The Charming Black Mustache (Trad: Perf. by Lily Mae Stewart)

“My name is Lily Mae Stewart. I was born in 1904. That’s quite a while. I guess you know how old that makes me. I’m 90 years old.” – Lily Mae Stewart

From the Album Here I Stand: Elder’s Wisdom; Children’s Song (Smithsonian Folkways)

Once, I had a charming beau
I loved him dear as life.
I thought the time would surely come
When I would be his wife
His pockets, they were filled with gold
And o’ he cut a dash
With a diamond ring, a watch and chain
And his charming black mustache.

He came to sing one Sunday
He stayed ‘til almost three.
He said he never loved a girl
As well as he loved me.
He said we’d live on grandest style
For he had plenty of cash.
And then upon my lips he pushed
His charming black mustache.

There came along a sour old maid
She wore her weight in gold.
She had false teeth, she wore false hair
She was forty-five-years old.
He cruelly deserted me
Just for that old maid’s cash.
And that’s the way I lost my beau
With the charming black mustache.

And now they live just over the street
In a mansion gray and old.
She married him for his black mustache
He married her for her gold.
So girls, remember my sad fate
And never be too rash
And leave alone those stylish chaps
Who wear the black mustache.

Spoken and sung by Lily Mae Stewart, which she learned from her father as a young girl.

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Here I Stand: Elders’ Wisdom, Children’s Song is exclusively available on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

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