The phrase survives in folk songs such as "The Yellow Rose of Texas", which originally referred to Emily West Morgan, a "mulatto" indentured servant apocryphally associated with the Battle of San Jacinto. Blind Willie McTell's song "Lord, Send Me an Angel" has its protagonist forced to choose among three women, described as "Atlanta yellow", "Macon brown", and a "Statesboro blackskin". Bessie Smith's song "I've Got What It Takes", by Clarence Williams, refers to "a slick high yeller" boyfriend who "turned real pale" when she would not wait for him to get out of jail. Curtis Mayfield's song "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue" makes reference to a "high yellow girl". In "Big Leg Blues", Mississippi John Hurt sings: "Some crave high yellow. I like black and brown."