Ozark Trilogy Filksongs

"The Baby No Granny Would Name"

[Tune: "A Bird in a Gilded Cage"]

Oh, I am the baby no Granny would name;
what a way for my life to begin!
They would turn back my quilt,
take one look at my face,
and cover me up again....
Now I go through this world with no name of my own;
oh, how can I live with this shame?
For my kin all renounce me,
and folks all denounce me,
as The Baby No Granny Would Name!

[This would not be one bit funny, since a nameless woman on Ozark would have no identity whatsoever and no idea what she was to do in this world. I therefore offer you an optional second verse to be used in those situations where just making the first verse hokey isn't enough to dispel the misery -- when there are children listening, for example.]

Oh, I was the baby no Granny would name,
but that was a long time ago!
I was nameless for years;
but, my friends, it appears
the Grannys intended it so.
And when I was thirteen they returned to the scene
and put a quick end to my shame....
Oh, once I was nameless,
but now I'm called Shameless,
not The Baby No Granny Would Name!

Copyright © 1982 by Suzette Haden Elgin

"Spells, Oh Spells, Oh Careless Spells!"

[Tune: "Careless Love"]

Note: The first verse below is also used as the chorus. And please feel free to make up all the additional verses that come to your mind.

Spells, oh spells, oh careless spells!
Careless spells will trouble you!
If you keep on casting careless spells,
what a lot of strange things you can do!

Thought I'd catch a young man's eye;
meant to make him cleave to me.
Must have made a slip somewhere --
there he sits, on my big sister's knee!

Meant to make dirt disappear,
keeping clean the modern way.
Must have done it backwards, though --
there's a ring around my house today!

I'm invisible to you;
you're invisible to me.
My index cards said, "Friendship Spell" --
guess my index cards aren't error free!

[And so on....]

Copyright © 1982 by Suzette Haden Elgin

From The First Ozark Trilogy Filksong Collection, 1982

Website Copyright © 2001 by Suzette Haden Elgin