by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906)
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane
Language: English
Treat me nice, Miss Mandy Jane,
Treat me nice.
[Dough]1 my love has tu'ned my brain,
Treat me nice.
I ain't done a [t'ing]2 to shame,
Lovahs all ac's jes' de same;
Don't you know we ain't to blame?
Treat me nice!
[Cose]3 I know I 's talkin' wild;
Treat me nice;
I cain't talk no bettah, child,
Treat me nice;
Whut a pusson gwine to do,
Wen he come a-cou'tin' you
All a-trimblin' thoo and thoo?
Please be nice.
Reckon I mus' go de paf
Othahs do:
Lovahs lingah, ladies laff;
Mebbe you
Do' mean all the things you say,
An' pu'haps some latah day
W'en I [baig]4 you ha'd, you may
Treat me nice!
About the headline (FAQ)
View original text (without footnotes)1 Carpenter: "Though"
2 Carpenter: "thing"
3 Carpenter: "'Co'se"
4 Carpenter: "baigs"
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906), "A plea", appears in Lyrics of Love and Laughter, first published 1903 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Alden Carpenter (1876 - 1951), "Treat me nice", 1905? [ medium voice and piano ], from Three Songs for a Medium Voice, no. 3 [sung text checked 1 time]
Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-07-27
Line count: 24
Word count: 116