Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision: April 1, 2020
This pancocojams post provides general information about the book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants by Grace Cleveland Porter.
This post also includes my editorial comments about that book.
Other pancocojams post that showcases one or more specific examples of African American ring games (singing games) from Grace Cleveland Porter's book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants will be added to this series periodically. Those posts will be identified by using the tag "1914 book of Black singing games pancocojams" in Google search or in pancocojams' internal search engine.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks all those who shared examples of singing games and stories that are found in this book. Thanks to Grace Cleveland Porter for collecting these singing games and editing them in this book and thanks to Harvey Worthington Loomis for his musical notations. Thanks, also, to all those who are responsible for copies of this book being available online and offline.
****
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE 1914 BOOK "NEGRO FOLK SINGING GAMES AND FOLK GAMES OF THE HABITANTS
The book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games Of The Habitants was written by (White American) Grace Cleveland Porter with musical notations by Harvey Worthington Loomis. This book was published in London, England around 1914. Most of these singing games (as well as the folk stories) in this book were shared with Porter by an "old coloured woman" from Georgia who is only identified by the referent "Mammy". After the end of slavery, that woman "made her way to the North" and later worked as a servant for Grace Cleveland Porter. The examples that "Mammy" shared with Porter are labeled as "Southern folk tunes" in their musical notations.
In the Acknowledgement section of that book, Grace Cleveland Porter thanks Mr. Henry E. Krehbiel and W.W. Newell for four examples of singing games that she included in her book. Those examples had been collected by Mrs. Louise Clarke-Prynelle in Florida and given to Krehbiel who shared them in newspaper articles and then subsequently shared them with W. W. Newell for Newell's for his book, “Games and Songs of American Children” [which was published in 1883]. The titles for those examples are "I’m walkin’ on the Levee”, "King and Queen”, "I’ve lost a Partner", and “Turn, Cinnamon, turn". In the musical notations in Porter's book, these examples are labeled "Florida Singing Games". Porter writes that "These games [were] played by the 'Crackers,' a term playfully applied to the country folk of Florida." [end of quote] I'm not sure whether that referent (which is now derogatory) applied then only to White people as it does now. If so, the title of Porter's book and those rhymes dialectic English seem to imply that the above mentioned singing games which were played by White children had their source in "Negro" singing games. Note that the referent "Negro" became outdated, if not considered derogatory, since the late 1960s.
A "Brer Rabbit” traditional game and dance is also given in the second section of that book. That “Negro” game is identified as being from Mississippi and was given to Porter by her friend, Jean Cathcart of Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. Jean Cathcart was undoubtedly also a White American. The “Folk Games Of The Inhabitants” section of that book is a page of commentary about and three singing games from (White) French Canadians.
In the "Mammy's Stories" portion of the book, Porter wrote that she transcribed the singing games Mammy told her "not many years ago". In her commentary, Mammy mentions that she lived in the state of Georgia and that she knew these "ring games" (which Porter calls "singing games") for as long as she can remember. Given those comments, it's safe to say that these ring games are from 19th century Georgia, and may be even older than that.
Complete online copies of this book are available in several formats. I prefer the digital copy that begins at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.l0070051420&view=1up&seq=9. (scanned by the University of California.)
****
MY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS BOOK
As an African American living in the twenty-first century, I found Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games Of The Habitants to be a difficult read because of “Mammy’s “Negro” dialect, because of her laudatory comments about her life as a nurse to “quality children” during slavery, because of the Grace Cleveland Porter's nostalgic references to the “Old South” and that author's benign stereotypes of mammies during slavery and afterwards. Furthermore, I disliked reading Porter's elitist comments about Florida "Crackers". Also, the French-Canadian section (the Habitants) didn't appear to me to fit in well with the e rest of the book.
Nevertheless, I recognize Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants as one of the earliest books on African American children's singing games and folk tales, and I welcome the opportunity to learn these examples and share them with other via these my Google blogs pancocojams and cocojams2 (where one example to date - Bounce Around (also known as Going 'Round The Assembly) has been included in this post since 2015: https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/african-american-singing-games-movement.html African American Singing Games & Movement Rhymes (A-L).
Apart from its examples of African American singing games and folk stories, I believe that reading, studying, and writing about Grace Cleveland Porter's 1914 book Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants should be of interest to folklorist interested in 19th century/early 20th century French Canadian culture. And that book should be of interests to historians and sociologists interested in how enslaved Black people and freed Black people considered themselves and other Black people during slavery, with particular attention to the dynamics of field slaves and house slaves, and the real and perceived status that house slaves had based on the families who owned them. Portions of Negro Folk Singing Games And Folk Games of the Habitants that refer to all of these topics except the one about French Canadians will be quoted in upcoming pancocojams posts. The "1914 book on Negro singing games pancocojams" tag will also be used for that post or posts.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT GRACE CLEVELAND PORTER
There's no Wikipedia page for Grace Cleveland Porter. However she is briefly mentioned in the Wikipedia page for her husband, Riccardo Nobili, who was "an Italian painter, writer, and antiquarian, who she married in 1933: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riccardo_Nobili. Among that information about Porter is the fact that she was the great niece of United States President Grover Cleveland. Nobili's Wikipedia page also indicates that Grace Cleveland Porter ..."volunteered in Italy during World War I as a nurse with the Red Cross in an Italian hospital, and as Director of Recreation Services in Italian War Hospitals in Rome under the auspices of the YMCA. She wrote Negro Folk Singing Games and Folk Games of the Habitants and Mammina Graziosa (1916). Nobili received awards and decorations from the Italian government for her war service. Owing to her extraordinary service to Italy, despite being a Protestant, she was granted special permission to be buried next to her husband in the family chapel near Florence. Her papers were left to Smith College."
https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Porter,_Grace_Cleveland/Collections provides this information about Grace Cleveland Porter:
Furthermore, that website includes a photograph of Porter and her birth/death dates: "(1880 — 1953)". That website also indicates that "Works by this person are most likely not public domain within the EU and in those countries where the copyright term is life+70 years. They may also be protected by copyright in the USA, unless published before 1925, in which case they are PD there as well. However, this person's works are public domain in Canada (where IMSLP is hosted), and in other countries where the copyright term is life+50 years."...
****
TABLE OF CONTENT FOR [from https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.l0070051420&view=1up&seq=20
"FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PREFACE
MAMMY.S STORY
BRER’ RABBIT. Game and Dance \without music)
GLIMPSES ALONG THE ROADSIDE IN A HABITANT
VILLAGE PHOTOGRAPHS
Singing-Games.
MARCHIN’ ON DIS CAMP GROUN’
YOUR DARLIN’, MY DARLIN’
DE QUEEN OB ENGLAN’
I’M WALKIN’ ON THE LEVEE* .
I LOS’ MAH MISTIS’ DAIRY KEY...
BOUNCE AROUN’ .
COME, MAH LITTLE DARLIN’
FLY ROUN’ . .
THE NEEDLE‘S EYE . ..
MAH HEART’S GONE AWAY TO LOOSIANA
TURN, CINNAMON, TURN
KING AND QUEEN
I’VE LOST A PARTNER
LA BASTRINGUE ..
L’HIRONDELLE (THE SwALLow)
IL N’Y A QU’UN SEUL DIEU (THERE IS BUT 0x1; GOD)"
****
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Visitor comments are welcome.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Monday, March 30, 2020
Black Influences & Minstrel Influences On The Songs That Old Time Music Performer Uncle Dave Macon Sung & Played
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest edition- November 18, 2024
This pancocojams post presents an excerpt on the 2010 article by Michael Yates entitled "Uncle Dave Macon: A Study in Repertoire".
I am particularly interested in the author's statements about the Black influences and minstrel influences on the songs that (White American) Uncle Dave Mason sung and played. I'm also interested in the inclusion of lyrics for some of those songs that are included in these categories.
The content of this post is presented for historical and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Uncle Dave Macon for his musical legacy and thanks to the Michael Yates who wrote this article. Thanks also to mustrad.org for publishing this article online.
-snip-
This article includes the full spelling of the derogatory referent that is commonly known as "the n word". I've chosen to use the incomplete spelling "Ni-ger"* or "Ni-gers"* for that derogatory referent. Although the use of lower case "n" for that word is considered offensive now, I've retained the lower case "n" spelling that the author of this article used.
***
DISCLAIMER: My reprinting this excerpt doesn't mean that I agree with the opinions and conclusions that this author made that diminishes the degree of Black influence on the songs that Uncle Dave Macon sung and played. (i.e. this paragraph that is given below "It has often been said that Uncle Dave Macon, when young, learnt songs from Negroes and that other songs came to him from the entertainers who stayed in his parent’s Nashville hotel. The above comment by Uncle Dave is one of the few direct links that we have to the origin of one of his songs and it acknowledges the fact that he did sing songs that were, originally, from black singers. But this is only one song and, as I hope to show, the picture is not all that clear."
From https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/udm.htm
author Michael Yates, published 2010 [Pancocojams Editor: This attribution was given in another excerpt of this article that I found via Google search]
"One of the highlights of my musical upbringing was to hear the old Folkways Anthology of Folk Music set of recordings when I was about 15 or 16 years old. The Anthology of American Folk Music is currently available as a CD set on Smithsonian Folkways SFW40090....Now, fifty years later, I still believe that Uncle Dave was one of the greatest of all the Old-Timey singers and musicians that ever recorded. In fact, I would say that some of his recordings, especially those made with The Fruit Jar Drinkers, are possibly the best examples of Old-Timey music ever made. Over the years I must have heard just about all of his issued recordings and each new experience has brought a tingle down my spine. Uncle Dave had one of the largest repertoires of any of the early recording stars. The bulk of his recordings were of late 19th century/early 20th century songs (most with known composers). He also recorded religious pieces, together with some American folk and topical songs. But, unlike, say, the Carter Family or Charlie Poole, I did not hear any Anglo-American folksongs, and this is something that has puzzled me over the years. (In fact, as we shall see later, Uncle Dave did record a couple of Anglo-American songs, but, as these were unissued, there was never any chance of me hearing them!) In a way, this piece is my tribute to Uncle Dave. It is also a massive “Thank You” to him and to all the other musicians who played along and recorded with him.
[...]
Over the years Uncle Dave had picked up a number of tricks while playing his banjo. He would swing the banjo out in front of his body, holding it by the neck with his left hand, and somehow managing to keep the tune going at the same time! He would fan the strings with his hat, or else play the instrument whilst holding it between his legs.
He would also shout out between singing, using phrases such as “Hot dog”, or else “Kill yourself”, and, all the time, he would stomp his feet on the floor creating a rhythm that just drove his songs and tunes forward. He was, without doubt, unique within the field of American music, and the public just loved him. Often, Uncle Dave would add spoken comments to his recordings...
[...]
Over a four day period in 1927, Uncle Dave recorded a total of 38 sides in New York City for the Vocalion Record Company. There were eight solo tracks (banjo and voice), two tracks with Sam and Kirk McGee and a further twenty-eight tracks by Uncle Dave, the McGee Brothers and fiddler, Mazy Todd. Eighteen of these tracks were issued as by “Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers”, the rest as by the “Dixie Sacred Singers”, or else as “Uncle Dave Macon & McGee Brothers”, when Mazy Todd was not playing. As I said above, the tracks by “Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers” are some of the greatest ever recorded and include such classics as Bake that Chicken Pie, Rock About My Sara Jane, Tell Her to Come Back Home, Hold That Wood-Pile Down, Carve that Possum, Sail Away, Ladies, The Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm, I’se Gwine Back to Dixie, Tom and Jerry, The Rabbit in the Pea Patch and Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel.These tracks are all re-issued on JSP box set JSP7729.7
[...]
It has often been said that Uncle Dave Macon, when young, learnt songs from Negroes and that other songs came to him from the entertainers who stayed in his parent’s Nashville hotel. The above comment by Uncle Dave is one of the few direct links that we have to the origin of one of his songs and it acknowledges the fact that he did sing songs that were, originally, from black singers. But this is only one song and, as I hope to show, the picture is not all that clear.
I said at the beginning of this article that I had not heard any Anglo-American songs sung by Uncle Dave. In fact, Uncle Dave did record two such pieces. On 21st June, 1926, he recorded a version of the song Darby Ram (Roud 126) and on 31st March, 1930, a version of the children’s song Little Sally Waters (Roud 4509). Both recordings, however, remain unissued. Uncle Dave, unlike, say, The Carter Family, was not from the Appalachian Mountain region, where Anglo-American songs did survive. He was from Nashville, and the area around Nashville, where both Darby Ram and Little Sally Waters were known in both black and white American song traditions. Darby Ram turns up in black American tradition as the song and tune Didn't He Ramble, although it is still sung today as The Derby Ram by white Appalachian singers. For a recording of Little Sally Walker sung by black Mississippi singers, see the CD 61 Highway Rounder 1703.12
For a recording of Little Sally Walker sung by black Mississippi singers, see the CD 61 Highway Rounder 1703.12 Another such song is one titled Late Last Night When My Willie Came Home (Way Downtown) that Uncle Dave recorded in 1926 with Sam McGee. It goes as follows:
T'was a late last night when my Willie come home,
Heard a mighty rapping on the door,
Slipping and asliding with his new shoes on,
Willie don't you rap no more.
Chorus:
Oh me, it's oh my, what's gonna become of me,
For I'se down town just fooling around,
With no one to stand my bond.
I love you, dear girl, the sea runs dry,
Rock all dissolved by the sun.
I love you, dear girl, the day I die,
Then, oh Lord, I'm done.
Ah, the last time I heard from my momma, Lord,
She was adoing well.
Quit your rowdy way, my son,
Save your soul from Hell.
If I had alistened what momma said,
I'd been at home today.
I didn't listen what momma said,
I threw my young self away. Vocalion 15319. Has been re-issued on JSP7729.13
This is, in fact, the same song that the Mississippi blues singer Skip James recorded in 1931 under the title of Drunken Spree:
I pawned my watch, pawned my chain,
Pawned my diamond ring
If that don't settle my drunken spree,
I'll never get drunk again
It was late last night when Miss Willie come home
She'd made one rap on my door
I said, "Is that you, Miss Willie? I'd like to know
Don't you rap no more"
I love Miss Willie, yes I do
I love her till the sea go dry
And if I thought she didn't love me,
I'd take morphine and die
She's up in her little stockin' feet, tippin' 'cross the floor
Just like she had done before
Yes, and I pawned my clothes, pawned my shoe
I'll never get drunk no more
I begged Miss Willie, down on my knee,
To forgive me, if she please
"Well, you done caused me to weep and you caused me to moan
Done caused me to lose my happy home"
I hollered, "Oh me, oh my,
I'll never let another drink go by"
If I thought she didn't love me,
I'd take morphine and die
I pawned my watch, pawned my chain,
Pawned my diamond ring
And if that don't settle all my drunken spree,
Lord, I'll never get drunk again. Drunken Spree has been re-issued on Document CD 5005.14
James’ song is totally different from any of the other pieces that he recorded in 1931. His line “Take morphine and die” does occur in a number of other songs, ones that were common to both black and white singers, but Uncle Dave’s second verse is taken almost word for word from a number of British folksongs and also occurs in one of Robert Burns’ best-known poems, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, verse 3 of which is as follows:
Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
O I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
So are there any other songs in Uncle Dave’s repertoire that can be directly traced to black singers? Well, there may be a handful, though, again, things are not so clear-cut. Take the song Run Ni-ger* Run, which Uncle Dave recorded in 1925. All the evidence points to the song being originally from a black tradition and takes the form of a warning to slaves not to try to escape, as they risked being caught by 'patrols' who would take revenge on the slave. Joel Chandler Harris, author of the 'Uncle Remus' stories (first published in the 1880s), mentions the 'patter-rollers' (patrols) in one of his books:
And another 19th century white writer, Abraham Hoss Yeager, gave this account in his autobiography:
Perhaps Uncle Dave did learn this song from black singers, though it must be said that other early white performers also recorded the piece. Versions of Run, Ni-ger* Run were also recorded by Dr Humphry Bate (in 1928), Fiddlin' John Carson (in 1924) and Gid Tanner (in 1927). Carson's recording has been re-issued on Document CD 8015 and the Tanner recording is re-issued on Document CD 8056. The song certainly remained in black traditions until c.1933, at least, when a version was recorded by the Library of Congress from Mose 'Clear Rock' Platt. This recording is available on Document CD 5580.15
This is Uncle Dave’s version:
Spoken: Hello folks, raised in the South among the colored folks, and worked in the fields of corn with them all the days of my life, I will sing them good old southern songs. So now I'm going to sing you a little of "Run Ni-ger* Run the Patroller Will Catch You."
Chorus:
Run ni-ger* run the patroller will catch you,
Run ni-ger* run its almost day.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.
Last year was a good crop year, roasting ears and tomatoes,
Poppa didn't raise no cotton and corn, but Lord, Lord, potatoes.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.
Adam and Eve was down in the garden hoeing around tomatoes,
Adam went around a huckleberry bush and hit her in the eye with a tater.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.
Jaybird built in the tall oak tree,
Sparrow built in the garden,
Old goose laid in the corner of the fence,
And set on the other side of Jordan.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone. Run Ni-ger* Run has been re-issued on JSP7729. The final verse is well-known in Britain. It occurs in the children's song I'll Tell Me Ma (Roud 2649).16
As we have seen above, Uncle Dave never “worked in the fields of corn with (colored folks) all the days of my life”. He was just too busy hauling goods around Tennessee, so just how much of his spoken introduction can we believe? And this is not the only problem with his other so-called 'black' songs. Take, for example the first song that Uncle Dave recorded, I’ll Keep my Skillet Good and Greasy, which certainly was sung by black singers. I'll Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy has been re-issued on JSP7729.17 The song begins with this opening verse:
I'se gwine down town for to buy me a sack of flour
Gwine cook it every hour
Keep my skillet good and greasy all the time, time, time
Keep my skillet good and greasy all the time
Verse 5 continues in a similar manner:
I'se gwine to the hills for to buy me a jug of brandy
Gwine give it all to Mandy
Keep her good and drunk and boozy all the time, time, time
Keep her good and drunk and boozy all the time
It’s that phrase “I’se gwine” that I find particularly troublesome. Was Uncle Dave trying to emulate the speech patterns of Negroes, or was this song, like so many others, a product of the 'Black-face Minstrel' tradition? In other words, was it a song written by white singers who were pretending to be black? This was certainly the case with the song I’se Gwine Back to Dixie which Uncle Dave recorded with his Fruit Jar Drinkers in 1927:
I'se a-gwine back to Dixie, no more I’se gwine to wander,
I'se gwine back to Dixie, cain't stay here no longer,
I miss the old plantation, my home and my relations,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.
Chorus:
I'se a-gwine back to Dixie, I'se a-going back to Dixie,
I’se a-going where the orange blossoms grow,
I hear the children calling, I see the sad tears falling,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.
I've hoed in the fields of cotton, I've worked upon the river,
I used to think if I'd get off, I'd never go back, a-no never,
But time has changed the old man, his head is bending low,
His heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.
I miss my hog and hominy, my pumpkin and red gravy,
My appetite is fading, so settle Uncle Davy,
If my friends forsake me, I pray the lord to take me,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go. I'se Gwine Back to Dixie has been re-issued on JSP7729.18
Here is a song full of nostalgia for the 'Old South', the land of plantations, orange blossom, hominy, pumpkins and red gravy. All that is missing is the image of a happy pickaninni eating a slice of water melon. In fact Uncle Dave recorded several songs that originated from the Minstrel stage. There include the songs Uncle Ned, written by Stephen Foster in 1848, Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel, anonymous words set to a tune by Dan Emmett in 1853, Listen to the Mocking Bird, written by Septimus Winner - as 'Alice Hawthorne' - in 1855 (Uncle Dave only recorded the tune of this song, as a banjo solo), and The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane, written in 1855 by William S Hays. Uncle Ned, Listen to the Mockingbird and The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane have been re-issued on JSP7769. Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel has been re-issued on JSP7729.19
He also recorded a version of Stop Dat Knocking, a song popularized by the Christy Minstrels in the 1850s. The song was the work of A F Winnemore and was first published in 1847. Uncle Dave’s recording, made on the 8th September, 1926, was titled Stop That Knocking at My Door. Stop That Knocking at my Door has been re-issued on JSP7729.20
[...]
Latest edition- November 18, 2024
This pancocojams post presents an excerpt on the 2010 article by Michael Yates entitled "Uncle Dave Macon: A Study in Repertoire".
I am particularly interested in the author's statements about the Black influences and minstrel influences on the songs that (White American) Uncle Dave Mason sung and played. I'm also interested in the inclusion of lyrics for some of those songs that are included in these categories.
The content of this post is presented for historical and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Uncle Dave Macon for his musical legacy and thanks to the Michael Yates who wrote this article. Thanks also to mustrad.org for publishing this article online.
-snip-
This article includes the full spelling of the derogatory referent that is commonly known as "the n word". I've chosen to use the incomplete spelling "Ni-ger"* or "Ni-gers"* for that derogatory referent. Although the use of lower case "n" for that word is considered offensive now, I've retained the lower case "n" spelling that the author of this article used.
***
DISCLAIMER: My reprinting this excerpt doesn't mean that I agree with the opinions and conclusions that this author made that diminishes the degree of Black influence on the songs that Uncle Dave Macon sung and played. (i.e. this paragraph that is given below "It has often been said that Uncle Dave Macon, when young, learnt songs from Negroes and that other songs came to him from the entertainers who stayed in his parent’s Nashville hotel. The above comment by Uncle Dave is one of the few direct links that we have to the origin of one of his songs and it acknowledges the fact that he did sing songs that were, originally, from black singers. But this is only one song and, as I hope to show, the picture is not all that clear."
****
ARTICLE EXCERPT: UNCLE DAVE MACON: A STUDY IN REPERTOIREFrom https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/udm.htm
author Michael Yates, published 2010 [Pancocojams Editor: This attribution was given in another excerpt of this article that I found via Google search]
"One of the highlights of my musical upbringing was to hear the old Folkways Anthology of Folk Music set of recordings when I was about 15 or 16 years old. The Anthology of American Folk Music is currently available as a CD set on Smithsonian Folkways SFW40090....Now, fifty years later, I still believe that Uncle Dave was one of the greatest of all the Old-Timey singers and musicians that ever recorded. In fact, I would say that some of his recordings, especially those made with The Fruit Jar Drinkers, are possibly the best examples of Old-Timey music ever made. Over the years I must have heard just about all of his issued recordings and each new experience has brought a tingle down my spine. Uncle Dave had one of the largest repertoires of any of the early recording stars. The bulk of his recordings were of late 19th century/early 20th century songs (most with known composers). He also recorded religious pieces, together with some American folk and topical songs. But, unlike, say, the Carter Family or Charlie Poole, I did not hear any Anglo-American folksongs, and this is something that has puzzled me over the years. (In fact, as we shall see later, Uncle Dave did record a couple of Anglo-American songs, but, as these were unissued, there was never any chance of me hearing them!) In a way, this piece is my tribute to Uncle Dave. It is also a massive “Thank You” to him and to all the other musicians who played along and recorded with him.
[...]
Over the years Uncle Dave had picked up a number of tricks while playing his banjo. He would swing the banjo out in front of his body, holding it by the neck with his left hand, and somehow managing to keep the tune going at the same time! He would fan the strings with his hat, or else play the instrument whilst holding it between his legs.
He would also shout out between singing, using phrases such as “Hot dog”, or else “Kill yourself”, and, all the time, he would stomp his feet on the floor creating a rhythm that just drove his songs and tunes forward. He was, without doubt, unique within the field of American music, and the public just loved him. Often, Uncle Dave would add spoken comments to his recordings...
[...]
Over a four day period in 1927, Uncle Dave recorded a total of 38 sides in New York City for the Vocalion Record Company. There were eight solo tracks (banjo and voice), two tracks with Sam and Kirk McGee and a further twenty-eight tracks by Uncle Dave, the McGee Brothers and fiddler, Mazy Todd. Eighteen of these tracks were issued as by “Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers”, the rest as by the “Dixie Sacred Singers”, or else as “Uncle Dave Macon & McGee Brothers”, when Mazy Todd was not playing. As I said above, the tracks by “Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers” are some of the greatest ever recorded and include such classics as Bake that Chicken Pie, Rock About My Sara Jane, Tell Her to Come Back Home, Hold That Wood-Pile Down, Carve that Possum, Sail Away, Ladies, The Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm, I’se Gwine Back to Dixie, Tom and Jerry, The Rabbit in the Pea Patch and Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel.These tracks are all re-issued on JSP box set JSP7729.7
[...]
It has often been said that Uncle Dave Macon, when young, learnt songs from Negroes and that other songs came to him from the entertainers who stayed in his parent’s Nashville hotel. The above comment by Uncle Dave is one of the few direct links that we have to the origin of one of his songs and it acknowledges the fact that he did sing songs that were, originally, from black singers. But this is only one song and, as I hope to show, the picture is not all that clear.
I said at the beginning of this article that I had not heard any Anglo-American songs sung by Uncle Dave. In fact, Uncle Dave did record two such pieces. On 21st June, 1926, he recorded a version of the song Darby Ram (Roud 126) and on 31st March, 1930, a version of the children’s song Little Sally Waters (Roud 4509). Both recordings, however, remain unissued. Uncle Dave, unlike, say, The Carter Family, was not from the Appalachian Mountain region, where Anglo-American songs did survive. He was from Nashville, and the area around Nashville, where both Darby Ram and Little Sally Waters were known in both black and white American song traditions. Darby Ram turns up in black American tradition as the song and tune Didn't He Ramble, although it is still sung today as The Derby Ram by white Appalachian singers. For a recording of Little Sally Walker sung by black Mississippi singers, see the CD 61 Highway Rounder 1703.12
For a recording of Little Sally Walker sung by black Mississippi singers, see the CD 61 Highway Rounder 1703.12 Another such song is one titled Late Last Night When My Willie Came Home (Way Downtown) that Uncle Dave recorded in 1926 with Sam McGee. It goes as follows:
T'was a late last night when my Willie come home,
Heard a mighty rapping on the door,
Slipping and asliding with his new shoes on,
Willie don't you rap no more.
Chorus:
Oh me, it's oh my, what's gonna become of me,
For I'se down town just fooling around,
With no one to stand my bond.
I love you, dear girl, the sea runs dry,
Rock all dissolved by the sun.
I love you, dear girl, the day I die,
Then, oh Lord, I'm done.
Ah, the last time I heard from my momma, Lord,
She was adoing well.
Quit your rowdy way, my son,
Save your soul from Hell.
If I had alistened what momma said,
I'd been at home today.
I didn't listen what momma said,
I threw my young self away. Vocalion 15319. Has been re-issued on JSP7729.13
This is, in fact, the same song that the Mississippi blues singer Skip James recorded in 1931 under the title of Drunken Spree:
I pawned my watch, pawned my chain,
Pawned my diamond ring
If that don't settle my drunken spree,
I'll never get drunk again
It was late last night when Miss Willie come home
She'd made one rap on my door
I said, "Is that you, Miss Willie? I'd like to know
Don't you rap no more"
I love Miss Willie, yes I do
I love her till the sea go dry
And if I thought she didn't love me,
I'd take morphine and die
She's up in her little stockin' feet, tippin' 'cross the floor
Just like she had done before
Yes, and I pawned my clothes, pawned my shoe
I'll never get drunk no more
I begged Miss Willie, down on my knee,
To forgive me, if she please
"Well, you done caused me to weep and you caused me to moan
Done caused me to lose my happy home"
I hollered, "Oh me, oh my,
I'll never let another drink go by"
If I thought she didn't love me,
I'd take morphine and die
I pawned my watch, pawned my chain,
Pawned my diamond ring
And if that don't settle all my drunken spree,
Lord, I'll never get drunk again. Drunken Spree has been re-issued on Document CD 5005.14
James’ song is totally different from any of the other pieces that he recorded in 1931. His line “Take morphine and die” does occur in a number of other songs, ones that were common to both black and white singers, but Uncle Dave’s second verse is taken almost word for word from a number of British folksongs and also occurs in one of Robert Burns’ best-known poems, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, verse 3 of which is as follows:
Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
O I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
So are there any other songs in Uncle Dave’s repertoire that can be directly traced to black singers? Well, there may be a handful, though, again, things are not so clear-cut. Take the song Run Ni-ger* Run, which Uncle Dave recorded in 1925. All the evidence points to the song being originally from a black tradition and takes the form of a warning to slaves not to try to escape, as they risked being caught by 'patrols' who would take revenge on the slave. Joel Chandler Harris, author of the 'Uncle Remus' stories (first published in the 1880s), mentions the 'patter-rollers' (patrols) in one of his books:
“In the country districts, order was kept on the plantations at night by the knowledge that they were liable to be visited at any moment by the patrols. Hence a song current among the negroes, the chorus of which was: ‘Run, ni-ger*, run; patter-roller ketch you - Run, ni-ger*, run; hit’s almos’ day.’
And another 19th century white writer, Abraham Hoss Yeager, gave this account in his autobiography:
“It gave them (the slaves) extreme pleasure to elude these nocturnal guards and they celebrated their narrow escapes by song. The Negroes called these guards ‘patty rollers,’ and they embalmed the name in the chorus: ‘O! run Ni-ger* run the patty roler’l catch you; O! run Ni-ger* run it’s almost day.’”
Perhaps Uncle Dave did learn this song from black singers, though it must be said that other early white performers also recorded the piece. Versions of Run, Ni-ger* Run were also recorded by Dr Humphry Bate (in 1928), Fiddlin' John Carson (in 1924) and Gid Tanner (in 1927). Carson's recording has been re-issued on Document CD 8015 and the Tanner recording is re-issued on Document CD 8056. The song certainly remained in black traditions until c.1933, at least, when a version was recorded by the Library of Congress from Mose 'Clear Rock' Platt. This recording is available on Document CD 5580.15
This is Uncle Dave’s version:
Spoken: Hello folks, raised in the South among the colored folks, and worked in the fields of corn with them all the days of my life, I will sing them good old southern songs. So now I'm going to sing you a little of "Run Ni-ger* Run the Patroller Will Catch You."
Chorus:
Run ni-ger* run the patroller will catch you,
Run ni-ger* run its almost day.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.
Last year was a good crop year, roasting ears and tomatoes,
Poppa didn't raise no cotton and corn, but Lord, Lord, potatoes.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.
Adam and Eve was down in the garden hoeing around tomatoes,
Adam went around a huckleberry bush and hit her in the eye with a tater.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.
Jaybird built in the tall oak tree,
Sparrow built in the garden,
Old goose laid in the corner of the fence,
And set on the other side of Jordan.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone. Run Ni-ger* Run has been re-issued on JSP7729. The final verse is well-known in Britain. It occurs in the children's song I'll Tell Me Ma (Roud 2649).16
As we have seen above, Uncle Dave never “worked in the fields of corn with (colored folks) all the days of my life”. He was just too busy hauling goods around Tennessee, so just how much of his spoken introduction can we believe? And this is not the only problem with his other so-called 'black' songs. Take, for example the first song that Uncle Dave recorded, I’ll Keep my Skillet Good and Greasy, which certainly was sung by black singers. I'll Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy has been re-issued on JSP7729.17 The song begins with this opening verse:
I'se gwine down town for to buy me a sack of flour
Gwine cook it every hour
Keep my skillet good and greasy all the time, time, time
Keep my skillet good and greasy all the time
Verse 5 continues in a similar manner:
I'se gwine to the hills for to buy me a jug of brandy
Gwine give it all to Mandy
Keep her good and drunk and boozy all the time, time, time
Keep her good and drunk and boozy all the time
It’s that phrase “I’se gwine” that I find particularly troublesome. Was Uncle Dave trying to emulate the speech patterns of Negroes, or was this song, like so many others, a product of the 'Black-face Minstrel' tradition? In other words, was it a song written by white singers who were pretending to be black? This was certainly the case with the song I’se Gwine Back to Dixie which Uncle Dave recorded with his Fruit Jar Drinkers in 1927:
I'se a-gwine back to Dixie, no more I’se gwine to wander,
I'se gwine back to Dixie, cain't stay here no longer,
I miss the old plantation, my home and my relations,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.
Chorus:
I'se a-gwine back to Dixie, I'se a-going back to Dixie,
I’se a-going where the orange blossoms grow,
I hear the children calling, I see the sad tears falling,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.
I've hoed in the fields of cotton, I've worked upon the river,
I used to think if I'd get off, I'd never go back, a-no never,
But time has changed the old man, his head is bending low,
His heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.
I miss my hog and hominy, my pumpkin and red gravy,
My appetite is fading, so settle Uncle Davy,
If my friends forsake me, I pray the lord to take me,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go. I'se Gwine Back to Dixie has been re-issued on JSP7729.18
Here is a song full of nostalgia for the 'Old South', the land of plantations, orange blossom, hominy, pumpkins and red gravy. All that is missing is the image of a happy pickaninni eating a slice of water melon. In fact Uncle Dave recorded several songs that originated from the Minstrel stage. There include the songs Uncle Ned, written by Stephen Foster in 1848, Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel, anonymous words set to a tune by Dan Emmett in 1853, Listen to the Mocking Bird, written by Septimus Winner - as 'Alice Hawthorne' - in 1855 (Uncle Dave only recorded the tune of this song, as a banjo solo), and The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane, written in 1855 by William S Hays. Uncle Ned, Listen to the Mockingbird and The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane have been re-issued on JSP7769. Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel has been re-issued on JSP7729.19
He also recorded a version of Stop Dat Knocking, a song popularized by the Christy Minstrels in the 1850s. The song was the work of A F Winnemore and was first published in 1847. Uncle Dave’s recording, made on the 8th September, 1926, was titled Stop That Knocking at My Door. Stop That Knocking at my Door has been re-issued on JSP7729.20
[...]
Towards the end of his life, Uncle Dave Macon was interviewed by Tennessee folklorist George Worley Boswell (1920 - 1995), who questioned him about the origins of some of his songs. In 1927 Uncle Dave had recorded a song called Rockabout my Saro Jane, which seems to date from the time of the American Civil War. Rock About my Saro Jane has been re-issued on JSP7729.10 Uncle Dave also sang another piece, clearly based on Rockabout my Saro Jane, about Tom Ryman, the man who built the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. There are no commercial recordings of the Tom Ryman song, but Uncle Dave did record it for Boswell.
Cap'n Tom Ryman
Cap'n Tom Ryman was a steamboat man,
But Sam Jones sent him to the heavenly land,
Oh, sail away
Oh, there's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane, oh rockabout my Saro Jane,
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, there's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Engine give a scratch and the whistle gave a squall
The engineer going to a hole in the wall,
Oh, Saro Jane
There's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
According to Uncle Dave:
The sheet music cover depicts the image of a well-dressed African American and suggests that the song may have been marketed towards a black audience. It is certainly far more respectful than many sheet covers of that era. And, indeed, Knox’s words are also far more restrained than in, say, the song that Uncle Dave recorded, I Don’t Care if I Never Wake Up. I Don't Care if I Never Wake Up has been re-issued on JSP7769.22
Ma Daffodil opens with these lines:
You my sing a-bout your lil-ies
Of your pinks and ro-ses fair,
I know a col-ored la-dy; She's a win-ner ev'-ry-where!
It aint no spec-u-la-tion
When I say she b'longs to me,
There ain't no flow-er grows as sweet as she!
In reality very few southern blacks wanted to return to the old 'back to Dixie' days. They did, of course, leave the south in droves when they could, heading north to cities such as Chicago and St Louis. Clearly songs such as I’se Gwine Back to Dixie, which was actually written by two white singers, Arthur Collins & Byron Harland in 1911, were presenting an idealized version of 'the South' from a white perspective. And we find the same feelings for the old south in the song Rise When the Rooster Crows which Uncle Dave recorded with Sam McGee in 1926. Rise When the Rooster Crows has been re-issued on JSP7729.23 The chorus goes:
I'll rise when the rooster crows,
I'll rise when the rooster crows,
I'm going back south where the sun shines hot,
Down where the sugar cane grows.
In 1889 one Samuel Conrad Hanson published a song book, Merry Songs. (Chicago: A Flanagan Company), which includes a song I’s Gwine Back Souf. According to Hanson, “This is a representation of a melody I heard negroes sing in the South years ago.” Hanson’s chorus goes:
I's a-gwine, you's a-gwine,
I'se a-gwine back Souf
Whar de sun shines hot,
Way down whar de sugarcane grows.
What, I wonder, did Hanson mean when he said that this was “a representation of a melody”. Is he saying that he heard the tune being sung by Negroes? There is no mention of the words. So were they being sung along with the melody, or did Hanson add them to the melody?
Another similar song was Watermelon Smilin’ on the Vine, written by Thomas P Westendorf and published, in 1882, by The W F Shaw Publishing Co (Chicago & New York). Westendorf’s set is as follows:
Dat Water-Million
Oh, see dat water-million a smilin' fro' de fence,
How I wish dat water-million it was mine!
Oh, de white folks mus' be foolish-
Dey need a heap of sense,
Or dey'd nebber leave it dar upon de vine.
Chorus:
Oh, de hambone am sweet,
An' de bacon am good,
An' de 'possum fat am berry, berry fine;
But gib me, yes, gib me,
Oh, how I wish you would!
Dat water-million growin' on de vine.
You may talk about de peaches, de apples and de pears,
An' de 'simmons hanging on de 'simmon tree;
But, bless my heart, my honey!
Dat truck it ain't nowheres,
Oh! de water-million am de fruit for me!
Chorus
When de dew-drops dey is fallin', dat million's gwine to cool,
An' I know den it will eat most awfull fine!
So I'm gwine to come and fetch it,
Or else I is a fool!
If I leaves it dar a smilin' on de vine.
Uncle Dave’s recorded version, which begins with a banjo solo of the tune Listen to the Mocking Bird, follows the Westendorf text fairly accurately and is sung as written. Watermelon Smilin' on the Vine has been re-issued on JSP7729.24 The same cannot, however, be said for Uncle Dave’s version of Carve Dat Possum, composed by Sam Lucas of Callender’s Original Georgia Minstrels in 1875 and published by John F Perry & Co of Boston. This is Lucas’s text:
Carve Dat Possum
Cover of Carve Dat Possum
De possum meat am good to eat,
Carve him to de heart;
You'll always find him good and sweet,
Carve him to de heart;
My dog did bark, and I went to see,
Carve him to de heart;
And dar was a possum up dat tree,
Carve him to de heart.
Carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart;
Oh, carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart.
I reached up for to pull him in,
Carve him to de heart;
De possum he begun to grin,
Carve him to de heart;
I carried him home and dressed him off,
Carve him to de heart;
I hung him dat night in de frost,
Carve him to de heart.
De way to cook de possum sound,
Carve him to de heart;
Fust parbile him, den bake him brown,
Carve him to de heart;
Lay sweet potatoes in de pan,
Carve him to de heart;
De sweetest eatin' in de lan',
Carve him to de heart.
In Uncle Dave’s recording we find the above verses sung out of sequence, with lines from different verses being mixed together. There are also a few lines added to Uncle Dave’s recording that are not in the Lucas text. Carve Dat Possum has been re-issued on JSP7729.25 This suggests that Uncle Dave probably learnt his version of Carve Dad Possum from an oral, rather than a printed, source. But did Uncle Dave learn such songs from black singers? It seems to me far more probable that if Uncle Dave did pick anything up from black singers, then it would have been, for the most part, the 'floating verses' that popped in and out of songs and which were common to both black and white singers. I say “for the most part” because it could be that he did learn one or two songs from black singers, and here I am thinking of his version of The Death of John Henry with its slightly unusual opening lines and tune:
Spoken:
Listen, In every heart there burns the flame,
For the love of glory or the dread of shame.
But oh, how happy we would be if we understood,
There is no safety but in doing good.
People right out west heard of John Henry's death,
Couldn't hardly stay in bed.
Monday morning on that eastbound train,
Going where John Henry is dead, going where John Henry is dead.
Carried John Henry to the graveyard,
They looked at him good and long,
Very last words that his wife said to him,
My husband he is dead and gone, my husband he is dead and gone.
John Henry's wife wore a brand new dress,
It was all trimmed in blue,
Very last words she said to him,
Honey, I been good to you, honey I been good to you.
John Henry told a shaker,
Lord, shake while I sing,
Pulling a hammer from my shoulder,
Bound to hear her when she rings, bound to hear her when she rings.
John Henry told his captain, am a Tennessee man,
Before I would see that steam drill beat me down,
Die with a hammer in my hand, die with a hammer in my hand.
John Henry hammered in the mountain,
Till the hammer caught on fire,
Very last words I heard him say,
Cool drink of water 'fore I die, cool drink of water 'fore I die. The Death of John Henry has been re-issued on JSP7729.26
John Henry may be something of an exception, so let’s get back to those floating verses. Take this example, the song I'm a Child to Fight.
I went down to Memphis, said I did not go to stay,
I saw so many pretty girls, that I could not get away.
Chorus:
I'm a child to fight, I'm a child to fight,
I'm a child to fight, my love, yes, I'm a child to fight.
If I had a scolding wife, I'd sure to whip her some,
Run my finger down her throat, gag her with my thumb.
Hosea Clark's the meanest man, that ever the good Lord made,
Run them n__s to the South, farming the ni-ger* trade.
Old man, old man, your head's a-getting gray,
Come follow me ten thousand miles to hear my banjo play.
Mosquito fly mighty high, flew right by my door,
Hit my foot on that mosquito, said, "he won't fly high no more."
I wish I had a big frame house, eighteen stories high,
Every story in that house was packed with cherry pie.
I went down to Old Joe's house, Old Joe he wasn't at home,
Eat all Old Joe's meat and bread and give his dog the bone. I'm the Child to Fight has been re-issued on JSP7729.27
The reference to Hosea Clark in verse 3 suggests that at least one verse pre-dates the Civil War, and I doubt if anyone today would wish to sing the verse about the scolding wife. The penultimate verse also occurs in a recording that I made of the Appalachian singer Dan Tate, while the final verse is from the folksong Old Joe Clark, which, incidentally, Dan also sang. For recordings by Dan Tate, see Musical Traditions CD Far in the Mountains- volumes 1 & 2 MTCD 331-2. The verse about Chicken Pie occurs in Dan's song Who's On the Way28/
[...]
One of the strangest examples of a “floating verse” appearing in an Uncle Dave song occurs at the end of the song My Girl’s a High Born Lady. This would appear to be a composed song, but right at the end we find this unrelated verse tagged onto the song.
Jaybird and a sparrow, waltzed on a hill together,
Waltzed all night in a briar patch and never lost a feather. My Girl's a High Born Lady has been re-issued on JSP7769.30
Perhaps Uncle Dave had found the song to be slightly too short for a 78rpm side and so just added the verse to make up the time. Interestingly, this verse is quite well-known throughout Appalachia. The verse seems to be especially popular with North Carolina musicians from Round Peak. See, for example, the song Sugar Hill as sung by Tommy Jarrell on County CD Stay All Night…And Don't Go Home (CD2735).31
And this was not the only time that Uncle Dave would mix up all sorts of verses together. Take the song Walk, Tom Wilson, Walk:
Bring up my marbles get back to talk,
But don't knock that meddler, I'm going to tell you so.
Chorus:
Walk Tom Wilson walk out the door,
Police start picking with a brand new dog.
Well I just got back from old New York,
Where I never had been before,
Ain't got as much money as I had when I left,
But I know a whole lot more.
I thought when I left home
I'se a man of some renown,
But in old New York I was on the board,
Just a rube from a one horse town.
And Gee Whiz what they done for me,
Lingered in my memory from the early morn till the sun goes down,
Got bunkoed all around. I couldn't walk ever till the third confound,
Just a darned old rube from a one horse town.
I'd writ some letters on the train,
That I wanted to mail back home,
Tell the folks just what I'd see'd,
And just how fur I'd come.
I saw a box all painted red,
And I dropped my letters in,
Fire engines come from all around,
And the bells begin to ring.
And Gee Whiz what they done for me,
Squirted water all over me,
Grabbed a feller and I said to him, "
Pull me out for I can't swim."
The crowd all shouted "Let him drown,"
"It's a darned old goose from a one horse town. Walk, Tome Wilson, Walk has been re-issued on JSP7729.32
The song kicks off with a verse about Rolley Hole, a form of marbles that is still played today in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. This is followed by the chorus, which gives the song its title, comprising a couple of lines from a Minstrel song, which also entered the Negro song tradition. (Or was it, perhaps, a Negro sing that was taken up by the Minstrel shows?) This is how Thomas W Talley printed the song in his 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes.
He laid up dar lak a bag o' meal,
An' he spur him in de flank wid his toenail heel.
Ole Tom Wilson, he come an' he go,
Frum cabin to cabin in de county-o.
Wen he go to bed, his legs hang do'n,
An' his foots makes poles fer de chickens t' roost on.
Tom went down to de river, an' he couldn' go 'cross.
Tom tromp on a 'gater an' 'e think 'e wus a hoss.
Wid a mouf wide open, 'gater jump from de san',
An' dat Ni-ger* look clean down to de Promus' Lan'.
Wa'k Tom Wilson, git out'n de way!
Wa'k Tom Wilson, don't wait all de day!
Wa'k Tom Wilson, here afternoon;
Sweep dat kitchen wid a bran' new broom.
The song then goes into an almost surreal account of what happened when Uncle Dave visited New York. I would suggest that these verses were composed by Uncle Dave himself.
[...]
Uncle Dave also recorded a version of the American folksong Life and Death of Jesse James. As James’s reputedly died in 1882 the song must have been composed after this date. I say 'reputedly' because when Alan Lomax interviewed the Ozark singer Neil Morris, Morris insisted that James had not been killed by his cousin Robert Ford, but had lived into the early 1900s. Life and Death of Jesse James has been re-issued on JSP7729. Jesse James story told by Neil Morris is on the 4 CD set Sounds of the South. Atlantic 7 82496-2.34
Uncle Dave was also aware of a number of a number of old fiddle & banjo tunes, such as Love Somebody, Soldier’s Joy, Muskrat, Rye Strawfields, Hop High Ladies, The Cake’s All Dough, Bile The Cabbage Down, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Whoop ‘Em Up Cindy, Devil’s Dream and Sourwood Mountain.Love Somebody, Soldier's Joy, Muskrat, Bile The Cabbage Down and The Girl I Left Behind Me have been reissued on JSP 7769. Hop High Ladies, The Cake's All Dough, Whoop 'Em Up Cindy and Sourwood Mountain have been re-issued on JSP7729. Rye Strawfields and Devil's Dream were unissued.35
I think it fair to say that, in general, we can only surmise about Uncle Dave’s early musical influences. He certainly knew quite a few early fiddle and banjo tunes and also knew some songs which, today, we would call folksongs. Many of the songs that appear to have come from black singers did, as we can clearly see, come from the pens of white composers, although, as in the case of Carve Dad Possum, Uncle Dave may have picked these up from oral, rather than printed sources. We also know that, in his recordings, Uncle Dave frequently mixed together lines and verses from different songs.”...
****
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Visiting comments are welcome.
Cap'n Tom Ryman
Cap'n Tom Ryman was a steamboat man,
But Sam Jones sent him to the heavenly land,
Oh, sail away
Oh, there's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane, oh rockabout my Saro Jane,
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, there's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Engine give a scratch and the whistle gave a squall
The engineer going to a hole in the wall,
Oh, Saro Jane
There's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
According to Uncle Dave:
Now that tabernacle what was built down there where we play, Rev'rend Sam Jones converted Cap'n Tom Ryman. He had six steamboats on the Cumberland River and you ought to have seen that wharf just lined with horses and mules and wagons hauling freight to those boats and bringing it back. And Sam Jones preached the low country to him so straight he took them ni-gers* all down there Monday morning and bought all that whiskey and poured it in the river. Took them card tables and built a bonfire and burned 'em up. Clean up. Ni-gers* started this song. Charles K Wolfe A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry Appendix 1 to Chapter 6, 'Take it Away Uncle Dave'. The Country Music Foundation Press, 1999, pp.116 17
Another Minstrel Show song was I Don’t Care if I Never Wake Up, written by Paul J Knox in 1899. Knox wrote several Minstrel songs, including The Unlucky Coon and Every Darkey Had a Nervous Spell (no surprise, I guess, if they saw titles like that!). But, Knox also had a more tender side, as in his song Ma Daffodil, written in 1900.
The sheet music cover depicts the image of a well-dressed African American and suggests that the song may have been marketed towards a black audience. It is certainly far more respectful than many sheet covers of that era. And, indeed, Knox’s words are also far more restrained than in, say, the song that Uncle Dave recorded, I Don’t Care if I Never Wake Up. I Don't Care if I Never Wake Up has been re-issued on JSP7769.22
Ma Daffodil opens with these lines:
You my sing a-bout your lil-ies
Of your pinks and ro-ses fair,
I know a col-ored la-dy; She's a win-ner ev'-ry-where!
It aint no spec-u-la-tion
When I say she b'longs to me,
There ain't no flow-er grows as sweet as she!
In reality very few southern blacks wanted to return to the old 'back to Dixie' days. They did, of course, leave the south in droves when they could, heading north to cities such as Chicago and St Louis. Clearly songs such as I’se Gwine Back to Dixie, which was actually written by two white singers, Arthur Collins & Byron Harland in 1911, were presenting an idealized version of 'the South' from a white perspective. And we find the same feelings for the old south in the song Rise When the Rooster Crows which Uncle Dave recorded with Sam McGee in 1926. Rise When the Rooster Crows has been re-issued on JSP7729.23 The chorus goes:
I'll rise when the rooster crows,
I'll rise when the rooster crows,
I'm going back south where the sun shines hot,
Down where the sugar cane grows.
In 1889 one Samuel Conrad Hanson published a song book, Merry Songs. (Chicago: A Flanagan Company), which includes a song I’s Gwine Back Souf. According to Hanson, “This is a representation of a melody I heard negroes sing in the South years ago.” Hanson’s chorus goes:
I's a-gwine, you's a-gwine,
I'se a-gwine back Souf
Whar de sun shines hot,
Way down whar de sugarcane grows.
What, I wonder, did Hanson mean when he said that this was “a representation of a melody”. Is he saying that he heard the tune being sung by Negroes? There is no mention of the words. So were they being sung along with the melody, or did Hanson add them to the melody?
Another similar song was Watermelon Smilin’ on the Vine, written by Thomas P Westendorf and published, in 1882, by The W F Shaw Publishing Co (Chicago & New York). Westendorf’s set is as follows:
Dat Water-Million
Oh, see dat water-million a smilin' fro' de fence,
How I wish dat water-million it was mine!
Oh, de white folks mus' be foolish-
Dey need a heap of sense,
Or dey'd nebber leave it dar upon de vine.
Chorus:
Oh, de hambone am sweet,
An' de bacon am good,
An' de 'possum fat am berry, berry fine;
But gib me, yes, gib me,
Oh, how I wish you would!
Dat water-million growin' on de vine.
You may talk about de peaches, de apples and de pears,
An' de 'simmons hanging on de 'simmon tree;
But, bless my heart, my honey!
Dat truck it ain't nowheres,
Oh! de water-million am de fruit for me!
Chorus
When de dew-drops dey is fallin', dat million's gwine to cool,
An' I know den it will eat most awfull fine!
So I'm gwine to come and fetch it,
Or else I is a fool!
If I leaves it dar a smilin' on de vine.
Uncle Dave’s recorded version, which begins with a banjo solo of the tune Listen to the Mocking Bird, follows the Westendorf text fairly accurately and is sung as written. Watermelon Smilin' on the Vine has been re-issued on JSP7729.24 The same cannot, however, be said for Uncle Dave’s version of Carve Dat Possum, composed by Sam Lucas of Callender’s Original Georgia Minstrels in 1875 and published by John F Perry & Co of Boston. This is Lucas’s text:
Carve Dat Possum
Cover of Carve Dat Possum
De possum meat am good to eat,
Carve him to de heart;
You'll always find him good and sweet,
Carve him to de heart;
My dog did bark, and I went to see,
Carve him to de heart;
And dar was a possum up dat tree,
Carve him to de heart.
Carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart;
Oh, carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart.
I reached up for to pull him in,
Carve him to de heart;
De possum he begun to grin,
Carve him to de heart;
I carried him home and dressed him off,
Carve him to de heart;
I hung him dat night in de frost,
Carve him to de heart.
De way to cook de possum sound,
Carve him to de heart;
Fust parbile him, den bake him brown,
Carve him to de heart;
Lay sweet potatoes in de pan,
Carve him to de heart;
De sweetest eatin' in de lan',
Carve him to de heart.
In Uncle Dave’s recording we find the above verses sung out of sequence, with lines from different verses being mixed together. There are also a few lines added to Uncle Dave’s recording that are not in the Lucas text. Carve Dat Possum has been re-issued on JSP7729.25 This suggests that Uncle Dave probably learnt his version of Carve Dad Possum from an oral, rather than a printed, source. But did Uncle Dave learn such songs from black singers? It seems to me far more probable that if Uncle Dave did pick anything up from black singers, then it would have been, for the most part, the 'floating verses' that popped in and out of songs and which were common to both black and white singers. I say “for the most part” because it could be that he did learn one or two songs from black singers, and here I am thinking of his version of The Death of John Henry with its slightly unusual opening lines and tune:
Spoken:
Listen, In every heart there burns the flame,
For the love of glory or the dread of shame.
But oh, how happy we would be if we understood,
There is no safety but in doing good.
People right out west heard of John Henry's death,
Couldn't hardly stay in bed.
Monday morning on that eastbound train,
Going where John Henry is dead, going where John Henry is dead.
Carried John Henry to the graveyard,
They looked at him good and long,
Very last words that his wife said to him,
My husband he is dead and gone, my husband he is dead and gone.
John Henry's wife wore a brand new dress,
It was all trimmed in blue,
Very last words she said to him,
Honey, I been good to you, honey I been good to you.
John Henry told a shaker,
Lord, shake while I sing,
Pulling a hammer from my shoulder,
Bound to hear her when she rings, bound to hear her when she rings.
John Henry told his captain, am a Tennessee man,
Before I would see that steam drill beat me down,
Die with a hammer in my hand, die with a hammer in my hand.
John Henry hammered in the mountain,
Till the hammer caught on fire,
Very last words I heard him say,
Cool drink of water 'fore I die, cool drink of water 'fore I die. The Death of John Henry has been re-issued on JSP7729.26
John Henry may be something of an exception, so let’s get back to those floating verses. Take this example, the song I'm a Child to Fight.
I went down to Memphis, said I did not go to stay,
I saw so many pretty girls, that I could not get away.
Chorus:
I'm a child to fight, I'm a child to fight,
I'm a child to fight, my love, yes, I'm a child to fight.
If I had a scolding wife, I'd sure to whip her some,
Run my finger down her throat, gag her with my thumb.
Hosea Clark's the meanest man, that ever the good Lord made,
Run them n__s to the South, farming the ni-ger* trade.
Old man, old man, your head's a-getting gray,
Come follow me ten thousand miles to hear my banjo play.
Mosquito fly mighty high, flew right by my door,
Hit my foot on that mosquito, said, "he won't fly high no more."
I wish I had a big frame house, eighteen stories high,
Every story in that house was packed with cherry pie.
I went down to Old Joe's house, Old Joe he wasn't at home,
Eat all Old Joe's meat and bread and give his dog the bone. I'm the Child to Fight has been re-issued on JSP7729.27
The reference to Hosea Clark in verse 3 suggests that at least one verse pre-dates the Civil War, and I doubt if anyone today would wish to sing the verse about the scolding wife. The penultimate verse also occurs in a recording that I made of the Appalachian singer Dan Tate, while the final verse is from the folksong Old Joe Clark, which, incidentally, Dan also sang. For recordings by Dan Tate, see Musical Traditions CD Far in the Mountains- volumes 1 & 2 MTCD 331-2. The verse about Chicken Pie occurs in Dan's song Who's On the Way28/
[...]
One of the strangest examples of a “floating verse” appearing in an Uncle Dave song occurs at the end of the song My Girl’s a High Born Lady. This would appear to be a composed song, but right at the end we find this unrelated verse tagged onto the song.
Jaybird and a sparrow, waltzed on a hill together,
Waltzed all night in a briar patch and never lost a feather. My Girl's a High Born Lady has been re-issued on JSP7769.30
Perhaps Uncle Dave had found the song to be slightly too short for a 78rpm side and so just added the verse to make up the time. Interestingly, this verse is quite well-known throughout Appalachia. The verse seems to be especially popular with North Carolina musicians from Round Peak. See, for example, the song Sugar Hill as sung by Tommy Jarrell on County CD Stay All Night…And Don't Go Home (CD2735).31
And this was not the only time that Uncle Dave would mix up all sorts of verses together. Take the song Walk, Tom Wilson, Walk:
Bring up my marbles get back to talk,
But don't knock that meddler, I'm going to tell you so.
Chorus:
Walk Tom Wilson walk out the door,
Police start picking with a brand new dog.
Well I just got back from old New York,
Where I never had been before,
Ain't got as much money as I had when I left,
But I know a whole lot more.
I thought when I left home
I'se a man of some renown,
But in old New York I was on the board,
Just a rube from a one horse town.
And Gee Whiz what they done for me,
Lingered in my memory from the early morn till the sun goes down,
Got bunkoed all around. I couldn't walk ever till the third confound,
Just a darned old rube from a one horse town.
I'd writ some letters on the train,
That I wanted to mail back home,
Tell the folks just what I'd see'd,
And just how fur I'd come.
I saw a box all painted red,
And I dropped my letters in,
Fire engines come from all around,
And the bells begin to ring.
And Gee Whiz what they done for me,
Squirted water all over me,
Grabbed a feller and I said to him, "
Pull me out for I can't swim."
The crowd all shouted "Let him drown,"
"It's a darned old goose from a one horse town. Walk, Tome Wilson, Walk has been re-issued on JSP7729.32
The song kicks off with a verse about Rolley Hole, a form of marbles that is still played today in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. This is followed by the chorus, which gives the song its title, comprising a couple of lines from a Minstrel song, which also entered the Negro song tradition. (Or was it, perhaps, a Negro sing that was taken up by the Minstrel shows?) This is how Thomas W Talley printed the song in his 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes.
He laid up dar lak a bag o' meal,
An' he spur him in de flank wid his toenail heel.
Ole Tom Wilson, he come an' he go,
Frum cabin to cabin in de county-o.
Wen he go to bed, his legs hang do'n,
An' his foots makes poles fer de chickens t' roost on.
Tom went down to de river, an' he couldn' go 'cross.
Tom tromp on a 'gater an' 'e think 'e wus a hoss.
Wid a mouf wide open, 'gater jump from de san',
An' dat Ni-ger* look clean down to de Promus' Lan'.
Wa'k Tom Wilson, git out'n de way!
Wa'k Tom Wilson, don't wait all de day!
Wa'k Tom Wilson, here afternoon;
Sweep dat kitchen wid a bran' new broom.
The song then goes into an almost surreal account of what happened when Uncle Dave visited New York. I would suggest that these verses were composed by Uncle Dave himself.
[...]
Uncle Dave also recorded a version of the American folksong Life and Death of Jesse James. As James’s reputedly died in 1882 the song must have been composed after this date. I say 'reputedly' because when Alan Lomax interviewed the Ozark singer Neil Morris, Morris insisted that James had not been killed by his cousin Robert Ford, but had lived into the early 1900s. Life and Death of Jesse James has been re-issued on JSP7729. Jesse James story told by Neil Morris is on the 4 CD set Sounds of the South. Atlantic 7 82496-2.34
Uncle Dave was also aware of a number of a number of old fiddle & banjo tunes, such as Love Somebody, Soldier’s Joy, Muskrat, Rye Strawfields, Hop High Ladies, The Cake’s All Dough, Bile The Cabbage Down, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Whoop ‘Em Up Cindy, Devil’s Dream and Sourwood Mountain.Love Somebody, Soldier's Joy, Muskrat, Bile The Cabbage Down and The Girl I Left Behind Me have been reissued on JSP 7769. Hop High Ladies, The Cake's All Dough, Whoop 'Em Up Cindy and Sourwood Mountain have been re-issued on JSP7729. Rye Strawfields and Devil's Dream were unissued.35
I think it fair to say that, in general, we can only surmise about Uncle Dave’s early musical influences. He certainly knew quite a few early fiddle and banjo tunes and also knew some songs which, today, we would call folksongs. Many of the songs that appear to have come from black singers did, as we can clearly see, come from the pens of white composers, although, as in the case of Carve Dad Possum, Uncle Dave may have picked these up from oral, rather than printed sources. We also know that, in his recordings, Uncle Dave frequently mixed together lines and verses from different songs.”...
****
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Visiting comments are welcome.
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Five Vocal Renditions Of "Sail Away, Ladies" (featuring Uncle Dave Macon, Odetta, & three more)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of two part pancocojams series about the Old Time Music song "Sail Away, Ladies".
Part II presents showcases five YouTube videos of the song "Say Away Ladies".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/excerpts-from-two-mudcat-folk-music.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Sail Away Ladies" from two Mudcat folk music forum discussion threads. I wrote a number of these selected comments in 2006-2008 when I was an active member of that online folk music forum.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos for their musical legacies and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Uncle Dave Macon-Sail Away Ladies
BBYMRLCCOTNDec 8, 2009
****
Example #2: Sail Away, Ladies!
Brian Phelan, May 1, 2011
From the 2011 ACDA Virginia All-state women's choir 4/30/2011 at Salem HS in Virginia Beach, arranged by Judith Herrington, directed by Dr. Rollo Dilworth
****
Example #3: Odetta - Sail Away, Ladies
sanny blues, Aug 12, 2012
****
Example #4: Sail Away Ladies performed by the Roe Family Singers
Quillan Roe, May 31, 2015
We learned our version of the tune from Roe Family fiddler, Ric Lee.
The words are a mishmash of words I remember hearing and reading in various versions and a verse I made up. As "Sail Away Ladies" is a branch on the "Sally Ann" song tree (see below), when I had trouble getting the common Uncle Dave Macon words, "Don't you rock 'em, di-de-o," out, our friend, fiddler Jake Hyer--from both Pocahontas county, West By God Virginia, and the band Pocahontas County--suggested singing, "I'm going home with Sally Ann," instead, and it stuck.
Stewie on MUDCAT says: "Here is the entry from Fiddler's Companion site: SAIL AWAY LADIES [1A]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Kentucky, Tennessee. G Major. Standard. ABB (Brody, Ford): AABB (Spandaro): AABBCC (Phillips). The tune is related to the numerous versions of "Sally Ann" played in the keys of A and G Major. According to Guthrie Meade (1980), the tune is identified with the south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee locals. The title also appears in a list of the standard tunes in the square dance fiddler's repertoire, according to A.B. Moore in his 1934 book "History of Alabama." Southern Kentucky fiddler Henry L. Bandy recorded the tune for Gennett in 1928, though it was unissued, however, the earlest recordings were Uncle Bunt Stevens (1926-without words) and Uncle Dave Macon (1927-with words). Paul Wells (Middle Tennessee State University) states that the song was collected around the turn of the 20th century and seems to have been common to both black and white traditions."
****
Example #5: Sail Away, Ladies (3-Part Mixed Choir) - Arranged by Audrey Snyder
Hal Leonard Choral, Mar 23, 2016
…This traditional fiddle tune is a rollicking celebration of Americana in this well-crafted arrangement for younger mixed choirs. Perform with a live fiddler or the recorded bluegrass track for a spectacular concert showcase!
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of two part pancocojams series about the Old Time Music song "Sail Away, Ladies".
Part II presents showcases five YouTube videos of the song "Say Away Ladies".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/excerpts-from-two-mudcat-folk-music.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Sail Away Ladies" from two Mudcat folk music forum discussion threads. I wrote a number of these selected comments in 2006-2008 when I was an active member of that online folk music forum.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos for their musical legacies and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Uncle Dave Macon-Sail Away Ladies
BBYMRLCCOTNDec 8, 2009
****
Example #2: Sail Away, Ladies!
Brian Phelan, May 1, 2011
From the 2011 ACDA Virginia All-state women's choir 4/30/2011 at Salem HS in Virginia Beach, arranged by Judith Herrington, directed by Dr. Rollo Dilworth
****
Example #3: Odetta - Sail Away, Ladies
sanny blues, Aug 12, 2012
****
Example #4: Sail Away Ladies performed by the Roe Family Singers
Quillan Roe, May 31, 2015
We learned our version of the tune from Roe Family fiddler, Ric Lee.
The words are a mishmash of words I remember hearing and reading in various versions and a verse I made up. As "Sail Away Ladies" is a branch on the "Sally Ann" song tree (see below), when I had trouble getting the common Uncle Dave Macon words, "Don't you rock 'em, di-de-o," out, our friend, fiddler Jake Hyer--from both Pocahontas county, West By God Virginia, and the band Pocahontas County--suggested singing, "I'm going home with Sally Ann," instead, and it stuck.
Stewie on MUDCAT says: "Here is the entry from Fiddler's Companion site: SAIL AWAY LADIES [1A]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Kentucky, Tennessee. G Major. Standard. ABB (Brody, Ford): AABB (Spandaro): AABBCC (Phillips). The tune is related to the numerous versions of "Sally Ann" played in the keys of A and G Major. According to Guthrie Meade (1980), the tune is identified with the south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee locals. The title also appears in a list of the standard tunes in the square dance fiddler's repertoire, according to A.B. Moore in his 1934 book "History of Alabama." Southern Kentucky fiddler Henry L. Bandy recorded the tune for Gennett in 1928, though it was unissued, however, the earlest recordings were Uncle Bunt Stevens (1926-without words) and Uncle Dave Macon (1927-with words). Paul Wells (Middle Tennessee State University) states that the song was collected around the turn of the 20th century and seems to have been common to both black and white traditions."
****
Example #5: Sail Away, Ladies (3-Part Mixed Choir) - Arranged by Audrey Snyder
Hal Leonard Choral, Mar 23, 2016
…This traditional fiddle tune is a rollicking celebration of Americana in this well-crafted arrangement for younger mixed choirs. Perform with a live fiddler or the recorded bluegrass track for a spectacular concert showcase!
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
"Sail Away, Ladies" (Excerpts From Two Mudcat Folk Music Discussion Threads)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of two part pancocojams series about the Old Time Music song "Sail Away, Ladies".
Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Sail Away Ladies" from two Mudcat folk music forum discussion threads. I wrote a number of these selected comments in 2006-2008 when I was an active member of that online folk music forum.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/five-vocal-renditions-of-sail-away.html for Part II on this pancocojams series. Part II presents showcases five YouTube videos of the song "Say Away Ladies".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
ONLINE EXCERPT ABOUT THE OLD TIME MUSIC SONG "SAIL AWAY, LADIES"
Excerpt A
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=97649
(Numbers have been added to these selected posts from that discussion thread for referencing purposes only.)
1. Subject: origin and lyr: Sail Away Ladies
From: Richie
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 07:45 PM
"It seem the first version of Sail Away Ladies is found in Talley's Negro Folk Rymes p. 20 from 1920. It can be viewed on-line through a book search. Kuntz also includes them on-line. Here they are:
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Nev' min' what dem white folks say,
May de Mighty bless you. Sail away!
Nev' min' what you daddy say,
Shake yo liddle foot an' fly away,
Nev' min' if yo' mammy say:
"De Devil'll git you." Sail away!
Macon's lyric version (not in the DT?) was done in 1927. The Talley rhyme includes lyrics found in Sally Ann, a very similar song. The Hill Billies in 1925 used the line "Shake you little foot Sally Ann." Since Sally Ann also includes the "Sail away" lyric it makes it difficult to separate the two songs.
Are there any earlier, perhaps minstrel lyrics, to "Sail Away Ladies"?"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's notes:
[added March 29, 2020]
a) Here's the link to a complete online text of Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm.
[added March 30, 2020]
b) In the Mudcat forum, "the DT" mentioned above refers to "the Digital Tradition", a compilation of American folk song lyrics, often with notes. As of the March 30, 2020 date of this pancocojams' post's revision, no one has responded to Richie's question "Are there any earlier, perhaps minstrel lyrics, to "Sail Away Ladies"?" with actual song lyrics. Given the fact that there are no examples of "Sail Away Ladies" earlier than 1922 in any online fiddle/Blues/Old Time Music lyric site such as Fiddlers Companion, the Talley 1922 version of "Sail Away" remains the earliest known version of that song.
**
c) I'm not a proponent of the position that every song that enslaved Black people sang had a coded message about escaping slavery to freedom. However, I believe that this very early version of "Sail Away, Ladies" is one such song. And, because the real meaning of the song was to encourage people to flee slavery, it's highly unlikely that this early version of "Sail Away, Ladies" was known to White folks during slavery or shortly thereafter. Notice that my interpretation of Talley's version of "Sail Away" is different than what I wrote in 2006 (comment #2 given below.)
Fifty seven years after the end of slavery in the United States, African American university professor Thomas W. Talley's now classic book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise was published. Talley compiled the examples that are found in that book from his own memories and from the memories of his African American students. In the rhyme/song "Sail Away" that is found in that book, "to sail away" clearly meant "to run away" (i.e. "to move away fast"). Furthermore, although the lyrics for that version of "Sail Away" only referred to females, the encouragement to run away from slavery was meant for both females and males.
In later versions of "Sal Away, Ladies"- such as the 1927 version by White American Uncle Dave Macon- "sail away" only has its "dance/move away fast" meaning.
**
2. Subject: RE: origin and lyr: Sail Away Ladies
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 08:23 PM
"Hello, Richie.
I don't know about any earlier lyrics for "Sail away ladies" than the Talley one you quoted.
Here's some minor corrections:
"Nev' min' what you daddy say", is given as "Nev' min' what yo' daddy say"
This is in the 1968 Kennikat version of Fisk University's [Professor]Thomas W. Talley's "Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise & Otherwise with a Study"
The title of the book is usually given as "Negro Folk Rhymes", and was first published by The Macmillan Company in 1922.
**
I'm wondering if "sail awy" referred to dance moves [moving away from your partner] instead of actually getting on a boat and sailing away [from slavery or otherwise]. If so, the lines "never mind what your master, daddy, mama says" [to convert those lines to contemporary English}, would suggest that the girl shouldn't mind that these folks frowned upon dancing.
In this excerpt from the Study section in his now clasic book, Talley notes that
"Many Negro Folk Rhymes were used as banjo and fiddle {violin} songs. It ought to be born in mind, however, that even these were quite often repeated without singing or playing. It was common in the early days of the public schools of the South to hear Negro childern use them as declamations. The connection, however, of Negro Folk Rhymes with their secular music production is well worthy of notice...
The Negro Folk Rhymes ,then furnished the ideas about which the "old time" Negro banjo picker and fiddler clustered his best instrumental music thoughts. it is too bad that this music passed away without unrecorded save by the hearts of men."
[pps. 235; 237,238]
-snip-
I take it "declamations" means poetry or speeches. Is that correct?"
**
3. Subject: Lyr Add: SAIL AWAY LADIES (from Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Richie
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 08:42 PM
"Hi Azizi,
The "declamations" were probably sung without accompaniment (group singing). Or maybe they were early "poetry slams."
Here's what I hear Uncle Dave Macon singing:
SAIL AWAY LADIES
Uncle Dave Macon and His Fruit Jar Drinkers Vo 5155
Banjo and lead vocal- Uncle Dave Macon; Fiddle- Maizi Todd;
(Fiddle w/banjo intro)
Ever I get my new house done,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
Give my old one to my son.
(Sail away Ladies, sail away.)
*[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o,
Don't she rock die-dee-o,
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/ verse]
Ever I get my new house done,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
Give my old one to my son.
(Sail away Ladies, sail away.)
[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/ verse]
Ain't no use to grieve and cry,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
You'll be an angel by and by,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
[Three lines of chorus by fiddle]
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/verse]
Come along boys and go with me
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
We'll go back to Tennessee
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/verse]
[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental]
*the unusual thing is Uncle Dave doeesn't sing on the first line of the chorus."
**
4. Subject: RE: origin and lyr: Sail Away Ladies
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 10:23 PM
... "here's the Kingston Trio- "Sail Away, Ladies" lyrics.:
"Ain't no use to sit and cry. You'll be an angel by and by.
Chorus:
Can't she rock 'em, can't she rock 'em, can't she rock 'em, daddy-e-o (Repeat)
I got a home in Tennessee (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.) That's the place I wanna be. (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.)
If I ever get my way (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.) Tennessee is where I'll stay. (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.)
(Chorus)
Ever I get my new house done. Give my old one to my son.
Ever I finish this porch and stairs, lie around in my rockin' chair.
(Chorus)
Ain't no use to sit and cry. You'll be an angel by and by.
Won't be a long time 'round this place. So get a look at my funny face.
(Chorus) "
-snip-
Note that "di-dee-o" has changed to "daddy-o". I wonder if this is one source of the vernacular phrase "daddy-o"?
And, for what it's worth, the line "So get a look at my funny face" doesn't sound very authentic to me. My guess is that this line was written as a substitute for a line that was considered to be politically incorrect. But that's only a guess."
**
5. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 10:50 AM
"On the other hand, some versions of Sail Away Ladies differ in melody and treatment, too. Parker and Dodd's 1932 "Sail Away Ladies" has a tune closer to "Tideo," and these verses. Some sound a trifle concocted, and may have been made up for the recording session; others may stem from playparty use in the singers' childhood....
SAIL AWAY LADIES
Christmas comin' down the road,
Christmas comin' down the road,
Christmas comin' down the road,
Gonna get married, don't you know
CHO Sail away ladies, sail away (3x)
God's gonna get you some day.
Cut that wood and pile it high (3X)
Winter's comin' by and by.
Possum up a simmon tree (3x)
Big fat sump'm for you an' me.
Rubbed my dog with turpentine (3x)
Now that dog is hard to find.
Cook that bacon good and brown (3x)
Saddle my horse and go to town.
Swing your partner round and round (3x)
Spit your 'backers on the ground."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: Another commenter -not me- had written in that discussion thread that "Sail Away Ladies" had similar lyrics as "Tideo". Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/online-excerpt-about-old-time-music.html for a 2020 pancocojams post about the Old Time Music/play party song "Tideo" .
**
6. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 11:18 AM
"Azizi, re declamations:
These were "set pieces" the grade school child was supposed to "declaim," that is, speak elegantly if possible, before the class. They were usually short, and were intended to improve the student's ability at public speaking ... analogous to book reports and such for a later generation. This was common practice in schools of both racial groups.
They might be a few lines of poetry, or an anecdote, or almost anything from the school text (or, lacking textbooks, the teacher's memory) that the child could memorize -- training memory skills was important, too, in a rural and often backwoods world where, for the most part, reference material was not going to be common. "The Boy Stood On the Burning Deck" was frequently excerpted for this, as were hokey lines from the Iliad to James Whitcomb Riley and back again.
The practice was sometimes extended into exhibitions before parents and members of the community. The best pupils would get a prize, usually something improving like a tract, or even a Bible."...
**
7. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 06:58 PM
"I think it should be fairly obvious that songs like "Sail Away Ladies" and many of the old-time Appalachian songs done by Uncle Dave or Gran'pa Jones, Stringbean etc. emanate from the Minstrel Show tradition and the performances of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" popular throughout the South for a short period of time. "Old Dan Tucker", "Angelina Baker" and many variants of these started on the Minstrel Show stage. The words to "O Susannah" would be unacceptable to most audiences today.
It's significant that these songs survive mainly because of white performers in blackface who caracatured the "negro" in the Minstrel Show.
It's ironic that some of those songs were entertaining...and they were and are.
Karen Lin mentions in her book on the banjo that this instrument was largely popular because of the Minstrel Show whereas the popular instrument on the plantation was the fiddle not the banjo."
**
8. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 11:01 AM
"In addition to that "RE: Lyr Req: You'll be an angel by and by" thread, I just find this thread on the song "Sail Away Lady":
thread.cfm?threadid=102897
Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o
And the funny thing is that I'm the one who started that thread on June 28th, 2007."...
****
Excerpt B
(Numbers have been added to these selected posts from that discussion thread for referencing purposes only.)
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=102897
1.Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 10:43 PM
"My first {or at least most influential} introduction to folk music-beyond children's rhymes and African American spirituals & gospel songs-was an Odetta album that my high school history teacher gave me around about 1964.
Even before I listened to that record, I was impressed by the photo on the album's cover of a brown skinned afro-wearing Black woman. Afros {wide or closely cropped "Black people's hair" worn without any chemical or heat treatment to straighten its tight curls} was a new style in those days. About three years later, I got up the nerve to have my shoulder length hair cut and wear it in an afro style. I've worn my hair in an afro style ever since {though I started out with an Angela Davis wide afro look, and now wear my hair short but not as short as I remember Odetta wearing her 'fro.}
One of the songs that I remember Odetta singing on that album my teacher gave me was "Sail, Away Ladies". I loved that song then. I love it still.
Odetta's version is quite similar but not exactly the same as the version found in Mudcat's Digital Tradition.
http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden-wp/?m=199909 McGuinn's Folk Denn has an Mp3, the lyrics, and commentary about Odetta's performance of this song "in the mid '50s in the Gate of Horn, Chicago".
In Odetta's version {or at least in this one that McGuinn remembers, the chorus is "Don't you rock 'em die-de-o"
"Die-de-o" ist is probably a regional pronunciation for "daddy-o".
I checked out YouTube to see if anyone had posted a video of Odetta singing "Sail Away, Ladies". No such luck."...
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: Since I wrote that comment, a Odetta singing "Sail Away, Ladies" has been published on YouTube and is one of the showcase examples on Part II of this pancocojams post.
A portion of that Roger McCuinn's Folk Denn article about "Sail Away Ladies" is given in this post's discussion thread."
**
2. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Azizi
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 08:58 AM
"Here's a 2005 post from Joe Offer about the song "Sail Away Ladies" that was published in The Traditional Ballad Index:
thread.cfm?threadid=84871#1569679 "RE: Lyr Req: Sail Away Ladies . . ."
Here's a brief excerpt:
"DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with floating verses: "Ever I get my new house done/Sail away, ladies, sail away/Give the old one to my son/Sail away...." "Don't you worry, don't you cry... You'll be angels by and by" Etc. "Chorus: "Don't'ye rock 'em, di-de-o (x3 or x4)".
AUTHOR: Words assembled by Uncle Dave Macon"
**
In the beginning post of the "Origins: Sail Away Ladies" thread on Dec 31, 2006, Richie notes that "It seems the first version of Sail Away Ladies is found in Talley's Negro Folk Rymes". Though Richie gave 1920 as that book's publication date, it was actually 1922.
In that same thread Ritchie shared the lyrics to a version of Sail Away Lady that was recorded by Van Morrison.
thread.cfm?threadid=97649#1923684
Ritchie indicated that he got those words from an online site.
I found that site {or another similar one}. Here's that link: [link no longer active]
I want to focus on Van Morrison's and others' indication that this song is "traditional".
I don't dispute the fact that this song is traditional. But "traditional to whom?" Or what kind of traditional?" If the citation was given that this is a traditional American {meaning UnitedStater} song, I would further ask, from which population or populations did this song come.
It seems to me that the origins of this "traditional" tune is likely to have been African Americans.
**
In one of those other threads listed above I saw some mention of this song coming from ministrel traditions. And in the description of a YouTube clip in which fiddlers played this tune, the writer describes "Sail Away, Ladies" as a bluegrass tune.
All of these descriptors can be correct at the same time. However, given the fact that there were Black "blackfaced" minstrels, and that White "blackfaced" ministrels lifted much of their material from Black people, and given the fact that bluegrass music owes a huge debt to 19th century Black secular dance music, it seems to me that failure to mention the probable Black roots of this song in folk music indexes and summaries is to do a great disservice to this song's creators.
I believe that Black folks have to do a better job of claiming and reclaiming our heritage.
Since the 1980s, the Ghanaian Akan adinkra symbol "Sankofa" has joined the Egyptian "ankh" and Akan "kente cloth" as a widely used pictograph that represents African American pride in African culture. Since the 1980s, "Sankofa" has also been used as the name for all kind of afrocentric African American cultural, community, and arts groups. Sankofa is a symbol of the importance of learning from the past. In one of its picture forms, Sankofa is shown as a bird who is facing forward but whose head is turned backwards. This is an illustration for the proverb that is often given as "It is never to late to go back and claim it". http://www.welltempered.net/adinkra/htmls/adinkra/sank.htm [link no longer active]
-snip-
I take this charge seriously because I grew up in a time when all kind of folks denied that Black people created anything of value, or all kind of folks limited African Americans musical creative products during the centuries of slavery to spirituals.
Some people {who are non-Black and who are Black} still believe that to this day."...
****
3. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 11:17 AM
Azizi, thanks for reminding me that the first time I heard this song was Odetta's singing. (Was that the LP "Odetta and Larry?" Joen Baez covered the Odettta arrangement exactly. It was some years later that I heard Uncle Dave's ur-text and years later that I found out that he had more or less put it together from floating rhymes that he had heard from blacks while growing up. I like whoever used that verb "Words ASSEMBLED by Uncle Dave"
Uncle Dave, David Harrison Macon. is an Interesting Character. Born 1870, son of a Confederate officer who ran a boardinghouse/hotel; he was one of the best banjo-playing entertainers of all time. His music so clearly shows the black influences that Jon Pankake quotes a story of an elderly black man in the 1940s (remember, the Opry is radio only!) on being told that DeFord Bailey was the only black on the Grand Ole Opry, said, indignantly, "What about Uncle Dave?" Since we have such fragmentary records of what black people were singing and playing in those years (and thanks to Talley for giving us all that he found!) much of what we know is filtered through Dave Macon.
**
4. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 10:21 PM
"Here is the entry from Fiddler's Companion site:
SAIL AWAY LADIES [1A]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Kentucky, Tennessee. G Major. Standard. ABB (Brody, Ford): AABB (Spandaro): AABBCC (Phillips). The tune is related to the numerous versions of "Sally Ann" played in the keys of A and G Major. According to Guthrie Meade (1980), the tune is identified with the south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee locals. The title also appears in a list of the standard tunes in the square dance fiddler's repertoire, according to A.B. Moore in his 1934 book "History of Alabama." Southern Kentucky fiddler Henry L. Bandy recorded the tune for Gennett in 1928, though it was unissued, however, the earlest recordings were Uncle Bunt Stevens (1926-without words) and Uncle Dave Macon (1927-with words). Paul Wells (Middle Tennessee State University) states that the song was collected around the turn of the 20th century and seems to have been common to both black and white traditions. Tom Paley (former New Lost City Ramblers member) believes the verses of "Sail Away Ladies" to be typical floating verses, and go:
***
If ever I get my new house done,
(I'll) give my old one to my son.
***
Children, don't you grieve and cry.
You'll be angels, bye and bye.
***
Come along, girls, and go with me.
We'll go back to Tennessee.
***
(I) got the news from Shallow (or "Charlotte") Town.
Big St. Louis is a-burning down.
***
I chew my tobacco and I spit my juice.
I love my own daughter but it ain't no use.
(Paul Mitchell and others believe the words in Macon's last line sometimes heard as own daughter is really Dona, pronounced Dough-nee in the American South, a Spanish/Italian word for a mature love object, a woman.).
***
Another version of this last couplet goes:
***
I chew my tobacker and I swaller my juice
Sail away, ladies, sail away.
I'd like to go to Heaven, but it ain't no use.
Sail away, ladies, sail away.
***
African-American collector Thomas Talley, writing in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (reprinted in 1991, edited by Charles Wolfe), printed a similar but different text:
***
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Nev' min' what dem white folks say,
May de Mighty bless you. Sail away!
***
Nev' min' what you daddy say,
Shake yo liddle foot an' fly away,
Nev' min' if yo' mammy say:
"De Devil'll git you." Sail away!
***
Kentucky fiddler H.L. Bandy sang the following lyric to "Sail Away Ladies", usually associated with the tune "Old Miss Sally":
***
I asked that girl to be my beau
She hacked at me with a garden hoe
***
I asked that girl to be my wife,
She took at me with a butcher knife
***
Uncle Dave Macon also included a chorus which went, "Don't she rock, Die-Dee-Oh?" but Paley notes that other old recordings have variants like "Don't she rock, Darneo?" and even "Don't she rock 'em, Daddy-O?" (which seems to harken to the beatnik era). Some unknown "revival" wag re-interpreted Macon's lines as:
***
Don't sheetrock the patio (x3)
Sail away, ladies, sail away
***
Wolfe (1991) finds the song in several older collections: Brown (1:153), Brewer (165) and a 1903 collection by William W. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children (170). It also appears in a modern collection of African-American songs and games, Jones and Hawes's Step It Down (174, as "Horse and Buggy"). Sources for notated versions: Highwoods String Band (N.Y.) [Brody]: Uncle Bunt Stevens (Tenn.) [Phillips, Spandaro]. See Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, #1, 1968; Linda Burman - "The Technique of Variation in an American Fiddle Tune (Sail Away Lady)." Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 241. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 35. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 207. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 32. Columbia 15071-D (78 RPM), "Uncle Bunt Stevens" (Tenn.) {1926}. County 521, "Uncle Dave Macon: Original Recordings 1925-1935." Folkways FA 2395, New Lost City Ramblers- "Vol. 5." Folkways FA-2951, Uncle Bunt Stevens - "Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 2, Social Music" (1952). Gennet Records, Master #14361, Henry L. Bandy (1928. Not released). Kicking Mule 213, Susan Cahill- "Southern Clawhammer Banjo." Morning Star 45004, H.L. Bandy (southern Ky.) - "Wish I Had My Time Again." Rounder 0074, Highwoods String Band- "No. 3 Special" (1976. Learned from Uncle Dave Macon's recording). Rounder 0193, Rodney Miller - "Airplang" (1985). Vocalation 5155 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon (1927).
[...]
SAIL AWAY LADIES [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. Standard. AABB. Little relation to "Sail Away Ladies" [1], the tune that usually goes by this title. Some have suggested that the tune may be related to Ed Haley's "Indian Ate a/the Woodchuck," but others do not hear the resemblance. Source for notated version: J.P. Fraley (Rush, Ky.), learned from his father, Richard Fraley, also a fiddler, who called the tune by the "Sail Away" title. According to Betty Vornbrock, Fraley remembers hearing Arthur Smith's version ("Sail Away Ladies" [1]) on the radio long after he learned his father's version [Brody, Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 242. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 207. Rounder 0037, J.P. and Annadeene Fraley- "Wild Rose of the Mountain."
SAIL AWAY LADIES [3]. AKA and see "Chinquapin." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Round Peak, North Carolina. E Minor/G Major. Standard. AA'B. This melody, almost entirely played over an E minor chord (with a G major cadence in the 'B' part) is unrelated to the "Sally Ann" tune family, unlike so many other tunes with the title "Sail Away Ladies." The source for the tune, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell, learned this single tune from Round Peak fiddler Preston 'Pet'/'Pat' McKinney, whom he chanced to meet in the road when Jarrell was age sixteen and on his way to a dance with his fiddle. McKinney, on his way to get some whiskey, hailed him and noting the instrument said "They say you fiddle, son." Jarrell handed him the fiddle which was in ADAE tuning (the 'normal' tuning for Jarrell) and McKinney re-tuned it to standard tuning and played "Sail Away Ladies." Jarrell asked him the title and to play it again, and by the end had it fixed in his mind (see Peter Anick, "An Afternoon with Tommy Jarrell, 1982," Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1995, and notes on the tune appearing with Jarrell's recording on County 756). Source for notated version: Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 207. County 756, Tommy Jarrell- "Sail Away Ladies" (1976). Heritage V, Roscoe Parish (Galax, Va., under the title "Chinquapin"). In the repertoire of Luther Davis, Galax, Va.
Meade's earliest printed citation in respect of this piece is to W.C. Handy's 'A Treasury of Blues' NYC, Simon & schuster Inc 1926, p44. His first recorded reference is to Uncle Dave Macon and Sid Harkreader's recording of 'Girl I Left Behing Me' Vocalion 15034, 1925. I can't understand this - it seems to bear no relationship to 'Sail Away Ladies'. His second recorded version is Uncle Bunt Stephens on 29 March 1926, issued as Columbia 15071-D in July 1926. Uncle Dave recorded it with his Fruit Jar Drinkers on 7 May 1927, issued as Vocalion 5155 in May 1928.
The paragraph on Uncle Bunt's version by the late Charles Wolfe in his 'A Good Riot: The Birth of the Grand Old Opry' at pp95-96 is also of interest:
Henry Bandy, cited in the first paragraph of the Fiddler's Companion entry above, was born in 1876 and was taught 'Sail Away Ladies' by his father who was a farmer and blacksmith. Bandy was a direct link to nineteenth century display fiddlers and was much more important to the Grand Ole Opry that his slender recorded legacy suggests. [Info from Wolfe].
--Stewie."
**
5. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 10:25 PM
"The reference to Dr Wolfe's book on the Grand Ole Opry in my above post should read 'A Good-Natured Riot', not 'A Good Riot'.
--Stewie."
**
6. Subject: RE: Lyr: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Dec 11 - 04:19 PM
"bluegrassmessengers.com gives lyrics to nine versions of this old fiddle tune.
[...]
First on records, melody only, Uncle Bunt Stevens 1926; First record with lyrics, Uncle Dave Macon 1927; it and many subsequent lyrics filled with floaters. Detailed information at bluegrassmessengers.com"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's note: I've deleted the old link that was given in this comment for bluegrassmessengers.com's page on "Sail Away Ladies" and replaced it with the current link http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/fiddle-lyrics-s.aspx. Hyperlinks to individual versions of fiddle tunes beginning with "s" including "Sail Away, Ladies" are given in the left hand column of that page-which also includes a very informative overview of bluegrass fiddle tunes -that I refer to as "Old Time Music".]
****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part I of two part pancocojams series about the Old Time Music song "Sail Away, Ladies".
Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Sail Away Ladies" from two Mudcat folk music forum discussion threads. I wrote a number of these selected comments in 2006-2008 when I was an active member of that online folk music forum.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/five-vocal-renditions-of-sail-away.html for Part II on this pancocojams series. Part II presents showcases five YouTube videos of the song "Say Away Ladies".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
ONLINE EXCERPT ABOUT THE OLD TIME MUSIC SONG "SAIL AWAY, LADIES"
Excerpt A
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=97649
(Numbers have been added to these selected posts from that discussion thread for referencing purposes only.)
1. Subject: origin and lyr: Sail Away Ladies
From: Richie
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 07:45 PM
"It seem the first version of Sail Away Ladies is found in Talley's Negro Folk Rymes p. 20 from 1920. It can be viewed on-line through a book search. Kuntz also includes them on-line. Here they are:
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Nev' min' what dem white folks say,
May de Mighty bless you. Sail away!
Nev' min' what you daddy say,
Shake yo liddle foot an' fly away,
Nev' min' if yo' mammy say:
"De Devil'll git you." Sail away!
Macon's lyric version (not in the DT?) was done in 1927. The Talley rhyme includes lyrics found in Sally Ann, a very similar song. The Hill Billies in 1925 used the line "Shake you little foot Sally Ann." Since Sally Ann also includes the "Sail away" lyric it makes it difficult to separate the two songs.
Are there any earlier, perhaps minstrel lyrics, to "Sail Away Ladies"?"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's notes:
[added March 29, 2020]
a) Here's the link to a complete online text of Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm.
[added March 30, 2020]
b) In the Mudcat forum, "the DT" mentioned above refers to "the Digital Tradition", a compilation of American folk song lyrics, often with notes. As of the March 30, 2020 date of this pancocojams' post's revision, no one has responded to Richie's question "Are there any earlier, perhaps minstrel lyrics, to "Sail Away Ladies"?" with actual song lyrics. Given the fact that there are no examples of "Sail Away Ladies" earlier than 1922 in any online fiddle/Blues/Old Time Music lyric site such as Fiddlers Companion, the Talley 1922 version of "Sail Away" remains the earliest known version of that song.
**
c) I'm not a proponent of the position that every song that enslaved Black people sang had a coded message about escaping slavery to freedom. However, I believe that this very early version of "Sail Away, Ladies" is one such song. And, because the real meaning of the song was to encourage people to flee slavery, it's highly unlikely that this early version of "Sail Away, Ladies" was known to White folks during slavery or shortly thereafter. Notice that my interpretation of Talley's version of "Sail Away" is different than what I wrote in 2006 (comment #2 given below.)
Fifty seven years after the end of slavery in the United States, African American university professor Thomas W. Talley's now classic book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise was published. Talley compiled the examples that are found in that book from his own memories and from the memories of his African American students. In the rhyme/song "Sail Away" that is found in that book, "to sail away" clearly meant "to run away" (i.e. "to move away fast"). Furthermore, although the lyrics for that version of "Sail Away" only referred to females, the encouragement to run away from slavery was meant for both females and males.
In later versions of "Sal Away, Ladies"- such as the 1927 version by White American Uncle Dave Macon- "sail away" only has its "dance/move away fast" meaning.
**
2. Subject: RE: origin and lyr: Sail Away Ladies
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 08:23 PM
"Hello, Richie.
I don't know about any earlier lyrics for "Sail away ladies" than the Talley one you quoted.
Here's some minor corrections:
"Nev' min' what you daddy say", is given as "Nev' min' what yo' daddy say"
This is in the 1968 Kennikat version of Fisk University's [Professor]Thomas W. Talley's "Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise & Otherwise with a Study"
The title of the book is usually given as "Negro Folk Rhymes", and was first published by The Macmillan Company in 1922.
**
I'm wondering if "sail awy" referred to dance moves [moving away from your partner] instead of actually getting on a boat and sailing away [from slavery or otherwise]. If so, the lines "never mind what your master, daddy, mama says" [to convert those lines to contemporary English}, would suggest that the girl shouldn't mind that these folks frowned upon dancing.
In this excerpt from the Study section in his now clasic book, Talley notes that
"Many Negro Folk Rhymes were used as banjo and fiddle {violin} songs. It ought to be born in mind, however, that even these were quite often repeated without singing or playing. It was common in the early days of the public schools of the South to hear Negro childern use them as declamations. The connection, however, of Negro Folk Rhymes with their secular music production is well worthy of notice...
The Negro Folk Rhymes ,then furnished the ideas about which the "old time" Negro banjo picker and fiddler clustered his best instrumental music thoughts. it is too bad that this music passed away without unrecorded save by the hearts of men."
[pps. 235; 237,238]
-snip-
I take it "declamations" means poetry or speeches. Is that correct?"
**
3. Subject: Lyr Add: SAIL AWAY LADIES (from Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Richie
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 08:42 PM
"Hi Azizi,
The "declamations" were probably sung without accompaniment (group singing). Or maybe they were early "poetry slams."
Here's what I hear Uncle Dave Macon singing:
SAIL AWAY LADIES
Uncle Dave Macon and His Fruit Jar Drinkers Vo 5155
Banjo and lead vocal- Uncle Dave Macon; Fiddle- Maizi Todd;
(Fiddle w/banjo intro)
Ever I get my new house done,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
Give my old one to my son.
(Sail away Ladies, sail away.)
*[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o,
Don't she rock die-dee-o,
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/ verse]
Ever I get my new house done,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
Give my old one to my son.
(Sail away Ladies, sail away.)
[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/ verse]
Ain't no use to grieve and cry,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
You'll be an angel by and by,
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
[Three lines of chorus by fiddle]
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/verse]
Come along boys and go with me
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
We'll go back to Tennessee
(Sail away Ladies, sail away)
[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental chorus/verse]
[one line of chorus by fiddle]
Chorus: Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o
Don't she rock die-dee-o.
[instrumental]
*the unusual thing is Uncle Dave doeesn't sing on the first line of the chorus."
**
4. Subject: RE: origin and lyr: Sail Away Ladies
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 10:23 PM
... "here's the Kingston Trio- "Sail Away, Ladies" lyrics.:
"Ain't no use to sit and cry. You'll be an angel by and by.
Chorus:
Can't she rock 'em, can't she rock 'em, can't she rock 'em, daddy-e-o (Repeat)
I got a home in Tennessee (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.) That's the place I wanna be. (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.)
If I ever get my way (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.) Tennessee is where I'll stay. (Sail away, ladies. Sail away.)
(Chorus)
Ever I get my new house done. Give my old one to my son.
Ever I finish this porch and stairs, lie around in my rockin' chair.
(Chorus)
Ain't no use to sit and cry. You'll be an angel by and by.
Won't be a long time 'round this place. So get a look at my funny face.
(Chorus) "
-snip-
Note that "di-dee-o" has changed to "daddy-o". I wonder if this is one source of the vernacular phrase "daddy-o"?
And, for what it's worth, the line "So get a look at my funny face" doesn't sound very authentic to me. My guess is that this line was written as a substitute for a line that was considered to be politically incorrect. But that's only a guess."
**
5. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 10:50 AM
"On the other hand, some versions of Sail Away Ladies differ in melody and treatment, too. Parker and Dodd's 1932 "Sail Away Ladies" has a tune closer to "Tideo," and these verses. Some sound a trifle concocted, and may have been made up for the recording session; others may stem from playparty use in the singers' childhood....
SAIL AWAY LADIES
Christmas comin' down the road,
Christmas comin' down the road,
Christmas comin' down the road,
Gonna get married, don't you know
CHO Sail away ladies, sail away (3x)
God's gonna get you some day.
Cut that wood and pile it high (3X)
Winter's comin' by and by.
Possum up a simmon tree (3x)
Big fat sump'm for you an' me.
Rubbed my dog with turpentine (3x)
Now that dog is hard to find.
Cook that bacon good and brown (3x)
Saddle my horse and go to town.
Swing your partner round and round (3x)
Spit your 'backers on the ground."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: Another commenter -not me- had written in that discussion thread that "Sail Away Ladies" had similar lyrics as "Tideo". Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/online-excerpt-about-old-time-music.html for a 2020 pancocojams post about the Old Time Music/play party song "Tideo" .
**
6. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 11:18 AM
"Azizi, re declamations:
These were "set pieces" the grade school child was supposed to "declaim," that is, speak elegantly if possible, before the class. They were usually short, and were intended to improve the student's ability at public speaking ... analogous to book reports and such for a later generation. This was common practice in schools of both racial groups.
They might be a few lines of poetry, or an anecdote, or almost anything from the school text (or, lacking textbooks, the teacher's memory) that the child could memorize -- training memory skills was important, too, in a rural and often backwoods world where, for the most part, reference material was not going to be common. "The Boy Stood On the Burning Deck" was frequently excerpted for this, as were hokey lines from the Iliad to James Whitcomb Riley and back again.
The practice was sometimes extended into exhibitions before parents and members of the community. The best pupils would get a prize, usually something improving like a tract, or even a Bible."...
**
7. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 04 Jan 07 - 06:58 PM
"I think it should be fairly obvious that songs like "Sail Away Ladies" and many of the old-time Appalachian songs done by Uncle Dave or Gran'pa Jones, Stringbean etc. emanate from the Minstrel Show tradition and the performances of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" popular throughout the South for a short period of time. "Old Dan Tucker", "Angelina Baker" and many variants of these started on the Minstrel Show stage. The words to "O Susannah" would be unacceptable to most audiences today.
It's significant that these songs survive mainly because of white performers in blackface who caracatured the "negro" in the Minstrel Show.
It's ironic that some of those songs were entertaining...and they were and are.
Karen Lin mentions in her book on the banjo that this instrument was largely popular because of the Minstrel Show whereas the popular instrument on the plantation was the fiddle not the banjo."
**
8. Subject: RE: Origin: Sail Away Ladies
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Feb 08 - 11:01 AM
"In addition to that "RE: Lyr Req: You'll be an angel by and by" thread, I just find this thread on the song "Sail Away Lady":
thread.cfm?threadid=102897
Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o
And the funny thing is that I'm the one who started that thread on June 28th, 2007."...
****
Excerpt B
(Numbers have been added to these selected posts from that discussion thread for referencing purposes only.)
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=102897
1.Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Jun 07 - 10:43 PM
"My first {or at least most influential} introduction to folk music-beyond children's rhymes and African American spirituals & gospel songs-was an Odetta album that my high school history teacher gave me around about 1964.
Even before I listened to that record, I was impressed by the photo on the album's cover of a brown skinned afro-wearing Black woman. Afros {wide or closely cropped "Black people's hair" worn without any chemical or heat treatment to straighten its tight curls} was a new style in those days. About three years later, I got up the nerve to have my shoulder length hair cut and wear it in an afro style. I've worn my hair in an afro style ever since {though I started out with an Angela Davis wide afro look, and now wear my hair short but not as short as I remember Odetta wearing her 'fro.}
One of the songs that I remember Odetta singing on that album my teacher gave me was "Sail, Away Ladies". I loved that song then. I love it still.
Odetta's version is quite similar but not exactly the same as the version found in Mudcat's Digital Tradition.
http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden-wp/?m=199909 McGuinn's Folk Denn has an Mp3, the lyrics, and commentary about Odetta's performance of this song "in the mid '50s in the Gate of Horn, Chicago".
In Odetta's version {or at least in this one that McGuinn remembers, the chorus is "Don't you rock 'em die-de-o"
"Die-de-o" ist is probably a regional pronunciation for "daddy-o".
I checked out YouTube to see if anyone had posted a video of Odetta singing "Sail Away, Ladies". No such luck."...
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: Since I wrote that comment, a Odetta singing "Sail Away, Ladies" has been published on YouTube and is one of the showcase examples on Part II of this pancocojams post.
A portion of that Roger McCuinn's Folk Denn article about "Sail Away Ladies" is given in this post's discussion thread."
**
2. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Azizi
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 08:58 AM
"Here's a 2005 post from Joe Offer about the song "Sail Away Ladies" that was published in The Traditional Ballad Index:
thread.cfm?threadid=84871#1569679 "RE: Lyr Req: Sail Away Ladies . . ."
Here's a brief excerpt:
"DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with floating verses: "Ever I get my new house done/Sail away, ladies, sail away/Give the old one to my son/Sail away...." "Don't you worry, don't you cry... You'll be angels by and by" Etc. "Chorus: "Don't'ye rock 'em, di-de-o (x3 or x4)".
AUTHOR: Words assembled by Uncle Dave Macon"
**
In the beginning post of the "Origins: Sail Away Ladies" thread on Dec 31, 2006, Richie notes that "It seems the first version of Sail Away Ladies is found in Talley's Negro Folk Rymes". Though Richie gave 1920 as that book's publication date, it was actually 1922.
In that same thread Ritchie shared the lyrics to a version of Sail Away Lady that was recorded by Van Morrison.
thread.cfm?threadid=97649#1923684
Ritchie indicated that he got those words from an online site.
I found that site {or another similar one}. Here's that link: [link no longer active]
I want to focus on Van Morrison's and others' indication that this song is "traditional".
I don't dispute the fact that this song is traditional. But "traditional to whom?" Or what kind of traditional?" If the citation was given that this is a traditional American {meaning UnitedStater} song, I would further ask, from which population or populations did this song come.
It seems to me that the origins of this "traditional" tune is likely to have been African Americans.
**
In one of those other threads listed above I saw some mention of this song coming from ministrel traditions. And in the description of a YouTube clip in which fiddlers played this tune, the writer describes "Sail Away, Ladies" as a bluegrass tune.
All of these descriptors can be correct at the same time. However, given the fact that there were Black "blackfaced" minstrels, and that White "blackfaced" ministrels lifted much of their material from Black people, and given the fact that bluegrass music owes a huge debt to 19th century Black secular dance music, it seems to me that failure to mention the probable Black roots of this song in folk music indexes and summaries is to do a great disservice to this song's creators.
I believe that Black folks have to do a better job of claiming and reclaiming our heritage.
Since the 1980s, the Ghanaian Akan adinkra symbol "Sankofa" has joined the Egyptian "ankh" and Akan "kente cloth" as a widely used pictograph that represents African American pride in African culture. Since the 1980s, "Sankofa" has also been used as the name for all kind of afrocentric African American cultural, community, and arts groups. Sankofa is a symbol of the importance of learning from the past. In one of its picture forms, Sankofa is shown as a bird who is facing forward but whose head is turned backwards. This is an illustration for the proverb that is often given as "It is never to late to go back and claim it". http://www.welltempered.net/adinkra/htmls/adinkra/sank.htm [link no longer active]
-snip-
I take this charge seriously because I grew up in a time when all kind of folks denied that Black people created anything of value, or all kind of folks limited African Americans musical creative products during the centuries of slavery to spirituals.
Some people {who are non-Black and who are Black} still believe that to this day."...
****
3. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 11:17 AM
Azizi, thanks for reminding me that the first time I heard this song was Odetta's singing. (Was that the LP "Odetta and Larry?" Joen Baez covered the Odettta arrangement exactly. It was some years later that I heard Uncle Dave's ur-text and years later that I found out that he had more or less put it together from floating rhymes that he had heard from blacks while growing up. I like whoever used that verb "Words ASSEMBLED by Uncle Dave"
Uncle Dave, David Harrison Macon. is an Interesting Character. Born 1870, son of a Confederate officer who ran a boardinghouse/hotel; he was one of the best banjo-playing entertainers of all time. His music so clearly shows the black influences that Jon Pankake quotes a story of an elderly black man in the 1940s (remember, the Opry is radio only!) on being told that DeFord Bailey was the only black on the Grand Ole Opry, said, indignantly, "What about Uncle Dave?" Since we have such fragmentary records of what black people were singing and playing in those years (and thanks to Talley for giving us all that he found!) much of what we know is filtered through Dave Macon.
**
4. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 10:21 PM
"Here is the entry from Fiddler's Companion site:
SAIL AWAY LADIES [1A]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Kentucky, Tennessee. G Major. Standard. ABB (Brody, Ford): AABB (Spandaro): AABBCC (Phillips). The tune is related to the numerous versions of "Sally Ann" played in the keys of A and G Major. According to Guthrie Meade (1980), the tune is identified with the south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee locals. The title also appears in a list of the standard tunes in the square dance fiddler's repertoire, according to A.B. Moore in his 1934 book "History of Alabama." Southern Kentucky fiddler Henry L. Bandy recorded the tune for Gennett in 1928, though it was unissued, however, the earlest recordings were Uncle Bunt Stevens (1926-without words) and Uncle Dave Macon (1927-with words). Paul Wells (Middle Tennessee State University) states that the song was collected around the turn of the 20th century and seems to have been common to both black and white traditions. Tom Paley (former New Lost City Ramblers member) believes the verses of "Sail Away Ladies" to be typical floating verses, and go:
***
If ever I get my new house done,
(I'll) give my old one to my son.
***
Children, don't you grieve and cry.
You'll be angels, bye and bye.
***
Come along, girls, and go with me.
We'll go back to Tennessee.
***
(I) got the news from Shallow (or "Charlotte") Town.
Big St. Louis is a-burning down.
***
I chew my tobacco and I spit my juice.
I love my own daughter but it ain't no use.
(Paul Mitchell and others believe the words in Macon's last line sometimes heard as own daughter is really Dona, pronounced Dough-nee in the American South, a Spanish/Italian word for a mature love object, a woman.).
***
Another version of this last couplet goes:
***
I chew my tobacker and I swaller my juice
Sail away, ladies, sail away.
I'd like to go to Heaven, but it ain't no use.
Sail away, ladies, sail away.
***
African-American collector Thomas Talley, writing in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (reprinted in 1991, edited by Charles Wolfe), printed a similar but different text:
***
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Sail away, ladies! Sail away!
Nev' min' what dem white folks say,
May de Mighty bless you. Sail away!
***
Nev' min' what you daddy say,
Shake yo liddle foot an' fly away,
Nev' min' if yo' mammy say:
"De Devil'll git you." Sail away!
***
Kentucky fiddler H.L. Bandy sang the following lyric to "Sail Away Ladies", usually associated with the tune "Old Miss Sally":
***
I asked that girl to be my beau
She hacked at me with a garden hoe
***
I asked that girl to be my wife,
She took at me with a butcher knife
***
Uncle Dave Macon also included a chorus which went, "Don't she rock, Die-Dee-Oh?" but Paley notes that other old recordings have variants like "Don't she rock, Darneo?" and even "Don't she rock 'em, Daddy-O?" (which seems to harken to the beatnik era). Some unknown "revival" wag re-interpreted Macon's lines as:
***
Don't sheetrock the patio (x3)
Sail away, ladies, sail away
***
Wolfe (1991) finds the song in several older collections: Brown (1:153), Brewer (165) and a 1903 collection by William W. Newell, Games and Songs of American Children (170). It also appears in a modern collection of African-American songs and games, Jones and Hawes's Step It Down (174, as "Horse and Buggy"). Sources for notated versions: Highwoods String Band (N.Y.) [Brody]: Uncle Bunt Stevens (Tenn.) [Phillips, Spandaro]. See Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology, #1, 1968; Linda Burman - "The Technique of Variation in an American Fiddle Tune (Sail Away Lady)." Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 241. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 35. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 207. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 32. Columbia 15071-D (78 RPM), "Uncle Bunt Stevens" (Tenn.) {1926}. County 521, "Uncle Dave Macon: Original Recordings 1925-1935." Folkways FA 2395, New Lost City Ramblers- "Vol. 5." Folkways FA-2951, Uncle Bunt Stevens - "Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 2, Social Music" (1952). Gennet Records, Master #14361, Henry L. Bandy (1928. Not released). Kicking Mule 213, Susan Cahill- "Southern Clawhammer Banjo." Morning Star 45004, H.L. Bandy (southern Ky.) - "Wish I Had My Time Again." Rounder 0074, Highwoods String Band- "No. 3 Special" (1976. Learned from Uncle Dave Macon's recording). Rounder 0193, Rodney Miller - "Airplang" (1985). Vocalation 5155 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon (1927).
[...]
SAIL AWAY LADIES [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. Standard. AABB. Little relation to "Sail Away Ladies" [1], the tune that usually goes by this title. Some have suggested that the tune may be related to Ed Haley's "Indian Ate a/the Woodchuck," but others do not hear the resemblance. Source for notated version: J.P. Fraley (Rush, Ky.), learned from his father, Richard Fraley, also a fiddler, who called the tune by the "Sail Away" title. According to Betty Vornbrock, Fraley remembers hearing Arthur Smith's version ("Sail Away Ladies" [1]) on the radio long after he learned his father's version [Brody, Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 242. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 207. Rounder 0037, J.P. and Annadeene Fraley- "Wild Rose of the Mountain."
SAIL AWAY LADIES [3]. AKA and see "Chinquapin." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Round Peak, North Carolina. E Minor/G Major. Standard. AA'B. This melody, almost entirely played over an E minor chord (with a G major cadence in the 'B' part) is unrelated to the "Sally Ann" tune family, unlike so many other tunes with the title "Sail Away Ladies." The source for the tune, Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell, learned this single tune from Round Peak fiddler Preston 'Pet'/'Pat' McKinney, whom he chanced to meet in the road when Jarrell was age sixteen and on his way to a dance with his fiddle. McKinney, on his way to get some whiskey, hailed him and noting the instrument said "They say you fiddle, son." Jarrell handed him the fiddle which was in ADAE tuning (the 'normal' tuning for Jarrell) and McKinney re-tuned it to standard tuning and played "Sail Away Ladies." Jarrell asked him the title and to play it again, and by the end had it fixed in his mind (see Peter Anick, "An Afternoon with Tommy Jarrell, 1982," Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1995, and notes on the tune appearing with Jarrell's recording on County 756). Source for notated version: Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 207. County 756, Tommy Jarrell- "Sail Away Ladies" (1976). Heritage V, Roscoe Parish (Galax, Va., under the title "Chinquapin"). In the repertoire of Luther Davis, Galax, Va.
Meade's earliest printed citation in respect of this piece is to W.C. Handy's 'A Treasury of Blues' NYC, Simon & schuster Inc 1926, p44. His first recorded reference is to Uncle Dave Macon and Sid Harkreader's recording of 'Girl I Left Behing Me' Vocalion 15034, 1925. I can't understand this - it seems to bear no relationship to 'Sail Away Ladies'. His second recorded version is Uncle Bunt Stephens on 29 March 1926, issued as Columbia 15071-D in July 1926. Uncle Dave recorded it with his Fruit Jar Drinkers on 7 May 1927, issued as Vocalion 5155 in May 1928.
The paragraph on Uncle Bunt's version by the late Charles Wolfe in his 'A Good Riot: The Birth of the Grand Old Opry' at pp95-96 is also of interest:
Next to Texas fiddler Eck Robertson's classic solos of 'Leather Britches' and 'Sallie Gooden' dating from 1922 and 1923, Bunt Stephen's efforts are probably the finest examples of traditional American solo fiddling recorded. Students of fiddle music have described Uncle Bunt's masterpiece 'Sail Away Ladies' as probably similar to much American dance music in the period between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and ethnomusicologist Linda C. Burman-Hall, in a well-known study entitled 'The Technique of Variation in an American Fiddle Tune', spends over twenty pages transcribing and analysing the complex musical patterns of the piece. Uncle Bunt, whose neighbours described as 'that nice little feller that never amounted to much', would have been quietly amused.
Henry Bandy, cited in the first paragraph of the Fiddler's Companion entry above, was born in 1876 and was taught 'Sail Away Ladies' by his father who was a farmer and blacksmith. Bandy was a direct link to nineteenth century display fiddlers and was much more important to the Grand Ole Opry that his slender recorded legacy suggests. [Info from Wolfe].
--Stewie."
**
5. Subject: RE: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Stewie
Date: 29 Jun 07 - 10:25 PM
"The reference to Dr Wolfe's book on the Grand Ole Opry in my above post should read 'A Good-Natured Riot', not 'A Good Riot'.
--Stewie."
**
6. Subject: RE: Lyr: Sail Away Ladies (Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-o)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Dec 11 - 04:19 PM
"bluegrassmessengers.com gives lyrics to nine versions of this old fiddle tune.
[...]
First on records, melody only, Uncle Bunt Stevens 1926; First record with lyrics, Uncle Dave Macon 1927; it and many subsequent lyrics filled with floaters. Detailed information at bluegrassmessengers.com"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's note: I've deleted the old link that was given in this comment for bluegrassmessengers.com's page on "Sail Away Ladies" and replaced it with the current link http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/fiddle-lyrics-s.aspx. Hyperlinks to individual versions of fiddle tunes beginning with "s" including "Sail Away, Ladies" are given in the left hand column of that page-which also includes a very informative overview of bluegrass fiddle tunes -that I refer to as "Old Time Music".]
****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
YouTube Videos Of The Children's Singing Game "Tideo" (with instructions & lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of two part pancocojams series about the American singing game (play party song) "Tideo".
Part II presents instructions about one way of playing (dancing) to the song "Tideo" and showcases three YouTube videos of "Tideo".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/online-excerpt-about-old-time-music.html for Part I presents information about and old lyric examples of the song "Tideo".
****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, recreational, and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in these embedded videos and those who published these videos on YouTube.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-play-party-songs-other.html for a 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Draw Me A Bucket Of Water & Three Other African American Children's Singing Games". One of the video's showcased below is included in that post.
****
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING (DANCING WHILE SINGING) "TIDEO"
This is one way of playing/dancing to "Tideo".
From From https://yellowbrickroadblog.com/2017/03/tideo.html
"DANCE
I honestly can’t remember where I first learned this dance, but I used it every year with great success. The directions are as follows:
Students form an inner and outer circle facing each other.
Skip one window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
The outer circle sidesteps clockwise to the beat. Students step out on the first beat. Then, draw their other leg in on the second beat. To help them with this, I would often model while saying “step, together, step, together…” So, they should be facing a new person on every other beat.
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Facing their new partners, students pat the sixteenth notes on their legs. They clap the eighth notes. And finally, the partners pat their hands together for the quarter note.
*You will likely need to save the clapping/patting part till after they’ve mastered the other dance moves. For many of my classes, this was the final step, which I dubbed an “extra challenge”. If they were ready to move on, they were excited about the challenge, even begging for it. If they weren’t excited about it, that was my cue that I should save it for another day or work on the basic dance moves some more.
Tideo, Tideo
Partners swing their right arms, landing in the opposite circle they started in.
Jingle at the windows, Tideo
With the same partners as before, they pat and clap the rhythms. Then, the song begins again.
The dance part of this lesson, usually took up two class periods. After which, students really had a feel for the sixteenth notes."...
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: 3rd Grade Music-Singing Game Tideo (Fairmont Anaheim Hills Campus)
Uploaded by fairmonts chools on Jun 16, 2011 [California]
In this music activity, students experience 16th note rhythms in 4/4 meter, they sing in tune to a wide-range melody, and they work as a team.
At the Fairmont Private Schools - Anaheim Hills Campus, students enjoy music class in our sound-proof studio complete with a dance floor and African drums. Students participate in singing, dancing, instrument playing, and creating music!
-snip-
The lyrics for this version of the song are:
"Pass one window Tideo,
Pass two windows Tideo,
Pass three windows Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo
Jingle at the window, Tideo
Tideo, Tideo
Jingle at the window, Tideo
-snip-
Here's a link to a video of some students from that school playing African drums to the song “Tideo”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95wwU_rtk60.
****
Example #2: Spring Showcase - Tideo Song
Suresh Shanmugham, Jun 2, 2015
-snip-
The tune, tempo, and lyrics for this song are the same as given for Example #1, but the way the two groups perform the accompanying movements/"dance" while singing the song is different.
****
Example #3: Tideo Singing Game Demo
Themes & Variations, Aug 9, 2017
-snip-
The tune and tempo for this version are the same as Example #1 and Example #2, but the lyrics are slightly different. The way this game is played is also different from the way that it was played in Example #1 and Example #2.
Here are the lyrics for this version of "Tideo" that were given by the publisher in that video's discussion thread:
"Pass one window Tideo,
Pass two windows Tideo,
Pass three windows Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Jinglin' jinglin, jinglin Joe,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Jinglin' jinglin, jinglin Joe,
Jingle at the window Tideo
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This is Part II of two part pancocojams series about the American singing game (play party song) "Tideo".
Part II presents instructions about one way of playing (dancing) to the song "Tideo" and showcases three YouTube videos of "Tideo".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/online-excerpt-about-old-time-music.html for Part I presents information about and old lyric examples of the song "Tideo".
****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, recreational, and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in these embedded videos and those who published these videos on YouTube.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-play-party-songs-other.html for a 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Draw Me A Bucket Of Water & Three Other African American Children's Singing Games". One of the video's showcased below is included in that post.
****
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING (DANCING WHILE SINGING) "TIDEO"
This is one way of playing/dancing to "Tideo".
From From https://yellowbrickroadblog.com/2017/03/tideo.html
"DANCE
I honestly can’t remember where I first learned this dance, but I used it every year with great success. The directions are as follows:
Students form an inner and outer circle facing each other.
Skip one window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
The outer circle sidesteps clockwise to the beat. Students step out on the first beat. Then, draw their other leg in on the second beat. To help them with this, I would often model while saying “step, together, step, together…” So, they should be facing a new person on every other beat.
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Facing their new partners, students pat the sixteenth notes on their legs. They clap the eighth notes. And finally, the partners pat their hands together for the quarter note.
*You will likely need to save the clapping/patting part till after they’ve mastered the other dance moves. For many of my classes, this was the final step, which I dubbed an “extra challenge”. If they were ready to move on, they were excited about the challenge, even begging for it. If they weren’t excited about it, that was my cue that I should save it for another day or work on the basic dance moves some more.
Tideo, Tideo
Partners swing their right arms, landing in the opposite circle they started in.
Jingle at the windows, Tideo
With the same partners as before, they pat and clap the rhythms. Then, the song begins again.
The dance part of this lesson, usually took up two class periods. After which, students really had a feel for the sixteenth notes."...
****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: 3rd Grade Music-Singing Game Tideo (Fairmont Anaheim Hills Campus)
Uploaded by fairmonts chools on Jun 16, 2011 [California]
In this music activity, students experience 16th note rhythms in 4/4 meter, they sing in tune to a wide-range melody, and they work as a team.
At the Fairmont Private Schools - Anaheim Hills Campus, students enjoy music class in our sound-proof studio complete with a dance floor and African drums. Students participate in singing, dancing, instrument playing, and creating music!
-snip-
The lyrics for this version of the song are:
"Pass one window Tideo,
Pass two windows Tideo,
Pass three windows Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo
Jingle at the window, Tideo
Tideo, Tideo
Jingle at the window, Tideo
-snip-
Here's a link to a video of some students from that school playing African drums to the song “Tideo”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95wwU_rtk60.
****
Example #2: Spring Showcase - Tideo Song
Suresh Shanmugham, Jun 2, 2015
-snip-
The tune, tempo, and lyrics for this song are the same as given for Example #1, but the way the two groups perform the accompanying movements/"dance" while singing the song is different.
****
Example #3: Tideo Singing Game Demo
Themes & Variations, Aug 9, 2017
-snip-
The tune and tempo for this version are the same as Example #1 and Example #2, but the lyrics are slightly different. The way this game is played is also different from the way that it was played in Example #1 and Example #2.
Here are the lyrics for this version of "Tideo" that were given by the publisher in that video's discussion thread:
"Pass one window Tideo,
Pass two windows Tideo,
Pass three windows Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Jinglin' jinglin, jinglin Joe,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Jinglin' jinglin, jinglin Joe,
Jingle at the window Tideo
****
This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Children's Singing Game "Tideo" (Information and Lyrics)
Edited by Azizi Powell
Here's a reprint of he Sally -Ann excerpt given above that suggests that "Tideo" is a folk processed form of the nickname "Dineo":
Latest updat -March 19, 2025
This is Part I of two part pancocojams series about the American singing game (play party song) "Tideo".
Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Tideo".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/youtube-videos-of-childrens-singing.html for Part II of this two part pancocojams series. Part II presents instructions about one way of playing (dancing) to the song "Tideo" and showcases various YouTube videos of "Tideo".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
ONLINE EXCERPT ABOUT THE OLD TIME MUSIC SONG/CHILDREN SINGING GAME "TIDEO"
From http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/tideo--indiana-play-party-1916.aspx
"Tideo- Indiana Play-Party 1916
Tideo/Toddy-O/Jingle at the Window
Old-Time Fiddle Tune and Play Party Song;
ARTIST: from Indiana Play-Party Songs 1916
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s
RECORDING INFO: Jingle at the Windows
At- Toddy-O
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p173
Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p160 [1930s] (Tideo)
Fox, Lillian M. / Folk Songs of the United States, Calif. State Series, Sof (1951), p37b
Brame, Thelma. McIntosh, David S. / Folk Songs and Singing Games of the Illinois Ozarks, SIU Press, Bk (1974), p 66 [1948/12/09] (Ti-De-O)
Durbin, Carl. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p313/#525 [1927/06/05]
Lomax, John A.. Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p400/#208 (Tideo)
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-41
SOURCES: Talley; Brown; Mudcat
OTHER NAMES: "Toddy-O;" "Jingle At The Window, Tidy-O;" "Jingle At The Window;" "Ti-De-O" "Jingle at th' Winder" (Randolph); "Pass One Window Toddy-O"
RELATED TO: "Down in Jay Bird Town" "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window;"
NOTES: "Tideo," a fiddle tune and play party song printed as early as 1911 in the [J]ournal of American Folk Lore, has a variety of similar names including Ti-De-O, Toddy-O, Jingle at the Window. Randolph suggests (Randolph, III, 313), on the authority of Lair, Swing Your Partner, that the name "Tide"
[...]
Textually "Tideo," often called "Jingle At The Window" (Randolph, III, 313-14), is closely related to "Down in Jay Bird Town" and "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window" which are other play-party songs. "Down in Jay Bird Town" is found in the 1916 Play-Party Songs in Indiana.
Typical lyrics of Tideo appear:
Pass one window, Tideo.
Pass two windows, Tideo.
Pass three windows, Tideo.
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
[...]
TODDY O
Hands all aroun', toddy-o.
Toddy-o, toddy-o;
First to the left, then to the right,
Swing aroun' ole toddy-o.
Journal of American folklore 1911; Page 311
Pass one window, toddy O
Pass two windows, toddy O
Pass three windows, toddy 0,
Pass four windows, toddy O,
Swing to the centre and bow to your beau,
And all go jingle at the toddy O.
Folk song: U.S.A.: the 111 best American ballads - Page 82
by Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford Seeger - Music - 1947 - 407 pages
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, low.
Pass one window tideo
Pass two windows Tideo
Pass three windows Tideo
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Ruth Crawford Seeger, in American Folk Songs for Children, has just one verse and refrain for "Tideo," which she calls "Jingle At the Windows":
Jingle at the window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Jing-ling, jing-ling, jing-ling Jo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Her source was "Tideo," in William A. Owens, Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Games, Tardy Publishing Co, 1936.
LEAD A MAN
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
You swing heads, di-dee-o, I swing feet, di-dee-o
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, walkin' on de ice, di-dee-o!
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o;
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o?
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
[title given as "Dance Song" in Dorothy Scarborough {assisted by Ola Lee Gulledge}, "On The Trial of Negro Folk Songs" { Folklore Associates edition 1963; pp.115, 116; originally published by Harvard University press, 1925}
Other versions have the tag "Down in Alabam" or Down in Alabama":
The American play-party song - Page 179 by Benjamin Albert Botkin- 1963 - 400 pages
2. Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Jingle on the window, jingle on the window,
Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Down in Alabama
The University studies - Page 333 by University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus) - Education - 1934 For "Jingle at the Window," see DOWN IN ALABAMA. A (Sung by Charlie Carr, Noble, Cleveland County.)
1. Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo,
Skip three windows, tideo,
Skip four windows, tideo.
2. Skip to the center And choose your beau, ...
or
1 Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo.
Skip three windows, tideo.
Jingle at the window tideo.
There may be a relationship with the fiddle songs titled Dineo and Darneo associated with Sail Away Ladies, a song first recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (which uses di-dee-o in the lyrics), and Sally Ann. Here's some info from Andrew Kuntz:
DINEO- AKA and see "Di‑nee‑o, Ladies," "Darneo," "Sally Ann" Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va. A Major. Standard tuning. The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"
SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. See also related tunes "Big Sweet Taters in Sandy Land," "Great Big Tater(s) in Sandy Land/Lot," "Sandy Land," "Sail Away Ladies" (Kentucky/Tennessee), "Wish(ed) I Had My Time Again" (Ky.). One version of the tune goes by the name "Dineo" in the Franklin/Floyd County area of southwestern Virginia, and it was recorded as “Darneo” by the Blue Ridge Highballers (Yazoo CD 2046).
Tideo THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA 1916
Mrs. Leslie Beall.
1 . Pass one window, Tideo, Pass two windows, Tideo,
Pass three windows, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
2. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
3. I asked that girl to be my wife,
She said, "No, not on your life."
I asked her mother and she said, "No."
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
4. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
b. At 1, all form a single circle, with each boy in front of his partner. Each player has his left hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of him. Circle left. At 2, each boy makes a half turn to the right and swings his partner.
At 3, each girl steps in front of her partner and all form a single circle again in position as 1.
At 4, each boy turns and swings the girl behind him in the circle.
Begin the song again and continue the game until each girl has been partner to every boy and returns to her original partner, c. The first stanza of a variant which Mrs. Ames calls "Pass One Window Toddy-o" (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXIV, p. 311), is the same as that given above, but the tune is different.
Miss Goldy Hamilton (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXVII, p. 294) prints the words of stanza 1.
This is Part I of two part pancocojams series about the American singing game (play party song) "Tideo".
Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Tideo".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/youtube-videos-of-childrens-singing.html for Part II of this two part pancocojams series. Part II presents instructions about one way of playing (dancing) to the song "Tideo" and showcases various YouTube videos of "Tideo".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
ONLINE EXCERPT ABOUT THE OLD TIME MUSIC SONG/CHILDREN SINGING GAME "TIDEO"
From http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/tideo--indiana-play-party-1916.aspx
"Tideo- Indiana Play-Party 1916
Tideo/Toddy-O/Jingle at the Window
Old-Time Fiddle Tune and Play Party Song;
ARTIST: from Indiana Play-Party Songs 1916
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s
RECORDING INFO: Jingle at the Windows
At- Toddy-O
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p173
Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p160 [1930s] (Tideo)
Fox, Lillian M. / Folk Songs of the United States, Calif. State Series, Sof (1951), p37b
Brame, Thelma. McIntosh, David S. / Folk Songs and Singing Games of the Illinois Ozarks, SIU Press, Bk (1974), p 66 [1948/12/09] (Ti-De-O)
Durbin, Carl. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p313/#525 [1927/06/05]
Lomax, John A.. Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p400/#208 (Tideo)
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-41
SOURCES: Talley; Brown; Mudcat
OTHER NAMES: "Toddy-O;" "Jingle At The Window, Tidy-O;" "Jingle At The Window;" "Ti-De-O" "Jingle at th' Winder" (Randolph); "Pass One Window Toddy-O"
RELATED TO: "Down in Jay Bird Town" "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window;"
NOTES: "Tideo," a fiddle tune and play party song printed as early as 1911 in the [J]ournal of American Folk Lore, has a variety of similar names including Ti-De-O, Toddy-O, Jingle at the Window. Randolph suggests (Randolph, III, 313), on the authority of Lair, Swing Your Partner, that the name "Tide"
[...]
Textually "Tideo," often called "Jingle At The Window" (Randolph, III, 313-14), is closely related to "Down in Jay Bird Town" and "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window" which are other play-party songs. "Down in Jay Bird Town" is found in the 1916 Play-Party Songs in Indiana.
Typical lyrics of Tideo appear:
Pass one window, Tideo.
Pass two windows, Tideo.
Pass three windows, Tideo.
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
[...]
TODDY O
Hands all aroun', toddy-o.
Toddy-o, toddy-o;
First to the left, then to the right,
Swing aroun' ole toddy-o.
Journal of American folklore 1911; Page 311
Pass one window, toddy O
Pass two windows, toddy O
Pass three windows, toddy 0,
Pass four windows, toddy O,
Swing to the centre and bow to your beau,
And all go jingle at the toddy O.
Folk song: U.S.A.: the 111 best American ballads - Page 82
by Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford Seeger - Music - 1947 - 407 pages
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, low.
Pass one window tideo
Pass two windows Tideo
Pass three windows Tideo
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Ruth Crawford Seeger, in American Folk Songs for Children, has just one verse and refrain for "Tideo," which she calls "Jingle At the Windows":
Jingle at the window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Jing-ling, jing-ling, jing-ling Jo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Her source was "Tideo," in William A. Owens, Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Games, Tardy Publishing Co, 1936.
LEAD A MAN
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
You swing heads, di-dee-o, I swing feet, di-dee-o
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, walkin' on de ice, di-dee-o!
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o;
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o?
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
[title given as "Dance Song" in Dorothy Scarborough {assisted by Ola Lee Gulledge}, "On The Trial of Negro Folk Songs" { Folklore Associates edition 1963; pp.115, 116; originally published by Harvard University press, 1925}
Other versions have the tag "Down in Alabam" or Down in Alabama":
The American play-party song - Page 179 by Benjamin Albert Botkin- 1963 - 400 pages
2. Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Jingle on the window, jingle on the window,
Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Down in Alabama
The University studies - Page 333 by University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus) - Education - 1934 For "Jingle at the Window," see DOWN IN ALABAMA. A (Sung by Charlie Carr, Noble, Cleveland County.)
1. Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo,
Skip three windows, tideo,
Skip four windows, tideo.
2. Skip to the center And choose your beau, ...
or
1 Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo.
Skip three windows, tideo.
Jingle at the window tideo.
There may be a relationship with the fiddle songs titled Dineo and Darneo associated with Sail Away Ladies, a song first recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (which uses di-dee-o in the lyrics), and Sally Ann. Here's some info from Andrew Kuntz:
DINEO- AKA and see "Di‑nee‑o, Ladies," "Darneo," "Sally Ann" Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va. A Major. Standard tuning. The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"
SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. See also related tunes "Big Sweet Taters in Sandy Land," "Great Big Tater(s) in Sandy Land/Lot," "Sandy Land," "Sail Away Ladies" (Kentucky/Tennessee), "Wish(ed) I Had My Time Again" (Ky.). One version of the tune goes by the name "Dineo" in the Franklin/Floyd County area of southwestern Virginia, and it was recorded as “Darneo” by the Blue Ridge Highballers (Yazoo CD 2046).
Tideo THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA 1916
Mrs. Leslie Beall.
1 . Pass one window, Tideo, Pass two windows, Tideo,
Pass three windows, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
2. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
3. I asked that girl to be my wife,
She said, "No, not on your life."
I asked her mother and she said, "No."
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
4. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
b. At 1, all form a single circle, with each boy in front of his partner. Each player has his left hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of him. Circle left. At 2, each boy makes a half turn to the right and swings his partner.
At 3, each girl steps in front of her partner and all form a single circle again in position as 1.
At 4, each boy turns and swings the girl behind him in the circle.
Begin the song again and continue the game until each girl has been partner to every boy and returns to her original partner, c. The first stanza of a variant which Mrs. Ames calls "Pass One Window Toddy-o" (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXIV, p. 311), is the same as that given above, but the tune is different.
Miss Goldy Hamilton (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXVII, p. 294) prints the words of stanza 1.
****
WHAT "TIDEO" MEANS IN THIS SINGING GAME (added March19, 2025)
There appear to be two schools of thought about the meaning of "tideo" in this singing game.
1. "Tideo: is a "corrupted" (folk processed) form of the word "toddy" (as in "hot toddy" - a usually hot drink consisting of liquor (such as rum), water, sugar, and spices).
2. "Tideo" is a folk process form of a nickname for such as "Dinah" ("Din nee o").
Meaning #1 makes sense in the "Tideo" singing game as the words to the song are clearly advising someone to "jingle* at the window.
Meaning #1 (referring to a hot toddy) doesn't make any sense at all as the words to th lyrics are clearly .
WHAT "TIDEO" MEANS IN THIS SINGING GAME (added March19, 2025)
There appear to be two schools of thought about the meaning of "tideo" in this singing game.
1. "Tideo: is a "corrupted" (folk processed) form of the word "toddy" (as in "hot toddy" - a usually hot drink consisting of liquor (such as rum), water, sugar, and spices).
2. "Tideo" is a folk process form of a nickname for such as "Dinah" ("Din nee o").
Meaning #1 makes sense in the "Tideo" singing game as the words to the song are clearly advising someone to "jingle* at the window.
Meaning #1 (referring to a hot toddy) doesn't make any sense at all as the words to th lyrics are clearly .
Here's a reprint of he Sally -Ann excerpt given above that suggests that "Tideo" is a folk processed form of the nickname "Dineo":
"DINEO-... The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"
SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of C"...
-snip-
*Here's the meaning of the word "jingle" from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingle jingle- "to make a light clinking or tinkling sound"
*Here's the meaning of the word "jingle" from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingle jingle- "to make a light clinking or tinkling sound"
-snip-
A person "jingling" at the window may be doing so to furtively alert someone that she or he is there.
****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
A person "jingling" at the window may be doing so to furtively alert someone that she or he is there.
****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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