Cindy

John Lomax thought the song came from North Carolina. One of the earliest printed versions is in Anne Virginia Culbertson's 1904 book of African American folktales, At the Big House, where a character sings a plantation song called "Cindy Ann." The tune comes from the spiritual "The Gospel Train," also known as "Get on Board, Little Children."

Singers have always added their own verses and borrowed others from songs like "Old Joe Clark" and "Boil Them Cabbage Down." For much of the 20th century it was in school songbooks as an example of American folk music.