Who the heck is “Dinah?” The second question that begs to be answered is : Who is in the kitchen with her, and why is it significant?
You may wonder just what I am going on about.
Remember the folk song?
Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah
Someone’s in the kitchen I know
Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah
Strummin’ on the old banjo!
The song is a temp change section of “‘I’ve been Workin On the Railroad.” Kind of like how in “Last Dance,” Donna Summers starts out one way, and then everyone has been waiting until she gets to the uptempo part of the song. Okay. Not really. Bad analogy. Truth be told “Dinah” had her own song, penned around 1840 and published in London. We must travel back through history to have all those burning questions answered.
1) Does the “Someone” in the kitchen with Dinah, i.e, the phrase “Someone’s in the Kitchen I Know,” mean that someone is in the kitchen that the singer is well aquainted with? Or does the singer imply that he/she “knows” that someone is in the kitchen. They are aware of they whole “state of affairs” but they do not indicate who it could possibly be.
2) In the 1800s, it would seem that kitchens were quite more utilitarian. There were no large L-shaped counters with breakfast bar stools back then. It was also awfully hot without air conditioning. In otherwords, we do not “buy” the concept that Dinah regularly “entertains” in said kitchen. The presence of a banjo playing person, or the fact that a person who is normally in the kitchen who suddenly breaks out the banjo, therefore, is highly suspect. However, since Dinah would not have a radio to listen to while washing dishes, it is possible she sought alternative entertainment. Does this qualify?
This all leads me to believe that the song’s point was that this was not a usual occurence. Otherwise, no one would have written a song about it. Unless they just needed something to rhyme with “know” and True there are other folk songs where not much happens out of the ordinary. But it had to be something that stuck out a little in the writer’s mind to actually put pen to paper.
The original name of the song, I have discovered, was Old Joe or Somebody in the House with Dinah. Ah-HA! So it was JOE who was in the kitchen and strumming said Banjo. When one question is answered, it opens a floodgate of many more! Was he her dad? Was he a wandering minstrel? Was he trying to court her? Was he the local crazy person? Was this a commercial establishment and he worked there? We need to know! It he was “Old” Joe maybe Dinah was very young and thought it was gross that this really old guy was interested in her.
Maybe I have left you with more questions than answers. Never trust someone who seems to have a “useless information” area of their brains with this sort of thing. Don’t trust anyone who just casually seems to always be carrying around a banjo…or a mandolin for that matter.
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