Authorized Edition.
CHRISTY'S PLANTATION MELODIES.
"Yo! Yah! Yo!
Strike the Old Banjo" (1853)
as sung at
Christy's American Opera House,
No. 472 Broadway.
Written & Composed by
Charlie C. Converse.
[Charles Crozat Converse, (1832-1918)]

New York, NY: William Hall & Son, 239 Broadway
New Orleans, LA: H. D. Hewitt
Boston, MA: Henry Tolman
Plate No. 2715
[Source: 023/099@Levy]

1.
  O darkies come and listen,
To what I’m going to say,
  Old massa said this morning,
He’s going far away;
  Come Sukey sweep the kitchen,
And Pompy take the bow,
  For let us all be merry,
So drop the shovel and the hoe.

CHORUS [sung after each VERSE]
Yo! Yah! Yo! Strike the old Banjo,
For massa’s gone away, so we’ll have a holiday,
For there’s no use of working ’till he comes back.

2.
  All day I pick the cotton,
At night I see Miss Kate,
  I ask her if she’d have me,
Says she: you’re a little too late
  Young Cato was around her,
He loves like all creation,
  He says that I am the greatest belle,
That lives on the old plantation.

3.
  The sausage meat is lovely,
It just suits this ere dark,
  For when he gets it early
At noon he gin to bark;
  One morning Julius eat some,
That night he called on Sophy,
  Says she that chap must leave this house,
For he’s got the hydroperphoby.

4.
  There’s music in the banjo,
Oh my! how sweet it sound,
  But when Kate sings La Norma,
They hear it five mile round;
  Mr Johnson has enganged her,
The crowds come here accordin,
  She gives a shake and then a thrill,
And wakes them on the other side of Jordan.