mama lion
- Thread starter sam_net
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She is speaking figuratively (I presume) of her upbringing as that of an orphan child raised by wild beasts (compare the Romulus and Remus legend, and many others), in this case a lioness. It means she was raised to be tough, independent, perhaps wild. That is why she will not be told what to do by "no a-high-toned woman". Cain't simply means can't: "I can't be made to walk the line".
Cain't means "there ain't no high-toned who can". A mama lion may just mean a very rough person. I'm not sure. I don't even know what canebrake means.
This is a song written in the speech style of African American folk music which hearks back to the 19th century. A "canebreak" is a thicket or bush of sugar cane plants; this further enforces the image of a deprived semi-wild upbringing. The singer's boasts are perhaps not meant to be taken absolutely literally (were there ever lions in the canebreaks?); there is an element of folk-lore about it.
No, this is the speech of former slaves and poor whites in the rural areas of the country in the1800s into the early 20th century. "Mama lion" or "mamaline" was the elder woman last one from or closest in line to the old country or the medical lore of the old country. In some places she was called the "herb doctor" or "medicine woman". Caine brake is an opening in a stand of high grass like sugar cane or bamboo.