Josephine Douglas 1939
Collected from Josephine Douglas in 1939 at the Parchman Farm Women's Correctional Farm in Mississippi by Herbert Halpert
Chorus:
I’m sittin’ by the river on the levee, Waiting ’til the steamboat come down,
Them cotton bales are rolling mighty heavy, Miles and miles around.
I thought I heard the steamboat when she landed, Landed on the levee below,
I’m sittin’ by the river on the levee, Waiting ’til the steamboat come down.
Noah, Noah, what a foolish man,
Built the ark on the sandy land.
End of every verse:
I said, who built the ark? (Brother Noah, Noah!)
Who built the ark? (Brother Noah, Noah!)
Brother Noah built the ark!
Matthew stood by the Red Sea shore,
Smotin’ at the water with a two-by-four.
Matthew, Martha, Luke and John,
All them sinners is a-dead and gone.
Matthew, Martha sitting in the shade,
Thinking about the money that I ain’t made.