Carve Dat Possum

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"Carve Dat Possum"
CarveDatPossum-1875.jpg
Cover of "Carve Dat Possum", 1875
Song
LanguageEnglish
Published1875
Songwriter(s) Sam Lucas

"Carve Dat Possum" is a minstrel song attributed to Sam Lucas in 1875. Very popular in its time, [1] it tells of hunting and preparing a possum to eat. The chorus:

Contents

Carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart;
Carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart. [2]

The song, as published by Lucas, is in 2/4 time.

Although the song was first performed by Lucas, The Pacific Appeal (San Francisco, October 25, 1879) notes that "it was only after a long epistolary discussion that Henry Hart obtained a public acknowledgement that he was the genuine author."

References

  1. Johnson, Black Manhattan, p. 118: "One of the most popular of the minstrel songs of the seventies was 'Carve dat 'Possum,' written by Sam Lucas."
  2. Lucas, "Carve Dat Possum".

Bibliography