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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Eiizabeth Cotten - "Shake Sugaree" (sound file, lyrics, & meanings)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents a sound file of Elizabeth Cotten's song "Shake Sugaree" as sung by her grand-daughter Brenda Evans. This post also provides information about that song and a discussion of the meaning of the song and its title.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes

INFORMATION ABOUT ELIZABETH COTTEN
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Cotten
"Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an American blues and folk musician, singer, and songwriter...

Her approach involved using a right-handed guitar (usually in standard tuning), not re-strung for left-handed playing, essentially, holding a right-handed guitar upside down. This position required her to play the bass lines with her fingers and the melody with her thumb. Her signature alternating bass style has become known as "Cotten picking"...

Over the course of the early 1960s, Cotten went on to play more shows with big names in the burgeoning folk revival. Some of these included Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters at venues such as the Newport Folk Festival and the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife.

The newfound interest in her work inspired her to write more material to play and in 1967, she released a record created with her grandchildren which took its name from one of the songs she had written, Shake Sugaree."...

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FEATURED SOUND FILE

Elizabeth Cotten - Shake Sugaree



TheMusoboy, Published on Apr 18, 2013

-snip-
[This song was recorded in 1967 with vocals by Brenda Evans, Elizabeth Cotton's granddaughter.]
-snip-
LYRICS: SHAKE SUGAREE
(Libba Cotten)

Have a little song.
Won't take long.
Sing it right,
Once or twice.

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn*
Everything I got is down in pawn.

Pawn my watch.
Pawn my chain.
Pawn everything that was in my name.

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn.
Everything I got is down in pawn.

Pawn my buggy,
Horse and cart.
Pawn everything that was on my lot.

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn.
Everything I got is down in pawn.

Pawn my chair.
Pawn my bed.
Ain't got nowhere to lay my head.

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn.
Everything I got is down in pawn.

Pawn my tobacco.
Pawn my pipe.
Pawned everything that was in my sight.

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn.
Everything I got is down in pawn.

Have a little secret
I ain't gonna tell.
I'm going to heaven in a ground pea shell.**

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn.
Everything I got is down in pawn.

Pawn my farm.
Pawn my plough.
Pawned everything, even pawned my old cow.

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is down in pawn.
Everything I got is done in pawn.

Pawn my hat,
Pawn my shoes.
Pawned everything that I could use.

Oh, Lawdy me
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is done in pawn.
Everything I got is done in pawn.

Have a little secret,
I ain't gonna tell
I'm goin' to heaven and I ain't gonna..."***

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is done in pawn.
Everything I got is done in pawn.

Chew my tobacco.
Spit my juice.
Would raise Cain but it ain't a bit ah use. ****

Oh, Lawdy me,
Didn't I shake sugaree?
Everything I got is done in pawn.
Everything I got is done in pawn.
Everything I got is done in pawn.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell from the above recording.

*I originally transcribed these words as "done and pawned" as I thought that was a 
creative form of the African American vernacular English "done pawned" meaning "I pawned (everything) a while ago." However, I but I'm convinced by the discussion below that "done in pawn" was what Elizabeth Cotten sang. Thanks to all those who shared their opinions about these lyrics. 

**"Ground pea shell" is often given as "brown pea shell". The word "brown" might be what the vocalist is singing. [Added August 8, 2022- Read the comment written in the discussion thread below about "ground pea" being a common alternative name for "peanut" which means that "ground pea shell" is probably what is being sung.)   

***"Gonna" here means "going to".
I believe that the word "hell" is omitted from this line but is understood. That purposeful omission is an example of profanity avoidance that commonly occurs in some American folk songs. One example of this profanity avoidance is the playground rhyme "Miss Susie Had A Steamboat". However, in some examples of that rhyme the word "hell" is said at the end of the sentence but is combined with the syllable "lo" to form the socially acceptable word "hello".

**** "to raise Cain" means "to make a lot of trouble; to raise hell"
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/raise+Cain

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "SHAKE SUGAREE"
From http://ramone666.blogspot.com/2008/04/shake-sugaree.html
"Shake Sugaree is a song I´ve always loved, especially in the original version as performed by the amazing Elizabeth Cotten. "I've a little secret, I ain't gonna tell... I'm goin' to heaven in a ground pea shell... Oh, Lordy me, didn't I shake sugaree, everything I got is down in pawn..." It´s Elizabeth ´Libba´ Cotten (1895-1987) on guitar here only by the way, as her great grandchild Brenda Evans is singing it. And what a voice she´s got... Brenda was only twelve (!) at the time, and contributed to the lyrics together with her brother Johnny and her two cousins Sue and Wendy, on gran Elizabeth´s melody. According to Cotten in the liner notes "the first verse, my eldest great grandson, he made that himself, and from that each child would say a word and add to it. To tell the truth, I don´t know what got it started, but it must have been something said or something done". Find this jewel on the cd Shake Sugaree (Smithsonian Folkways)."
-snip-
That blog post also has information about other renditions of Elizabeth Cotton's song "Shake Sugaree" by Taj Mahal, Bob Dylan, and others.

This song is different in lyrics & tune from the Greatful Dead's song "Sugaree". There's no doubt that in the Greatful Dead song "Sugaree" is a term of endearment like "Sugar" and "Honey". However, there are multiple theories about the meaning of the word "sugaree" and the phrase "shake sugaree" in the Elizabeth Cotton song since neither Elizabeth Cotton, nor her grand-daughter, vocalist Brenda Evans, nor any other family member has ever explained what "shake sugaree" means. Some of those theories are presented below.

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THEORIES ABOUT THE MEANING/S OF "SHAKE SUGAREE"
Most of the websites which provide opinions of the meaning of the word "sugaree" and/or the phrase "shake sugaree" do so as though what they are writing is an indisputable fact. However, weenie campbell.com presents & discusses a number of theories in a four page discussion which began on May 08, 2012 & ended (to date) on June 20, 2012. Click http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=8616 for the first page of that discussion.

Here are some of the theories that were presented on that forum:
1. The word "sugaree" in Cotton's song is an affectionate name, and the phrase is actually "Shake, Sugaree" ("Dance, Sugaree")
Note that there is a late 1950s song entitled "Sugaree" which was recorded several times by White American vocalists. Here's a comment from the above mentioned weeniecampbell.com discussion: "the Marty Robbins' song, "Sugaree," had been recorded three different times, the first time by the Jordanaires in 1957. If it received airplay or if the record was played at home, the children could have picked it up (it's catchy) and worked it into the song. Here are the Jordanaires on Youtube singing "Sugaree": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIyoJdL304cM

2. The phrase 'shake sugaree' "means having a good time and is related to throwing sugar on the floor and then dancing on it, producing a percussive sound when the feet move on the sugared floor". Click http://rickmckeon.com/guitarlessons/shakel.pdf [rev. 12/4/07 for this note: "At house parties they used to shake sugar on the floor so it would crunch when stepped on, hence “to shake sugaree” meant to have a good time dancing. Even today, there’s a dance step called the “sugar step” which is an action like grinding sugar on the floor."
-snip-
Also, click
http://www.sugaronthefloor.com/ for another explanation of "sugar on the floor".

3. "Sugaree" is a form of the word "shivaree" and, in this context "shake sugaree" means "have a good time, partied (have a party). Here's some information from about the word "shivaree":
"Charivari (or shivaree or chivaree, also called "rough music") is the term for a French folk custom in which the community gave a noisy, discordant mock serenade, also pounding on pots and pans, at the home of newlyweds...

The early French colonists took the custom of charivari (or shivaree in the United States) to their settlements in Quebec. Some historians believe the custom spread to English-speaking areas of Lower Canada and eventually into the American South, but it was independently common in English society, so was likely part of Anglo-American customs"...
-snip-
Lyle Lofgren, one of the key bloggers on the weeniecampbell.com discussion cited above, wrote this about "shivarees"
“We had shivarees out in the country in Minnesota when I was a kid -- all the neighbors would assemble in front of a newlywed's house at about 10:00 at night, and all of us would yell, bang on plow coulters and other noisemakers, and in general create a disturbance until the couple appeared at the door to acknowledge our presence. I believed at the time that it was a common occurrence among country folk, although I've never asked other farm-raised people about it"...
-snip-
In 1999 folk singer Art Thieme gave this explanation for the meaning of the phrase "shake sugaree" on the Mudcat Cafe discussion about Elizabeth Cotton's song "Shake Sugaree" http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=11390:
"This was like we'll "have a shivaree"---a part---a celebration. Like sayin' "din't we have a time" or "didn't we boogie". ["part" was corrected in the next post to “party”]

4. "Sugaree" refers to a long extinct North Carolina tribe of Indians & mixed race people named the Shoccoree (also spelled Shakory, Cacores among others. The implication is that the North Carolina resident Elizabeth Cotton may either have been aware of this population or may have been descended from that population. According to that theory, the word "shake" means to "dance ecstatically."
-snip-
For what it's worth, I prefer theory #3, but I think that "shake sugaree" could also at the same time mean theory #2.

I don't accept theory #1 (that "sugaree" is a name or nickname) because there's no space between the vocalization of the word "shake" and "sugaree" as there would be if "sugaree" were a name/nickname. I consider theory #4 to be a bit of a stretch (as the bloggers on the weeniecampbell.com forum also came to feel) since just because words sound alike doesn't mean that they are related.

I vehemently disagree with the statement found in the article about the song "Sugaree" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugaree that Elizabeth Cotton's "Shake Sugaree" is about dying.

Although "Shake Sugaree" was originally sung by a twelve year old, I believe that its lyrics are written in the voice of an older person who is looking back on her or his life, reminiscing about the hardships of that life, but still saying "I had some real good times".

It's that sad but still upbeat feeling that this song conveys which makes it so appealing to many people, including me.

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UPDATE: September 12, 2014
It occurs to me that the word "sugaree" sounds like the word "sangaree".

I now believe that "shake sugaree" pertains to the "favorite dance
["Sandy Ree"/"Sangaree"] to which [the Gullah islanders] seemed to reserve their fanciest footwork and their hottest clapping" [quoting Step It Down].

Prior to doing research for a pancocojams post on the songs "Sangaree"/"Sandy Ree" post*, I favored the theory that "shake sugaree" came from the word "shavari" meaning a loud community serenade or gathering in celebration of the bride and groom.

The fact that Elizabeth CottEn was an African American from North Carolina [parts of which historically were considered Gullah country] adds further support to the theory that "shake sugaree" and "sangaree" are one in the same. Also, note the use of the word "sangaree" as the name of a North Carolina elementary School, and a North Carolina middle school, and a city in Georgia. All of those locations are in what historically was considered Gullah country.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/09/speculations-about-origin-meaning-of.html for that a pancocojams post.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Elizabeth Cotten, and her grand children for composing this song. Thanks also to Brenda Evans for singing this song, and Elizabeth Cotten for her guitar playing on this song & for her wonderful musical legacy.

My thanks also to the authors of the articles & the bloggers whose comments were quoted in this post. Thanks to the uploader for this featured sound file and thanks also to commenter Todd S. Hyatt for alerting me to my incorrect spelling of Elizabeth Cotten's last name..

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

32 comments:

  1. Elizabeth Cotton's "Shake Sugaree" is probably categorized as a Blues song, although some might consider it a folk song with a known composer.

    Like other Blues & folk songs, there are versions of "Shake Sugaree" which have lyrics that differ from those composed by Elizabeth Cotton & her grandchildren.

    Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=46729 for a discussion thread about "Shake Sugaree" which includes partial lyrics sung by Bob Dylan, and a fine, purposely folk processed version by folk singer Art Thiemes.

    Partial lyrics of the unrelated Grateful Dead song "Sugaree" are also found on that same discussion thread.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A "ground pea shell" is right since a "ground pea" was a common alternative name for a peanut. The peanut had a number of alternate names and that was one of them. Cheers.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Anonymous for sharing that information.
      I added a note about your comment in the post itself.
      Best wishes!

      Delete
  2. This appears to be one of those wonderful, elusive, enigmatic 'Americana' idioms ... thanx for the great discussion - luv Fred Neil's take on the Cotten original.

    Fred Neil:

    I’ve Got a Secret (Didn’t We Shake Sugaree)

    I’ve got a secret, I shouldn’t tell,
    I’m gonna go to heaven in a split-pea shell.
    Lordie me, didn’t we shake sugaree.
    Everything I have, down in pawn.

    You know I pawned my watch, I pawned my chain,
    I’d of sold myself, but I felt ashamed.
    Lordie me, didn’t we shake sugaree.
    Everything I have, down in pawn.

    I’ve got a song to sing, not very long,
    I’m gonna sing it right if it takes me all night long
    Lordie me, didn’t we shake sugaree.
    Everything I have, down in pawn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment ccryder.

      I appreciate the addition of Fred Neil's "Shake Sugaree" lyrics.

      Your comment made me look up this post, and I saw that the YouTube example I had showcased was no longer available. Luckily, there was another YouTube example that I could add.

      Thanks again!!

      Delete
  3. When I first heard the song, I put it in context with Garth Brooks song Rodeo, in that "And he'll sell off everything he owns
    Just to pay to play the game". So perhaps it meant pawning everything for a pleasurable activity.
    I just like the song.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, dpelham.

      I agree that "shake sugaree" probably means engaging in some pleasurable activity".

      Delete
  4. I'm delighted to have found this discussion!
    Thank you so much for your insights and your knowledge and appreciation of this beautiful music.
    Now I'm off to buy some sugar for my floor! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Margaret Farrell.

      I appreciate your comment. You're welcome, and btw, if you don't want to buy sugar, but live near the beach, you can use sand instead.

      Bill " Bojangles " ROBINSON " The Sand Dance " !!!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkD60wab3n4

      ;o)

      Delete
  5. Hi Azizi & friends. Love the song and versions; and this great discussion. We have echoes of these kind of folk fusions here in South Africa. I like your theory #4 about a Native American echo; we have echoes of San/Bushman music in contemporary folk fusion here like Rieldans. See:
    https://vimeo.com/177880338
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceVCpPNnXvc&t=36s

    Love Rhiannon Giddens versions - this is how I got here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLIEIbuh71o

    (And this song reminds me of someone too dear to me for words...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Greetings, Richardt.

      Thanks for alerting me and others at pancocojams to those YouTube examples.

      Here's those hyperlinks:

      https://vimeo.com/177880338 SanDance! - Rieldansteaser [South African dancers "The 'Trappers won in the ethnic/folk dance category at the 2015 World Dance Championships in Los Angeles."

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceVCpPNnXvc&t=36s Die Nuwe Graskoue Trappers [San/Bushman music and dance]

      and

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLIEIbuh71o Rhiannon Giddens - Shake Sugaree

      ****
      One Love!

      Delete
  6. Admire all the academic and archival research to justify various ideas but the one that satisfies me is that it is a refers to shooting craps - unsuccessfully - pawning your stuff to raise another stake - etc.

    Not saying the venerable Libby Cotten was a gambler mind you, but I don't she started out learning church music, and when she gave them up to please the deacon I doubt she really lost her appreciation for those old whirly(sp?) songs.

    So I may well be wrong but that's the way I'll always "hear" it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Skilletlicker, thanks for your comments.

      I think you mean "old worldly" instead of "whirly" :o)

      Delete
  7. Thank you, Azizi! This is the best resource I've found discussing the origins and possible meaning of this song. I so appreciate your dedication to telling these important stories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Katie.

      I love learning about these songs and sharing that information.

      I'm glad I have the time and wherewithal to do so.

      Best wishes!

      Delete
  8. When I first heard that tune, I thought sugaree was a nickname for cocaine. My sense is that the song was about a coke addiction. It was something most difficult to shake. Everything was pawned because of it. While it was joyous, it was also sad and Iife-wrecking. This is why it was a secret. However, the other interpretations are most fascinating.
    Sounds like I’m completely off-base.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had that impression too before I had any context about the writing of the song. It's fascinating to me that this was written by children!

      Though I have to say I'm surprised that none of the above interpretations take into account the verses of the songs, which are alternately all about pawning one's belongings and "goin' to heaven"! From that context, in lieu of the drug interpretation, I would think that the song could be either about recklessly pawning all of one's possessions for money in order to have a good time or about pawning one's possessions in an act of spiritual renunciation at the end of life before "goin' to heaven." I could be totally off, though.

      Delete
    2. Upon further reflection, my second interpretation doesn't make sense. If the narrator's intention was renunciation in preparation of dying, there wouldn't be any reason to pawn the items. My new thought is that the song could be about pawning things in order to become free from debt, to "shake sugaree". Maybe?

      Delete
    3. Thanks Miles for your comments. (Thanks also to Unknown whose comment I'm just reading).

      I appreciate your thoughts about this song, but I stand by my belief that I shared in this post: "Although "Shake Sugaree" was originally sung by a twelve year old, I believe that its lyrics are written in the voice of an older person who is looking back on her or his life, reminiscing about the hardships of that life, but still saying "I had some real good times"."

      Delete
  9. Check out the excellent version by Rhiannon Giddens!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, Unknown.

      Here's a link to a YouTube video of Rhiannon Giddens performing "Shake Sugaree": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLIEIbuh71o.

      Delete
  10. A lot of Elizabeth Cotten's songs are about dying, so I wouldn't dismiss the theory that this is one of them. To me, the song seems to be saying, "I lived a good and fulfilling life. Now I'm dying, so you can pawn all my things because I don't need them anymore." The lines about going to heaven reinforce this, as well as the mention that raising Cain won't be any use (i.e. there's no reason to fuss over her things being sold because she'll be dead).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anonymous for sharing your comments about this song. I appreciate it.

      Delete
  11. If a person is pawning everything they own they have a serious habit to support. Unbelievable that all the "guessing" as to the "meaning" of the song overlooks this obvious point...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous, thanks for your comment.

    I agree that your interpretation of this song could be accurate - that the person has a serious drug habit. However, I don't think it's the only possible reason that someone would pawn all their belongings.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you, Azizi Powell and interlocutors at pancocojams, for this fascinating and immensely helpful discussion of a beautiful and melancholy song. I love this recording by the songwriter, Elizabeth ("Libba") Cotten, and her 12-year-old granddaughter Brenda Joyce Evans. It goes straight to the heart and breaks it, yet at the same time uplifts my spirit and helps me get through the day.

    As we say out here in the northern Rocky Mountains, that's Big Medicine.

    There is one small matter that, with your indulgence, Azizi, I'd like to bring to your attention. Out of respect for the artist, a remarkable woman, and in the interest of historical accuracy, may I ask you to correct all renderings of "Cotton" to "Cotten." Some sources claim that "Elizabeth Cotton" is simply a "variation" of "Elizabeth Cotten," but I don't see how that holds up. "Cotton," it seems to me, is a mistake. Considering the clear and sincere desire of all participants in this exploration to understand "Shake Sugaree," I believe that we shouldn't encourage a perpetuation of this common error.

    The American treasure is "Elizabeth Cotten," not "Elizabeth Cotton."

    Incidentally: the finest, most beautiful, most exciting, most gracious, most vivacious, sweetest, coolest, godliest woman whom I've ever known is a descendant of Gullah islanders. I refer to her, a native of Georgetown, South Carolina, as the "sloe-eyed lady of the Lowcountry." Her name is always on my lips and permanently inscribed on my heart.

    Unfortunately, the "sloe-eyed lady of the Lowcountry" is much younger than I am and way out of my league. But I love her all the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Forgive me. I seldom post and don't publish my comments anywhere without identifying myself. I make no attempt to hide behind anonymity, which would be useless in any case. The omission was an oversight resulting from undue haste.

      The remarks above, shared on Sunday, September 17, 2023, regarding the proper spelling of musician and songwriter "Elizabeth Cotten," are mine:

      Todd S. Hyatt
      Sheridan, the Republic of Wyoming

      Thanks to Azizi and to all at pancocojams for your consideration.

      Delete
    2. Greetings, Todd S. Hyatt, thank you for correcting that error.

      My goodness! It's been more than ten years and I didn't realize I had made that mistake!

      I've corrected the name of that wonderful musician and songwriter in this post's title and in this post itself.

      Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

      Delete
  14. I'm enamored with this song. The refrain sounds to me like "down in pawn." That's a phrase I've heard old timers use fairly frequently. Although I could easily see "done and pawned" also being correct, that's just not what I'm hearing on the record. When you sell your items to a pawn shop, some people say you've pawn them, but truly, if you've pawned your items, they remain "in pawn" until you go and get them back, or they're sold by the shop after an agreed deadline.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Greetings, Anonymous. Thanks for your comment and your explanation of "down in pawn". You (and others) have convinced me that Elizabeth Cotten sung in "down in pawn" "Shake Sugaree". I'll make that correction in my transcription with a note that I originally had transcribed those words as "done and pawned".
      Thanks again.
      Best wishes!

      Delete