Angelina Baker

"Angelina Baker" is a song written by Stephen Foster for the Christy Minstrels, and published in 1850. The original version laments the loss of an enslaved woman, sent away by her owner, but the lyrics have changed significantly over time and multiple versions now exist. In livestreams, the band usually follow the Norfolk Broads' version of the lyrics.

Lyrics

I used to work, I used to sing so happy all the day
Till Angelina Baker came and stole my heart away.
Angelina Baker, she's the girl I love so true,
Oh, Angelina Baker, I would give my heart to you.

{Chorus}
Angelina Baker, age of forty-three,
Fed her sugar candy but she wouldn't marry me.
Angelina Baker, Angeline I know,
Should have married Angeline twenty years ago.

Angelina Baker lives on the village green,
The way I always loved her beats all you've ever seen.
Angeline is handsome, Angeline is tall,
She broke her little ankle dancing in the hall.

Angelina liked the boys as far as she could see,
I waited by her window but she never looked at me.
I bought her pounds of cherries and a ribbon for her hair,
But when I went to find her Angelina wasn't there.

{Chorus}

I've seen my Angelina in the springtime and the fall,
I've seen her in the cornfield and I've seen her at the ball.
And every time I met her she was smiling like the sun
But now I'm left to weep a tear 'cause Angelina's gone.

Early in the morning on a lovely summer's day
I asked for Angelina and they said she'd gone away.
I don't know where to find her and I don't know where she's gone
She's left me here to weep a tear and play on the old jawbone.

{Chorus}

Bought Angeline a brand new dress, neither black nor brown,
The colour of the stormy sky before the rain came down.
Sixteen horses in my team, the leader he was blind.
I dreamt that I was dying, I saw my Angeline.

{Chorus 2x}

Recordings

Full Band Streams

Chill Streams