1972 Folkstream Article Excerpt: "Black Fife and Drum Music in Mississippi" Written By David Evan

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides a long excerpt of a 1972 Folkstream article entitled "Black Fife And Drum Music in Mississippi". In spite of its title, that article provides information about Black fife and drum music in other Southern states.

The content of this post is presented for hsitorical and cultural purposes.

This excerpt is published on this blog as a means of raising awareness of this subject. Blog visitors are encouraged to read the entire hyperlinked article, including information about the the citations that aren't detailed in this excerpt.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Black fife and drum musicians for this little known part of  Black culture. Thanks to David Evans for writing this article and thanks to Folkstreams for publishing it online. 

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BLACK FIFE AND DRUM MUSIC IN MISSISSIPPI
written by David Evan, 1972

From http://www.folkstreams.net/film-context.php?id=86

 "One of the most interesting types of black music to have been recorded in recent years is the fife and drum band. Such a group was first found in 1942 by Alan Lomax near Sledge, Mississippi.1 Its instrumentation consisted of a cane fife, two snares, and a bass drum. Yet these same four musicians could also constitute themselves as a string band of violin, banjo, guitar, and bass drum, and on two recordings one or more of the drums were played with the four- or ten-hole panpipes, known amongst most black musicians as "quills."

Lomax returned to the same area, Tate and Panola Counties, Mississippi, in 1959 and recorded the survivors of the group he first recorded, Sid Hemphill and Lucius Smith, on quills and drum 2 as well as another fife and drum band, the Young family, consisting of a fife and two drums.3 In 1968 George Mitchell recorded another band, a fife and two drums, in this same area,4 and since 1969 I have recorded several groups. The normal combination is a five-hole cane fife, a snare drum, and a bass drum, but occasionally the fife has six holes or there is a second snare drum. One 'group I recorded consisted of simply a bass and snare drum without any fife.

My recent field work has been able to show that the fife and drum tradition is more widespread than earlier work had indicated. Such bands are found not only throughout Tate and Panola Counties but also in adjacent Marshall and Lafayette Counties. This area is located in far northern Mississippi just to the east of the Delta lowlands. The total population is about half black, but in the rural parts the black percentage is much higher.

Field research this year by Bengt Olsson has uncovered a fife and drum band in Fayette County, Tennessee, just across the line from Mississippi5 Marshall County, and has revealed that such bands existed not long ago in rural Shelby and Lauderdale Counties, not far from Memphis.5 Thus the tradition is or was until recently quite strong in the hill country outside Memphis on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Another fife and drum tradition has been reported by Harry Oster around the turn of the century "in Franklin County in the southwest corner of Mississippi, almost three hundred miles away from Memphis. The group was described as "an old field band" consisting of cane fife, snare, kettle, and bass drums.6 Finally, George Mitchell located a fife and drum band in Talbot County, Georgia, near Columbus, Missouri the western part of the state, which I recorded in 1970. It consisted of a six-hole cane fife with kettle and bass drums.

The above twentieth century accounts are supplemented by reports of black fife and drum bands from earlier centuries. Eileen Southern in her recent book, The Music of Black Americans; A History, has suggested that as early as the seventeenth century blacks may have "picked up" the skills of fife or drum playing from the militia units in New England and the Middle Colonies, since all slaves were compelled to undergo military training until the 1650's.7

During the eighteenth century there are numerous reports of black fifers and drummers." In fact, during this time Negroes and Indians were allowed to enroll in the colonial militia only as drummers, fifers, trumpeters, and pioneers. For the elections of slave "governors" in Hartford and Wallingford, Connecticut, in the 1750s parades were held with marching to the music of fife and drum bands. Later in these celebrations songs were sung in African languages to a different combination of instruments: the fiddle, tambourine, banjo, and drum.9 in 1765 two black drummers were used to call the citizens of Philadelphia to a town meeting.10

Numerous advertisements for slaves or notices of runaways during this century attest to their skills on a variety of instruments including drum and fife as well as the "German flute." Numerous black fifers and drummers served during the Revolutionary War, and the names of several are known.12 Between 1818 and 1844 Frank Johnson's Colored Band working out of Philadelphia was one of the most popular groups in the country. They were primarily a marching band of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments; but on occasion a fifer and drummer would play to give the regular bandsmen a rest during parades. They could also constitute themselves as a string band for dances.13

In 1832 Dan Emmett, a white man who later became a famous minstrel showman, received instruction in fife and drum at Newport Barracks, Kentucky, from John J. "Juba" dark, almost certainly from his nickname a black man. A large number of black fifers and drummers served in the Union army during the Civil War,15 and there is even one recorded case of such a group in the Confederate army. Josephus Blake and two other slaves played fife and drums for the regiment of their master. General John B. Gordon. Blake acquired his skill on the drum originally by imitating on the bottom of a tin pan the beats of the white drummer of a regiment drilling near his master's plantation.16 General Gordon, incidentally, was from Upson County, Georgia, only about thirty miles from where I recorded a fife and drum band over a hundred years later. Thus in this one area at least we seem to be dealing with a tradition of long standing.

The early accounts indicate that black fife and drum bands were modeled on and did not differ considerably from their white counter parts. Through the time of the Civil War such bands were a part of almost every militia unit. They played for military drill, parades, and various festivities. Their repertoires consisted mainly of marches and the popular tunes of the day. After the Civil War, fife and drum bands declined in importance in the military and were largely superseded by marching brass bands.

Another factor in their decline was probably the demise of the local militia. In the Northeast among whites there are still some bands that play for parades. Until a few decades ago there was a thriving tradition of these bands in western Pennsylvania which has been described by Samuel Bayard.17 One or more six-hole fifes would be combined with a bass drum and any number of snare drums. They played for a variety of public occasions, either parading or standing in formation and often with a special costume. In the South, however, the fife and drum bands since the Civil War have been black. ' None of my informants in either Mississippi or Georgia has ever seen or heard of a white player, although one black player in Mississippi was given a six-hole metal fife by a white man after playing for him at a picnic.

That the present-day tradition among blacks in the South goes back at least to the time of Reconstruction is confirmed by older people there today who remember in their childhoods seeing old men play fifes and drums. The black and white traditions then would seem to have diverged some one hundred years ago.

Having established the existence of antebellum black fife and drum bands based on their white counterparts and the probability that these early black and white bands were the inspiration for the black tradition that exists in some Southern communities today, I wish to spend the rest of this paper accounting for the divergence of the present-day black bands from the military tradition. First, however I should point out a number of respects in which the original military tradition is maintained. There is still, for instance, an attachment to the large bass drum of the marching band. I have in my possession a bass drum made over eighty years ago by a man in Pope, Mississippi, with rope-tightened cowhide heads. All the other drums I have seen are factory made. Some musicians have switched to a smaller bass drum taken from a jazz drum set, but this is only because marching drums are hard to obtain in rural areas as the older ones deteriorate. Still, the larger bass drum is preferred for its greater volume.

The Mississippi bands play at large community picnics during the summer and especially on holidays like Independence Day and Labor Day. These picnics are all-black affairs, although in earlier years some of the bands reputedly played for white picnics. In Georgia the band I recorded played for Christmas Eve serenading and "school closing" in June. Such playing for holidays and public functions would seem to be a continuation of the early tradition.

In Mississippi the moving around of the band is called "marching," and several of the tunes are known generically as "marches," such as "When the Saints Go Marching In." Finally, the recordings made by Alan Lomax in 1942 of Sid Hemphill's band show that the group's fife and drum repertoire consisted largely of the popular tunes of its members' youth, roughly the first decade of this century

[…]

The so-called "marching" is also a far cry from the neat rows of a military unit. In fact, the musicians really dance and sway while they play. They generally begin from a bonfire built behind or next to the picnic stand for the purpose of warming and tightening the drum heads in the damp night air. The "march" is usually led by a dancer who emerges rear-end-first so that he is facing the musicians. He is followed by the fife blower and the snare drummer or drummers. The bass drummer brings up the rear. Sometimes the musicians break their single file and bunch up. The fife player rocks and sways and sometimes sings a line or two. He may be joined by moaning or whooping of one of the drummers. The main requirement of any vocal effort in such a situation is volume, since the drums can be heard six miles away on a calm night.

Usually only one or a few people dance at any time, and generally each person dances without a partner. Most of the people simply stand around watching and shouting encouragement to the dancers and musicians. Oftentimes someone will dance for just a few seconds and the n retire. But others may dance until they drop from exhaustion into somebody's arms. Once a man and a woman became possessed by the drumming and began crawling in the dust directly beneath the bass drum. The man repeated this behavior for about three pieces in succession. Although such behavior is strongly reminiscent of certain African and West Indian cult practices, it should not be assumed that such possession by drumming in Mississippi was of a religious nature, even though it could probably be described as a spiritual experience.

Picnics are purely for fun and have no connection with religion, and, in fact, any such association is strictly avoided. Fife and drum music is never played on a Sunday or in a church, and. the musicians maintain the convention of ending Saturday's festivities at midnight with a spiritual to usher in Sunday. Actually though, a close account of the time is seldom kept, and the picnics often run past midnight and often end not with a spiritual but simply the dwindling away of the crowd. But in any case, dancing is never done while a spiritual is played. Spirituals constitute only one part of the repertoire of the fife and drum bands. Popular songs, such as Lomax recorded in 1942, seem to have lost their popularity, although some of the commercial blues hits of the last few decades are now played. Chief among these are "Sitting on Top of the World' and "My Babe." None is in the standard twelve bar AAB blues pattern because it would require breaks in the melody at the end of each line; and all fife melodies are continuous. Another group of songs consists of old minstrel pieces such as "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite? No, Child, No," and "Mama's Gonna Cook a Little Shortenin' Bread."

These generally contain either rhymed couplets or a phrase one measure in length repeated endlessly. The subject matter of the lyrics is usually inconsequential. A final group of songs is known by the generic name of "Shimmie She Wobble," which was a popular dance of the 1920's. These pieces consist of variations on a few musical ideas, and sometimes they are given individual names if the thought strikes the musician. These names of the pieces are usually whatever phrase happens to be on the musician's mind. Sometimes the fife player will stop and sing a bluesy vocal.

There are a number of factors that have brought about this fife and drum music in addition to the early military tradition. One is the tradition of African music previously alluded to. In addition to many accounts of black military fife and drum players in the eiteenth and nineteenth centuries, there are many references to African drumming in various Southern states and occasionally in the North. I have even recorded a recollection of African-style drumming in southern Mississippi as late as the 1920's.

Undoubtedly this African tradition was in great part responsible for the popularity of the fife and drum band among blacks and it would seem to have introduced considerable syncopation and polyrhythm into the drumming. Fife and drum ensembles are known in Africa, especially in the Sudan region, although a more common sight is the reed oboe with two or three drums of different sizes. The African concept of "talking drums" has also had some effect on Afro-American fife and drum bands. Spectators will often urge the drummers to "make the drum talk it," and in some of the old minstrel pieces the drum beats actually do correspond to the syllables of the words. In general, the drums are primary in the ensemble, taking precedence over the fife in importance. They do not simply play a rhythmic accompaniment but actually beat out complex patterns of poly rhythms with considerable variation and improvisation on set themes.

Another important consideration is the fact that there seems to be a tradition of fife playing among blacks without drums. In the only two instances found of this type, the instrument is called a "quill."20 One is from East Texas during slavery21 and the other from Central Mississippi in this century.22 These instances may represent a survival of African transverse flute playing, although without recordings nothing definite can be said. Conversely I recorded a band consisting of two drums with which a fife was used only occasionally. This band strongly emphasized the idea of making the drum beats correspond with the syllables of the words and thus represents another close link with the African tradition.

African and Afro-American musical traditions in general emphasize percussion, and certain other percussive elements in these traditions seem tOi-have influenced the direction of fife and drum music. For example, body slapping* such as the well-known "Hambone" routine, utilizes the same one-measure repeated patterns as much of the fife and drum music. The same can be said for tap and buck dancing. 1 recorded some excellent buck dancing from members of the fife and drum band:'-in Georgia. The rhythms of the feet and the drums were the same. Another percussive influence is the music produced by many black children. A man I recorded in Mississippi imitates a fife and drum band by whistling and beating on a washtub. He plays the bass drum notes with his thumb and the snare drum notes with his fingers. He attributes this style of music to "play picnics" in his youth and performs it today only around his house. I once recorded him with a large group of teenage children all beating on chairs, milk cartons, and wood blocks. Some real poly-metric playing occurred but it was never sustained over a very long period.

[…]

One final factor is the possible influence of black music on the early military fife and drum bands. These bands always played many popular songs of the day, and it should be kept in mind that in the 1830's and following years black music was in great vogue. This was the age of minstrelsy, and everyone was whistling and singing "Ethiopian tunes." Many of these were originally genuine slave folk-songs, while others were probably more or less accurate white imitations of black music. Undoubtedly such tunes were played by. fife-and-drum bands, especially in the South, Thus by the end of the Civil War when blacks were ready to develop their own independent tradition of fife and drum music, they could identify with the already existing military tradition through previous participation in it, its emphasis on percussion in accordance with the style of African music and the fact that plantation and minstrel music had already influenced this military music.

We are led to the conclusion that the pre-Civil War military fife and drum band, for the most part a white product, provided the basic framework and some of the superficial characteristics of the more recent black fife and drum bands. This framework, however, has been largely filled with African and Afro-American influences to create the sound heard at picnics in northern Mississippi today."

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Various Examples Of The Double Dutch Rhyme "Hey Concentration" With A Focus On The "Let's Slice The Ice" Line

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: April 19, 2022

This pancocojams post presents various examples of the Double Dutch rhyme "Hey Concentration". An example of this rhyme which was published online as a circle game is also included in this post. 

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who contributed examples that are included in this post.

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This is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on Double Dutch and single jump rope rhymes.


Click the tags below to find other posts in this series.

If you know of any additional examples of this rhyme, please share them in the comment section below, along with demographic information (particularly the decade you heard or performed this rhyme and how you performed it, example: jump rope, hand clap game etc. Thanks!

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PART I: EXAMPLES OF THIS RHYME
These examples are given in the order that I found them or (in the case of the example that is given last), that the rhyme was shared with me.

I've numbered these examples for referencing purposes only.

Rhyme Example #1
"Hey concentration
Where have you been
Around the corner
And back again
Stole my money
Stole my honey
Mama's got the hiccups
Daddy's got the flu.
Now come on boys
Let's slice the ice.
Slice it 1
Slice it 2
Slice it 3 4 5
Slice it 6
Slice it 7
Slice it 8 9 10
Hey everybody
Come on and do your thing.
2 up bop, bop.
2 down bop, bop
2 up bop, bop.
2 down bop, bop
2 up"
-Eleanor Fulton, Pat Smith, Let’s Slice The Ice ( published St. Louis, Missouri. Magnamusic-Baton, 1978, page 27)
-snip-
The authors noted that this is a Double Dutch Jump Rope rhyme. Here are the performance directions for jumping double dutch that the authors included with this rhyme:

"Two players face each other, holding two ropes, one in each hand. The right hand of one player turns one rope counterclockwise, and his left hand turns the other rope clockwise.

The right hand of the second player turns counterclockwise and his left hand turns clockwise. The right hand and left hands of each player correspond in moving.

One child "jumps in" when one rope is up in the air and the other is down. His foot pattern is a skip from side to side."
-snip-
I've searched online, but haven't found any definitions for or references to the phrase "slice the ice". In the context of this rhyme, I think that "slice the ice" was probably a commonly used African American Vernacular English phrase that meant to perform a rhythmic movement or dance step in which the person slides from one side to another. Note that the authors write that the "foot pattern is a skip from side to side."

It's interesting that the authors used the pronoun "his" instead of "her" since traditionally most Double Dutch jumpers have been female. I think the use of that male pronoun reflects 1970s grammatical practices, and shouldn't be read to mean that the players were males.

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Rhyme Example #2

"Challenge, Challenge/Big Mac/Hey Consolation Medley
(Challenge is a competitive follow-the-leader game)

Challenge, challenge
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

Big Mac, Filet o’ Fish foot
And bounce
And hop
And turn
And walk
And criss

Hey consolation
Where have you been?
Around the corner, and back again
Stole my money
Knocked my honey
Papa’s go the hiccups
Mama’s got the ice
So come on baby
Let’s slice that ice

2, 4, 6, 8, 10 hop
2,4,6,8,10 turn
2, 4, 6, 8, 10 criss
2,4,6,8,10 turn walk
(1991, 1992, 1999, 2004

Only one song mixes modern commentary, traditional moves, and commercial messages. Although it mentions specific corporations, it is not a simple advertisement. The first two lines come from a rap by recording artist KRS-One, but the rest of the Mill School’s version diverges from the original yet stays true to its message of confidence. Tashi and Naisha gave it special status, and its words were sung with an eye twinkle. This one was different. It is complex in its layering of street competition, sarcasm. And African American traditional foot work. In this sense, it is much more than a traditional singing game"...

Source: from Recess Battle: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson; 2010) page 67
-snip-
I'm not sure which record the author refers to when she wrote that the first two lines of this rhyme are from a KRS-One rap.

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Rhyme Example #3
"Hey concentration, where have you been?
Around the corner and back again?
Stole my money, stole my honey,
Mama’s got the hiccups, papa’s got the flu!"

Source: http://www.bethsnotesplus.com/2015/09/hey-concentration.html
-snip-
The editor of that website categorizes this song as an "American folk song: circle game" and provides the following performance instructions:

Hey concentration = two small steps forward (half note = beat)
Where have you been = Put hands out in “Where?” motion (pulse hands twice)
Around the corner = Turn around in circle once
Back again = two steps back
Stole my money = turn and face partner and pat own knees twice
Stole my honey = High five both partner’s hands
Mama’s got the hiccups = Pat knees twice
Papa’s got the flu = Turn and face inside of the circle, ready to start over

Optional ending:
Mama’s got the hiccups = Facing partner, walk past partner to the next person (new partner)"

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Rhyme Example #4
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
This example is included in an online blog post about the opening credits scene for Spike Lee's 1994 movie Crooklyn. That name is a purposely adapted nickname for Brooklyn, New York. I've included an excerpt of that post along with the "Hey Concentration" rhyme example.
From https://bigmediavandal.blogspot.com/2008/02/imagery-saturdays-games-people-play.html Saturday, February 09, 2008, "Imagery Saturdays: Games People Play", By Odienator

"My favorite opening credits sequence of Spike's is the one that opens Crooklyn. There's a lot wrong with Crooklyn as a feature: Spike Lee can't write a female character to save his life, the film is fragmented and meandering, and the entire anamorphic sequence, while bold, is annoying. Still I love this movie for the sense of nostalgia it evokes. In an argument with a film critic buddy of mine, I completely acknowledged every flaw he pointed out. "But I was there," I told him, "and I think that's what Spike's going for in this movie. He's preaching to the choir of kids from the 70's."

Crooklyn opens with a quick survey of a Brooklyn neighborhood, and as it plays out, we see a whole slew of games being played by the neighborhood kids. The scene is scored to the Stylistics' People Make the World Go Round, a song that kicks in as the Universal logo spins on the screen. I'm not going to lie; I felt 4 years old when I saw these games on the screen. My eyes got wet and a flood of memories came back to me. That's what I hope to invoke with this free association rant about the images below. So, ask your Mom if you can come out and play with the Odienator. Hurry up. The streetlights come on in an hour.

[...]

Another "girl" game I partook in was double dutch. The girls swung their bodies with attitude while they turned the rope, and I'd get tingly feelings I didn't know anything about until much later. In my neighborhood, jumping rope was verboten for boys, but honestly I didn't care. I didn't have any male friends anyway, except for my cousins, and the guys in my hood were too busy yelling at me because I was the smart kid, calling me "professor" and "White boy" because "keepin' it real" hadn't been coined yet. This was a way I could get close to the girls, and it paid off later when I joined one of the double dutch troops who competed in things like the McDonalds contests. We kicked ass, and I met a lot of women. So nyaah.

Another thing I loved about double dutch was that it got the adults involved. My cousins would be outside jumping, and my Mom or one of my numerous aunts would come outside and ask for a jump. Now, keep in mind that, to us, these women seemed older than dirt. In actuality, my Mom was in her 20's and some of my aunts were in their late teens. They would kick off their shoes and then, after that hilarious back and forth motion everybody did before jumping into the rope, would jump in and jump like the experts they were. Sometimes they showed off, too, jumping in what we called "hot peas and butter," a really fast turn of the rope. Whenever we tried that, we'd get whelped up and look like the zebra on the Fruit Stripe gum package.

And remember those songs the girls would sing, using the rhythm of the rope and their feet as percussion:

"Hey Concentration
Where have you been?
Around the corner and back again.
Stole my money
And my honey
Papa got the hiccups, Mama got the slice.
So come on baby let's slice that ice,
Slice 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1!
I knew an old lady who lived in a town.
She tried to do the jump but she turned around.
She tried to do the split but she did the kick.
Oh my Lawd now what is this?"
-snip-
The authors's "Hurry up. The streetlights come on in an hour" statement refers to the fact that for many African American children (and probably other children), the rule was that children had to be in their homes when the street lights came on. I remember this well from my childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s.

I haven't found any definitions online or offline for the phrase "slice the ice". My guess is that "slice the ice" was an African American Vernacular English phrase that had the same or very similar meaning as "cut the rug" = "to enthusiastically perform social dances".

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Rhyme Example #5:
"Hey concentration Where have you Been
Around the corner and back Again
Stole my Money and my Honey
Papa's got the hiccups
Mama’s got the Slice"

Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=hvy0BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT93&lpg=PT93&dq=hey+concentration+where+have+you+been&source=b "Hip Hop Family Tree Book 1: 1970s–1981" By Ed Piskor, page 93
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's note:
This book is a comic book, graphic novel. The page that is quoted above is a series of comic strip panel drawings whose words and pictures refer to a ten minute news segment on the national news series 20/20 about how Hip Hop music was entering the American mainstream. The text that is given above specifically refers to one of the drawings that depicts three black girls in matching blue shirts and white shorts jumping double dutch on a city sidewalk chanting the rhyme "Hey Concentration".

The bold font that is given above is found in that comic page.

Here's the text that was given above that drawing:
"The piece also does a good job relating the deeper origins of the culture to long-standing traditions in the black south like the CALL AND RESPONSE elements of church sermons, rhyme talk in games, and old story rhymes."
-snip-
It's interesting that out of all the possible Double Dutch rhymes that the author of this book could have chosen for the girls to chant, he chose "Hey Concentration".

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Rhyme Example #6
"Hey concentration
Where have you been
Around the corner
And back again
Stole my money
Stole my honey
Mama's got the hiccups
Papas got the mumps.
Now come on baby
Let's slice that ice.
Slice 10 9 8 7
6 5 4 3 2 1
Gypsy Gypsy, Rosalie
Who on earth can your old man be?
Is he a rich man, poor man
baker man, chief?
Dr, lawyer, store man, thief.
Now spell your name on one foot.
That's a N-i-n-a
Nina's a girl from overseas
She don't dig no boys in dungarees.
She lives uptown, she lives downtown
She lives all around
Now let's get down.
(then you hot jump as fast as you can for as long as you can)"
-email to Azizi Powell from Nina Gonzalez (Jersey City, New Jersey), 8/6/2017

Nina also added this comment. "I love this. when i was a little girl in jersey city nj we had a variation of hey concentration which was/is my favorite rope song"
-snip-
Thanks Nina!
-snip-
Unfortunately, there's no other demographic information for this example (such as the decade that Nina remembered chanted this rhyme.).

Nina emailed me this rhyme on 8/6/2017, writing that she had tried to add it as a comment to this page on my cocojams2 blog: http://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/10/g-h-hand-clap-jump-rope-rhymes-examples.html.

With considerable regret, I disabled the comment feature on cocojams2 blogs (and my other blogs except for pancocojams), because of the large number of spam comments that I received on those blogs. However, I have added Nina's example to that blog post page on hand clap and jump rope rhymes that begin with the letters g-h.

Comments for those blogs can be sent to my email address azizip17 dot com at yahoo dot com for possible inclusion in a specific post on those blogs.

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Various Versions Of The "Hambone" Song (information, lyrics, & YouTube examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update- April 21, 2024

This pancocojams post presents information about the "Hambone" song and text (lyric) examples of various versions of "Hambone".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the featured artists and the publishers of these YouTube examples.
-snip-
This post is part of an ongoing series about the "Hambone" song and percussive body patting activity.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/pattin-juba-hambone-and-bo-diddley-beat.html for a 2011 pancocojams post on Hambone (pattin juba) beat and body percussion.

Click the tag below for other pancocojams posts that are also part of an ongoing series on "Hambone".

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INFORMATION AND THEORIES ABOUT THE MEANINGS OF "HAMBONE" SONGS/RHYMES (with or without lyrics)
These comments and song examples are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

The "Song Example" title and the numbers that are assigned for the text (lyrics) examples of this song which are included in this post are given for the purposes of this blog post and aren't included in the source material that is quoted. I've written these examples with numbers in italics to differentiate those numbers from the remainder of those comments.

Excerpt #1:
From Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage, edited by Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes, (University of Georgia Press, originally published in 1972, 1987 edition), pages 34-35

"You just say it, and then you say it with your hands

"Hambone" probably refers to the part of the anatomy most involved in playing this hand jive game, though there is undoubtedly more to it than that. Most young black men, I find, know it in one version or another.

"Hambone" may be performed alone or with a group all jiving together. While the rhyme is being said, the players slap their thighs, lightly on the offbeat. After each line of the poem, they pat in the following rhythm [a drawing of musical notes is included here.] ...

The "patting" may be done on one side of the body only, using the right hand or thigh; or on both sides at the same time in parallel motion. The triplet phrase is done as follows:

1. Slap the side of the thigh with the palm of the hand in an upward brushing motion.
2. Continuing the upward brushing: strike the side of the chest with the palm of the hand.
3. Strike the thigh downward with the back of the hand.

Voice
Song Example #1

Hambone Hambone pat him on the shoulder
If you get a pretty girl, I'll show you how to hold her.
Hambone, Hambone, where have you been?
All 'round the world and back again.
Hambone, Hambone, what did you do?
I got a train and I fairly flew.
Hambone, Hambone where did you go?
I hopped up to Miss Lucy's door.
I asked Miss Lucy would she marry me.
(falsetto)"Well I don't care if Papa don't care!"
First come in was Mister Snake,
He crawled all over that wedding cake.
Next walked in was Mister Tick,
He ate so much it made him sick.
Next walked in was Mister Coon,
We asked him to sing us a wedding tune,
Now Ham-....
Now Ham....

Action
Pat thigh on the offbeat while the rhyme is being recited. (The first two lines have been underscored on the offbeat as an example.) At the end of each line of the rhyme, do the hambone "pat" as previously described."
-snip-
Note: The lyrics in this excerpt are given as Example #1 of "Hambone" in this pancocojams post.

SHOWCASE VIDEO: Example #1
Bessie Jones - Hambone



WallakAt, Published on May 26, 2012
-snip-
I remember reading somewhere that Bessie Jones said that the "Hambone, hambone where you been/round the world and back again" verse was about an actual bone with ham meat that was re-used [in a soup] over and over again because people were poor. However, I can't find where I read that statement. I offer this theory for the "record" and not because I necessarily believe it is true.

However, in this example of the song "Hambone", and in other examples, "Hambone" appears to be used as a person's (probably male) nickname.

****
Excerpt #2:
From http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/18/arts/re-creating-hambone-body-music-of-the-past.html "Re-creating Hambone, Body Music of the Past" by Glenn Collins, Published: July 18, 1987
..."The body music called hambone is made by using the hands to slap the thighs and the chest muscles. ''I guess lots of people have never seen it,'' said the 23-year-old Mr. [Derique] McGee of the art of hambone. ''Sometimes I'm asked if I invented it.''

In fact, hambone "is a living bit of black history, a neglected part of our heritage that flourished in minstrel shows and vaudeville,'' he said ...

According to Dr. Joseph Boskin, professor of history and Afro-American studies at Boston University, Mr. McGee's efforts to revive hambone "are representative of a growing movement in America to keep alive elements of black culture that have survived through the generations."

Like rap music, which has been traced to African roots,the rhythmic patting motion of hambone has its origin in West African dance, ''where movement was a form of communication and religious ceremony,'' said Professor Boskin. It ''was refined in the plantations,'' he added. 'A Lost Art' to Be Preserved’.

[...]

Although the etymology of the word hambone is debated, "It makes sense that the word comes from hitting your thigh, your hambone," said Mr. McGee."..

****
Excerpt #3
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17443
Subject: Lyrics Req. Hambone

1.
Subject: RE: Lyrics Req. Hambone
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 07:39 PM

"There's a version recorded on a lovely CD: Various Artists 'Georgia Folk: A Sampler of Traditional Sounds' Global Village Music CD 03. It is performed by Ray Favors - with body patting, mouth popping etc - and was recorded by Dave Evans in 1970."

Song Example #2

"HAMBONE

Hambone, hambone have you heard
Papa gonna buy me a mockingbird
If that mockingbird don't sing
Papa gonna buy me a diamond ring
If that diamond ring don't shine
Papa gonna buy me a nanny goat
It that nanny goat don't rate
Papa gonna whup my boom-de-yay
Hambone!

Hambone, hambone where you aye (?)
In the chicken house cookin' rye
Hambone, hambone where you bin
Round the world and I'm goin' agin
Hambone!"

**
2.
Subject: RE: Lyrics Req. Hambone
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 08:41 PM

"I was taught to hambone by friends who worked as "delivery boys" for a small neighborhood grocery store in Chattanooga, where you could telephone in your grocery list and have the goods delivered to your back door. The verses floated in from many other songs, I'm sure. A couple that I recall were "Hambone, Hambone, where ya been? Around the world and I a-goin' again. What you gonna do when you get back? I'm gonna take a little walk down the railroad track." Back in the 'fifties, Bo Diddely put the hambone rhythm to the guitar, replaced the name Hambone with his own name, and became a rock & roll icon."

****
3.
Subject: RE: Origins: Hambone
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Mar 12 - 05:18 PM

"Hambone, as a term, was applied to itinerant, unpaid actors in the 1890s (quote from 1895 in Lighter*).

Application of the term to juba patting or juba dancers (body music)seems to be fairly recent; the earliest quote* in 1921.

Articles on the net and in literature put the term as equivalent to juba patting, and then mention the antiquity of body music, but use of the term for the action-song has not been traced back before the quotes in Lighter.
There seems to have been a transference of the term from the itinerant actor to juba patting or body music, perhaps in the 1930s.

*Lighter, Historical Dictionary of American Slang

****
4.
Subject: RE: Origins: Hambone
From: GUEST,Rich
Date: 13 May 19 - 06:00 PM

"Back in the 1940's in Pittsburgh my neighborhood was half white and have black. The black kids taught me the Hambone. We did a lot of leg and chest slapping and sang (shouted) many of the lyrics on this site. We always had "where you been", "diamond ring", "billy goat" and many more. Having those friend got me into their homes and I heard a radio station that played mostly black music that were not playing on the other stations. Open my eyes to blues and R&B that I collected from an early age (when I could find enough soda bottle to turn in for cash). Great way to grow up - too bad my best friends Gus and TC are no longer around."

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Excerpt #4
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mOd4PheLTA John Dee Holeman & Dom Flemons - Hambone, published by Music Maker Foundation, Dec 16, 2014

[comment]
@ATACXGYMCAPOEIRA, 2020
"I remember this from when I was a kid in the 1970's. The lyrics were different back then, but everyone freestyled hilarious lyrics and spicy disses off the base Hambone refrain ( "Hambone Hambone, where ya been? Round. We more frequently  used the hand-body style shown by the OG brutha@1:40. Also, the speed and cadence of our Hambone was faster and more West Coast singsongy style. OG showed the more original Southern and MidWest Style."

**** 
Song Example #3

From http://www.metrolyrics.com/hambone-lyrics-taj-mahal.html

Hambone! Hambone! [title]

Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I'm going again
What you gonna do when you come back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track
Hambone

Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa's gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don't sing
Papa's gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don't shine
Papa's gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone"

****
Song Example #4

From http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/h/hambone.shtml

HAMBONE
(Red Saunders / Leon Washington)

[as sung by Bill Haley]

Hambone! Hambone!

Hambone, hambone
where you been?
Round the world and I’m going again
What you gonna do when you come back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track
Hambone

Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa’s gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don’t sing
Papa’s gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don’t shine
Papa’s gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone

Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I’m going again
I just skinned an alley cat
To make my wife a Sunday hat
Took the hide right off a goat
To make my wife a Sunday coat

Hambone, hambone
Where’s your wife
Out to the kitchen, cooking beans and rice
Hambone (2x)

Hambone, hambone
Trying to eat
Ketchup on his elbow, pickle on his feet
Bread in the basket
Chicken in the stew
Supper on the fire for me and you

Look at him holler, look at him moan
That hambone just can’t hambone
Hambone (2x)

****
Showcase Video #2

Hambonin' Nebo; Hambone



NeBo411, Published on Dec 4, 2007

NeBo performs the artistic, thigh-slapping artform called Hambone.
-snip-
Song Example #5

HAMBONE (a contemporary version with spoken word additions)
(NeBo411)

Now what you are about to see
is a little bit of lost history.
A little bit of lost history.
But I’m glad
Somebody showed me.
Whether one or two or all alone
Everybody can enjoy
a little hambone.
Hambone, hambone what is that?
Hambone is more than a hit or a pat.
Hambone is more than a rhyme.
Hambone is more than a notion.
To get into hambone
you gotta show emotion.
So look up!
Listen here!
Hambone’s about to bring you some cheer. Hah!

[Begins hambone patting and after several pats with no words, continue pattin while saying these lines]

Hambone, hambone have you heard?
Mama’s gonna buy me a mockin’ bird.
If that mockin’ bird don’t sing
Mama’s gonna buy me a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring don’t shine
Mama’s gonna buy me a fishing line.
If that fishing line should break
Mama’s gonna throw it in the lake.
If that water splash on me
Mama’s gonna beat my b.u.t.

[Stops hambone pattin and without any break flows into the next line]

Tea is what I like to drink
When I know I need to think.
When I like a little song
I like to do the -Hambone. Hah!

[Begins hambone pattin’ again then after several pats says]

Break it down! Hah! Hah!

[Does mouth pop]

Hambone!
-snip-
*Transcription from the YouTube video by Azizi Powell, 8/17/2010.

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Showcase Video #3 - Hambone by Adrian elementary school



keith feagin Published on Mar 20, 2015

ham bone, ham bone, have you heard?
-snip-
This is a "Mockingbird" version of the "Hambone" song.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Washboard Willie -Ham Bone (sound file and lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the 1964 record "Ham Bone" by Washboard Willie". Information about Washboard Willie is included in this post along with information about the washboard instrument and information about Washboard Willie's 1964 record "Ham Bone".

A sound file of and lyrics for that song are also included in this post..

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Washboard Willie for his musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this psot and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
-snip-
This post is part of an ongoing series about the "Hambone" song and percussive body patting activity.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/pattin-juba-hambone-and-bo-diddley-beat.html
for a 2011 pancocojams post on Hambone (pattin juba) beat and body percussion.

Click the tag below for other pancocojams posts that are also part of an ongoing series on "Hambone".

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INFORMATION ABOUT WASHBOARD WILLIE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washboard_Willie
"William Paden Hensley (July 24, 1906[1] or 1909 – August 24, 1991),[2] known as Washboard Willie, was an [African] American Detroit blues musician, who specialised in playing the washboard. He recorded tracks including "A Fool on a Mule in the Middle of The Road" plus "Cherry Red Blues", and worked variously with Eddie "Guitar" Burns, Baby Boy Warren, and Boogie Woogie Red.[2]

Hensley was born either in Bullock County, Alabama, in 1906,[1] or in Columbus, Georgia, in 1909.[2] "Washboard Willie", as he became known, did not take up music until his thirties. By 1948 he had relocated to Detroit,[3] and in 1952, he watched Eddie "Guitar" Burns performing and played along with Burns' backing group. He impressed the proprietor and ended up with a three-year residency with the band.[4]
Working full-time washing cars for a living, he decided to name his own musical ensemble, Washboard Willie and the Super Suds of Rhythm, working off of the name of a once-popular laundry detergent![4][5] He graduated from just playing the washboard to incorporate a bass drum and snare and, in 1955, gave Little Sonny his first booking.[4] In 1956, Hensley made his own debut recording of "Cherry Red Blues," with "Washboard Shuffle;" and then "Washboard Blues Pt. 1 & 2."[6] His recording career continued until 1962 utilising Boogie Woogie Red on piano accompaniment. The recordings were not issued until 1969 on Barrelhouse Records. However, in 1966, Willie did release a single with the tracks "Natural Born Lover," and "Wee Baby Blues." His band remained in demand playing nightly in both Detroit and Ann Arbor.[4]
In 1973, he toured Europe with Lightnin' Slim, Whispering Smith, Snooky Pryor, Homesick James and Boogie Woogie Red; he also played at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival that year on the Saturday afternoon "Detroit Blues" show. A compilation album, American Blues Legends '73 was issued on Big Bear Records with Willie contributing the tracks, "I Feel So Fine" and "Kansas City."[4][6] Six years later he stopped playing professionally.[4]"

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE WASHBOARD INSTRUMENT
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washboard_(musical_instrument)
"The washboard and frottoir (from Cajun French "frotter", to rub) are used as a percussion instrument, employing the ribbed metal surface of the cleaning device as a rhythm instrument. As traditionally used in jazz, zydeco, skiffle, jug band, and old-time music, the washboard remained in its wooden frame and is played primarily by tapping, but also scraping the washboard with thimbles. Often the washboard has additional traps, such as a wood block, a cowbell, and even small cymbals. Conversely, the frottoir (zydeco rubboard) dispenses with the frame and consists simply of the metal ribbing hung around the neck. It is played primarily with spoon handles or bottle openers in a combination of strumming, scratching, tapping and rolling. The frottoir or vest frottoir is played as a stroked percussion instrument, often in a band with a drummer, while the washboard generally is a replacement for drums."...

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INFORMATION ABOUT WASHBOARD WILLIE'S "HAM BONE" RECORD
From http://www.somanyrecordssolittletime.com/?cat=2010 Ham Bone / Washboard Willie
SUNDAY, JULY 8TH, 2012
"Roger Armstrong played me ‘Ham Bone’ in ’07. I’d never heard the version prior, but hunted for it ever since. Let me tell you, this was one hard record to find. Forget about price, it was all about a copy turning up at all. Subsequently I’d been searching unsuccessfully for ages, but just prior to our London trip last week, the first pressing to list on eBay in years appeared. Not about to lose it, I put in a crazy high bid, and luck was on my side.

Funny enough, the auction closed while I was in the UK, sitting in Camden’s Spreadeagle pub with Roger himself. No lie. What a nice email alert to get anywhere, but nicely full circle in this case.

By far the most successful version, according the BILLBOARD chart number, is that by Red Saunders & His Orch. with Delores Hawkins & The Hambone Kids. Love it as you will, still Washboard Willie’s is clearly in a class of it’s own.

Having turned professional in ’52 at thirty years old, a very late bloomer even then, this full time car washer’s apparent first stroke of genius was to name his band Washboard Willie & The Super Suds Of Rhythm. Now who wouldn’t want every record they made on name alone?

Originally playing only his washboard from work, his second stroke, by ’55 he added a bass and snare drum, his third. Listen to Washboard Willie’s performance on ‘Ham Bone’, from ’64, and you’ll hear how he mastered a most primal idea, thereby achieving for himself a permanent slot in music history."...

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SHOWCASE SOUND FILE: Washboard Willie - Ham Bone



DeepGospel, Published on May 9, 2015

Great solo drums/vocal record, produced by Detroit's legendary Joe von Battle. [1964]

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LYRICS - HAM BONE
(Washboard Willie)

Ham in the hambone pat’em on the shoulder
If you get a pretty girl, I'll show you how to hold her.
Up to the big house down to the kitchen
Come on get your hook and line Let’s go fishin’
Mama caught a red bass I caught a hammer
Mama caught a big fish, big enough for dinner
Hambone!
Hambone Hambone where you been?
All around the world and back again
Come on gal let’s go where it’s found
come on gal let’s mess around
come on gal let’s go to school
come on gal let’s cut the fool

Hambone

Hambone is a good ole man
He washed his face with a frying pan
He combed his hair with a wagon wheel
He died with a toothpick in his heel
Hambone.
-snip-
These lyrics are spoken rather than sung and are accompanied by a snare drum .

This is my transcription of this song from that sound file. Additions and corrections are welcome.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Red Saunders & His Orchestra With The Hambone Kids - Hambones (sound file & lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two sound files of Red Saunders & His Orchestra With Dolores Hawkins & The Hambone Kids's "Hambone" record (1952, 1963).

Information about Red Saunders is also included in this post along with information about The Hambone Kids
The lyrics to the 1963 version of this record are also provided in this post.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Red Saunders & His Orchestra and Dolores Hawkins and The Hambone Kids for their musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
-snip-
This post is part of an ongoing series about the "Hambone" song and percussive body patting activity.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/pattin-juba-hambone-and-bo-diddley-beat.html
for a 2011 pancocojams post on Hambone (pattin juba) beat and body percussion.

Click the tag below for other pancocojams posts that are also part of an ongoing series on "Hambone".

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INFORMATION ABOUT RED SAUNDERS & HIS ORCHESTRA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Saunders_(musician)
"Theodore Dudley "Red" Saunders (March 2, 1912 – March 5, 1981)[1] was an [African] American jazz drummer and bandleader. He also played vibraphone and timpani...

Saunders remained in control of the Club DeLisa house band until the club closed in 1958, apart from a hiatus between 1945 and 1947 when he led a smaller band at other venues in Chicago. Among his sidemen were Leon Washington, Porter Kilbert, Earl Washington, Sonny Cohn, Ike Perkins, Riley Hampton, singer Joe Williams and Mac Easton. Among the arrangers he employed were Johnny Pate[3] and Sun Ra.[2]
He made his first recordings as bandleader for Savoy Records in late 1945, and later accompanied such rhythm and blues performers as T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner, Sugar Chile Robinson, Rosetta Tharpe, Willie Mabon, Little Brother Montgomery and LaVern Baker (then credited as "Miss Sharecropper") on sessions. He continued to record under his own name with relatively little commercial success for several years, until early 1952 when his recording of the traditional children's song "Hambone" on the OKeh label, with Dolores Hawkins and the Hambone Kids (who included Dee Clark), reached some R&B charts. In 1956, he recorded with Guy Warren on Warren's album Africa Speaks—America Answers![2] Despite his regular gig and disinclination to go on the road, Saunders also played with Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Woody Herman. He continued to lead a band at the Regal Theater in Chicago into the 1960s, and played with Little Brother Montgomery and Art Hodes at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in the 1970s."....

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE "HAMBONE" RECORD BY RED SAUNDERS AND HIS ORCHESTRA WITH DELORES HAWKINS & THE HAMBONE KIDS
From http://www.somanyrecordssolittletime.com/?cat=2010 Hambone / Red Saunders & His Orch. with Delores Hawkins & The Hambone KidsSUNDAY, JULY 8TH, 2012
"Red Saunders found his first successful footing in the depression era Chicago clubs. His endless singles, on many labels, seemed to finally reach an early doo wop/RnB mix of ghetto wildness, a frenzy evident here.

First released in February 1952, the record was accompanied by large display ads in Billboard showing The Hambone Kids performing in front of Red Saunders and his drums. The originally issued take of ‘Hambone’ included Dolores Hawkins’ whistling but lacked her vocal interjections that appear on this version; it also included a brief passage for the full band and a tenor sax solo. The Kids’ rhythmic practice was known as hamboning or patting juba: slapping various body parts as a substitute for drumming. Dee Clark, one of those Hambone Kids, also loudly stamped his heel on the 2nd and 4th beats.

Peaking at #20 on the Billboard RnB chart, it was, like Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ ‘I Put A Spell On You’, a consistent seller. By ’63, parent company CBS decided to reissue ‘Hambone’ as Okeh 7166, pictured here. And then again in ’67 (Okeh 7282). These reissues used an alternate take running 2:13, in which The Hambone Kids and Dolores Hawkins are accompanied throughout by guitar, bass, and drums only; the rest of Red Saunders Big Band / Orchestra contributing only shouts of “Hambone!” at the beginning and end of the piece.

There are many versions of ‘Hambone’ floating around this earth, as was the case with all big selling black records in the 50′s, endless vanilla white artists watered them down for middle America consumption. This here is the real deal though."

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RECORD
From The Virgin Encyclopedia of The Blues by Colin Larkin[Google books, page 1879]
"He [Red Saunders] recorded on Sultan, Savoy, and Supreme before securing a contract with OKed. The featured vocalist on his 1950/1 session was "Jumpin' Joe Williams, some years and a coat of polish before his stint with Count Basie. Sanders also claim to fame was a ramshackle 1952 novelty hit 'Hambone'. 'The Hambone Kids', Sammy McGrier, Ronny Strong, and Delecta Clark (who grew up to become Dee Clark), patted 'juba', slapping their bodies in syncopated rhythms, between singing childish verses that anticipated Bo Diddley, while Dolores Hawkins ejaculated 'Yeah!' at the end of each stanza."

****
From http://www.madmusic.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=4306
"Re-popularized in the early 60s by NYC kids host and former radio actor Sandy Becker on his show on WNEW Channel 5 in NY. He developed a character called Hambone [dressed in a bizarre marching-type uniform, pith helmet with huge feather and 6"-long "glasses"] and would strut and stride around on camera while the song played, and would also put up words on signs on a board to form a witty saying. Becker was also a cartoon voice actor (Go Go Gophers, others) and is fondly remembered by kids of the 50s & 60s from the NY area. The 1952 release was re-released in 1963 due to the popularity of Becker's character, and was a re-edited take with Becker squealing "Yeaaaahhhhhhh!!!" in character over the original record. Among the Hambone Kids was a young Dee Clark, who would later have hits such as "Raindrops", a staple of oldies radio."

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SHOWCASE SOUND FILES:
Example #1:Red Saunders - Hambone (Original Version)



Michael McKenna, Published on Feb 15, 2013

This is the first version of Red Saunders' "Hambone" from 1952 - released as OKeh 6862 - which has a saxophone break in the middle of the song - does not have the drawn-out "YEAH!" exclamations found in the later version - and does not have the "false fade"prior the the last exclamation of "Hambone!". The later version was issued with "Rumble Mambo" by Link Wray on the reverse side as OKeh 7166 in 1963 and OKeh 7282 in 1967.

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Example #2: Hambone - Red Saunders and his Orchestra with the Hambone kids - HQ



jrocuts, Published on Aug 14, 2010

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LYRICS: HAMBONE (Version #2)
Hambone!

Hambone!

Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa’s gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don’t sing
Papa’s gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don’t shine
Papa’s gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone!
Yeah!

Hambone, Hambone, where you been?
Round the world and I’m goin' again
Hambone Hambone, where's your wife?
In the kitchen cookin' rice.
Hambone
Yeah! Yeah!

Look at him holler, look at him moan*
He always called for his hambone.
We he get it he eat it fast
That ole hambone just wouldn't last.
Hambone!
Yeah! Yeah! Ah Yeah! Ah ha!

-snip-
This is my transcription of this song from that sound file. Additions and corrections are welcome.

*I can't decipher what is said in this line. I got those words from this version of "Hambone" which is partly attributed to Red Saunders