Blue Vein Society

BLUE VEIN


[ tune: parody of "Saint James Infirmary" ]


[verse #1:]

They say in ol' New OR-leens,
There's mighty BRIGHT girls there --
With eyes light-brown, and maybe green,
With fairness in their hair.



[chorus:]

I go DOWN to the BLUE Vein
So-ci-e-ty,
For to SEE
if I'll get in;
They TAKE one look,
at my ebony face;
Don' WAN-na
see more of my skin.


[verse#2:]

BLACK as the ocean's bottom,
Black as a MOON-less night,
Black as the Pit
where Satan sits --
I'm giv-in' them BRIGHT ones a fright.


[verse #3:]

They say, you can work in our kitchens.
On our tables,
you can wait.
But it's for a quick death you'll be wishin' --
If you ask one of US
for a date.




..............
2007.
Reprint freely.
......
[ Notes: (1) In rural Louisiana, as late as the 1960s, a light-skinned "Negro"
might be described as "bright".
(2) "Blue Vein" societies, whether real or mythical,
were said to be composed of light-skinned "colored people",
whose veins could be seen thru their (relatively light) skin.
(3) Was such a distinction racist?
Or merely "colorist" ? ]


......