Johnson Girls

From the crew of The Boys of Mayport Florida

The recording from which this derives was made at sea by Robert Cornwall and Robert Cook on July 2nd, 1941. It is held at the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, AFS 3891. Notes in the AFC file include the following:

While the song was being sung the men were “hardnin’ up the nets” that is, they were standing in the two purseboats which formed a triangle against the side of the ship and were pulling the fish-laden net to the surface of the ocean. The first line of each verse was sung by a single man and the entire crew took up the chorus. The men were silent during the interval of pulling the net. The song continued each time they paused to get a new grip on the net.

  1. Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls
    Walk around, honey, walk around
    Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls
    Walk around, honey, walk around.
  2. They’re neat in the waist and got mighty fine legs
    Neat in the waist and got mighty fine legs.
  3. Great big legs and teeny-eensy feet
    Great big legs and teeny-eensy feet.
  4. Beef steak, beef steak, make a little gravy
    Your thing, my thing, make a little baby.
  5. They got somethin’ over yonder they call jewmaka jam
    Hot as cayenne but good, God Damn.
  6. Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls
    Them Johnson girls is mighty fine girls.
Lyrics from the recording: