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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 peaceIs 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 skirtBrown gal, she does the sameBlack gal wears an old Mary JaneBut it's a hobble just the sameOh, coming round the mountain, charming BetsyComing round the mountain, Cora LeeIf I die before I wakeDo, 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 BetsyShe's a-running on that eastbound trainAnd the next time I seen Charming BetsyShe'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 billHe thinks that's nothing strangeBut a coloured man give his wife a one dollar billAnd beat her to death 'bout the 90 cents changeChorus:
I'm goin' round the mountain, Charmin' BetsyGoing round the mountain, Cora LeeNow if I never see you againDo Lord, remember meWell a white man lives in a fine brick houseHe thinks that's nothing strangeBut we poor coloured men lives in the county jailBut it's a brick house just the sameThe Limelighters's version has:
Rich gal she drives a fancy RollsPoor gal she drives a Model AWell my gal she only has to use her thumbShe gets there just the sameRich gal she wears the finest clothesPoor gal she'd like to do the sameMy gal she doesn't wear a dogonne thingBut 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 legDinah, Dinah show us your leg,A yard above the kneeA rich girl rides in a limousineA poor girl rides a truckBut the only ride that Dinah takesis when she has a..A rich girl uses a brassiereA poor girl uses stringBut Dinah uses nothing at allshe 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.