Part 3 — XCII.

To the same class belongs:—

[Listen] [XML]

Ring a diamond, ring a diamond, Why oh ring a diamond. Get in the ring you'll find one Sambo boy. Why oh ring a diamond. Me look me da look me no find one Sambo boy. Why oh ring a diamond. Me find me diamond, me find me diamond. Why oh ring a diamond. Wheel you diamond, wheel you diamond. Why oh ring a diamond. Let go diamond, let go diamond. Why oh ring a diamond.

This tune has a beautiful swing. In many bars it is almost impossible to distinguish whether the tune is triple or duple. Much license may be allowed in the direction of the latter to a good timist, but the general impression of triple time must be kept. The "Sambo boy" bar must be sung very smoothly. It is neither quite as it is written the first time nor quite as it occurs in the second, but just between the two. Three even crotchets with judicious tempo rubato would give it. It will be understood that these tunes are sung antiphonally. In this one the leaders, who know the tune and words well, sing the first four bars and the next four belong to the chorus, after which the leaders take it up again, and so on.

There is an opportunity here for a little harmless "chaff" about colour. The diamond chosen is a black diamond, the blacker the better. The ring forms round him joining hands, and one girl is pushed in to look for the Sambo boy. She says:—"I look, I am looking, I don't find a Sambo boy" (i.e. a quarter black). At last she finds her diamond, either the boy inside the ring or one of those who circle round him, and they dance together, wheeling and letting go hands at the words "wheel," "let go."

"Why" is an ejaculation, probably the same as Hi!