A Little Darling Pal of Mine

09. Little Darling Pal of Mine
(A.P. Carter, APRS, BMI)

Track 9 – Little Darling Pal of Mine (MASTER MA 38)
This is another of the songs that Guthrie learned from a Carter Family recording of either 1930 or 1935. A.P. borrowed the melody from the white spiritual “When the World’s on Fire,” according to David Harbison’s master’s thesis, “A Study in the Song Tradition of Metcalfe County, Kentucky (Southern Illinois University, 1971). To that tune A.P. affixed a clutch of traditional “floating verses” that are used in multiple folk songs.

Guthrie sings lead and plays rhythm guitar, Houston harmonizes in this two-guitar version of
the song.