountain":
I'm comin' round the mountain, Charmin' Betsy, I'm comin' round the mountain, 'fore I leave, An' if I never more see you, Take this ring, an' think of me. An' wear this ring I give you, An' wear it on your right han', An' when I'm dead an' forgotten, Don't give it to no other man.By 1914, these two songs had become merged into a new song, sometimes called "Charmin' Betsy". A version collected in 1914, called 'White Gal, Yaller Girl, Black Gal' goes as follows:
Oh, a yaller gal, she wears a hobble skirt Brown gal, she does the same Black gal wears an old Mary Jane But it's a hobble just the same Oh, coming round the mountain, charming Betsy Coming round the mountain, Cora Lee If I die before I wake Do, gals, remember meLouise Rand Bascom, in an essay in the Journal of American Folklore Apr-June 1909, dated the song back into the 19th century. It appears to cross over between the black and white communities, united in saucy humour. Other version have "City girls, country girls, mountain girls", "White girl, yellow girl, black girl" (or the other way around).
Recorded versions
Fiddlin' John Carson's version of "Charming Betsy" (1925) is like this:
The first time I saw Charming Betsy She's a-running on that eastbound train And the next time I seen Charming Betsy She's a-wearing the ball and chainJim Jackson's "Going Round the Mountain" (1928) has these lines:
Well a white man gives his wife a ten dollar bill He thinks that's nothing strange But a coloured man give his wife a one dollar bill And beat her to death 'bout the 90 cents changeChorus:
I'm goin' round the mountain, Charmin' Betsy Going round the mountain, Cora Lee Now if I never see you again Do Lord, remember me Well a white man lives in a fine brick house He thinks that's nothing strange But we poor coloured men lives in the county jail But it's a brick house just the sameThe Limelighters's version has:
Rich gal she drives a fancy Rolls Poor gal she drives a Model A Well my gal she only has to use her thumb She gets there just the same Rich gal she wears the finest clothes Poor gal she'd like to do the same My gal she doesn't wear a dogonne thing But I love her, yeah, just the sameThe satire on women's fashion lives on in a polite versions of this song, "How I Love You Darling" and "She's My Baby Doll". To prove that women have a sense of humour as well, the "Girl Scouts of America" have a version of "Charmin' Betsy" (http://www.elowin.com/songs/charmin_betsy.html)
By the 1960s, even sexier verses were known:
Dinah, Dinah show us your leg, show us your leg, show us your leg Dinah, Dinah show us your leg, A yard above the knee A rich girl rides in a limousine A poor girl rides a truck But the only ride that Dinah takes is when she has a.. A rich girl uses a brassiere A poor girl uses string But Dinah uses nothing at all she just lets the buggers swingSources:
Millwall football club have a parody:
Harry, Harry, break us a leg, Break us a leg. Break us a leg. Harry, Harry, break us a leg, A yard above the knee.Harry Cripps was a notoriously hard football player at Millwall.