Pay Me My Money Down

"Pay Me My Money Down" (Roud 21449, also known as "Pay Me" or "Pay Me, You Owe Me") is a work song originated among the Black stevedores working in the Georgia Sea Islands. It was collected by Lydia Parrish and published in her 1942 book, Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands:

Pay me, Oh pay me,
Pay me my money down.
Pay me or go to jail,
Pay me my money down.

The melody is much older and used in other songs.

It was performed by The Weavers during their influential 1955 Carnegie Hall concerts, and was further popularized by The Kingston Trio on tour starting in 1957. Capitalizing on the Weavers' folk success with the song, Robert Nemiroff and Burt D'Lugoff appropriated the melody unchanged for their pop song Cindy, Oh Cindy, originally recorded in 1956 by Vince Martin and The Tarriers, and quickly covered by Eddie Fisher.

Dan Zanes performed a children's version done calypso-style on his popular 2002 album Night Time.

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