"Such A Getting Upstairs" (Lyrics & Morris Dance Videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update: June 21, 2020

This is Part II of a two part series on the 19th century song "Sich A Gittin Upstairs" ("Such A Getting Upstairs"). This post provides several examples of lyrics for this song and three video examples of Morris dancing to this tune.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/such-getting-upstairs-history-of-song.html for Part I of this series. That post focuses on the history of this song in the United States and in England.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

PART II
The once highly popular 19th century song "Sich A Gittin Up Stairs" ("Such A Getting Upstairs") is now mostly known as the Headington (Cotswold) Morris dance "Getting Upstairs".

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LYRICS
Here are some lyrics for different versions of this song.

WARNING: What is now known as "the n word" is fully spelled out in most version of this song.

Because I consider that word a pejorative referent, I don't fully spell it out even when I'm quoting old texts.

From
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=37741Such a Getting Upstairs [hereafter known as Mudcat: Getting Upstairs]

From pavane, 14 Aug 01 - 04:55 AM
"I have been looking for the full song to the Headington Morris Dance 'Getting Upstairs', which has the snippet :

Some likes coffee, some likes tea
Some likes a pretty girl, just like me [Just like I do, I suppose that means]
Such a getting upstairs and a playing on the fiddle]
Such a getting upstairs I never did see"

**
posted by masato sakurai, 15 Aug 01 - 04:26 AM
"Bits of info (not in The Fiddler's Companion) #2. There is a song sheet (without music) containing "Sich a Gitting Up Stairs" in America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets, Libray of Congress. This was "Sold by L. Deming, wholesale and retail, No. 62, Hanover Street, 2d door from Friend Street, Boston, and at MIDDLEBURY, Vt.," and begins with:
ON a Suskyhanner raft I come down de bay,
And I danc'd, and I frolick'd, and fiddled all de way.
Sich a gitting up stairs I never did see, &c.
Trike he to and heel--cut de pigeon wing,
Scratch gravel, slap de foot--dats just de ting.
Sich a gitting up stairs, &c.

"Such a Getting Upstairs" as a going-up-to-bed song from Indiana is in Ruth Crawford Seeger's American Folk Songs for Children (Doubleday, 1948, p.53) with music:
Such a getting upstairs I never did see,
Such a getting upstairs it didn't suit me.

In her notes, Ruth says: "It is the refrain of a play-party tune
whose second section can be whistled or hummed or played, or sung with varying words like the following from Virginia: Some love coffee, some love tea, But I love the pretty girl that winks at me." The Indiana version is sung by Mike and Peggy Seeger in their Rounder album with the same title as the songbook's (LP & CD)."

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posted by raredance [rich r], 17 Aug 01 - 10:38 PM
"B A Botkin in "The American Play-Party Song" (1937, 1963 Frederick Ungar Publishing) has a couple unusual lyric versions and the following note:

Based on a minstrel song. See "Sich a Gittin Upstairs," in "The Negro Forget-Me Not Songster' (Fisher and Brother, 18?)

GETTING UPSTAIRS
C
First gent out,
Swing that lady with a right hand about,
Partner by the left as you come around,
Lady in the center and you'll all run around.
Such a kitten (sic) upstairs,
Well I never did see.
Such a kitten upstairs,
Well she don't suit me.

D
I got up in the morning, the rain was pouring down.
I saddled up old Grady and bound for -----[name] town.
Honor to your right, honor to your left,
Swing your next partner and promenade to your left.
Such a getting upstairs I never did see.
Such a getting upstairs don't suit me.

**
six of seventeen verses that were reposted by Jim Dixon 22 Sep 10 - 09:56 AM

From The Quaver; or, Songster's Pocket Companion (London: Charles Jones, 1844), page 164:
[Google Books]

6. N___r held a meetin, 'bout de clonization,
And dere I spoke a speech about amalgamation.
Sich a gittin, &c.

7. To Washington I go, dere I cut a swell,
Cleanin' gemman's boots, and ringing auction bell.
Sich a gittin, &c.

8. I called on yaller Sal, dat trades in sausages,
And dere I met big Joe, which made my dander ris.
Sich a gittin, &c.

9. Says I, "You see dat door? just mosey N____a Joe,
For I'm a Suskehannah boy, wot knows a ting or two."
Sich a gittin, &c.

13. Two behind and two before,
Wait till you get to the watch-house door.
Sich a gittin, &c,

14. Sal is sassy, I know what she means,
She's been to school, and is up to beans.
Sich a gittin, &c.
-snip-
Explanation of certain words:
"yaller Sal" = “yaller” a light skinned Black woman

"mosey" = leave [usually given as "just mosey along"]

"wot knows a ting or two." = "what knows a thing or two" [who knows a thing or two]

“is up to beans” = colloquial for "is knowledgeable", related to the still heard colloquial statements "You don’t know beans about that” ["You don't know anything about that" and "to spill the beans” [share a secret].
-snip-
I found verse #6 to be interesting since "amalgamation" [interracial mating] was an anathema. Therefore, a Black man making a speech about that would cause a commotion i.e. such a gettin upstairs.

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From http://www.ceolas.org/cgi-bin/ht2/ht2-fc2/file=/tunes/fc2/fc.html&style=&refer=&abstract=&ftpstyle=&grab=&linemode=&max=250?getting+upstairs “Fiddler’s Companion”

..."Various ditties or rhymes have been collected with the melody in American tradition, including floating verses. Wilkinson (1942) printed these:

Old Molly Hyar, what you doin' dar?
Settin' in a cornder smokin' a cigyar.
Such a gittin' up sta'rs I never did see
Such a gittin' up sta'rs I neved did see.
And:
Some love coffee, some love tea,
But I love the pretty girl that winks at me.
Such a gittin' up stairs you never did see,
Such a gittin' up stairs you never did see.
**
This rhyme was collected with one of Bayard's Pennsylvania-collected versions:
**
Went upstairs with a dollar and a half,
Came downstairs with a cow and a calf.
Such a gittin' upstairs I never did see,
Such a gittin' upstairs'll never do me.
-snip-
"Old Molly Hyar, what you doin' dar?" is included in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm p. 22.

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Getting Upstairs - Hinton-in-the-Hedges



TheNewYdde, Uploaded on Mar 30, 2009
DDMM Ale 2009

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Example #2: AMM - Getting Up Stairs Hinton - Swan Hill 2009



adelaidemorrismen, Uploaded on Sep 14, 2009

The Adelaide Morris Men dancing Getting Up Stairs Hinton at the Swan Hill Pioneer Settlement Museum in August 2009.

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Example #3: Getting Upstairs - Kennet Morris Men



Neil Stevens Published on May 27, 2013

Danced at Yattendon and Frilsham Fete 2013

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ADDENDUM: "I LOVE COFFEE I LOVE TEA" PLAYGROUND RHYME
The line "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea" is found in some versions of the song "Such A Getting Upstairs". That line lives on in the large family of contemporary playground rhymes that are known as "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea", "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa", or "Down Down Baby".

The earliest documented example of "I Love Coffee" as a jump rope rhyme was in 29 June 1869, Port Jervis (NY) Evening Gazette, pg. 2, col. 3 "a little eight-year-old girl... in one of the schools of Oswego, a few days ago. (...) I love coffee I love tea I love you if you love me" [Reposted from http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/i_love_coffee_i_love_tea_java_jive/.

It's interesting to notice that partner hand claps are a large part of the performance activities that are done by Morris troupes who perform "Getting Upstairs".

Here's an excerpt from http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/never-seen-the-like-since-gettin%E2%80%99-upstairs.aspx  "Never Seen The Like Since Getting’ Upstairs"
Skillet Lickers
..."There are lots of reports of skipping rope rhymes beginning "I love coffee, I love tea, I love the boys and the boys love me" (see, for example, E.C. Perrow, "Songs and Rhymes from the South" in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. XXVIII, No. 108 (Apr 1915 (available online by JSTOR)), #58 p. 186 "I Love Coffee" (1 text); Robert Craig Maclagan, The Games and Diversions of Argyleshire (London, 1901 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 254, ("March, march, two by two, my little sister lost her shoe, I love coffee, I love tea, I love the boys and the boys love me" (1 text)), but I have only seen "I wish my mother ... when she was young" with "x loves coffee, etc.," in "Sailor Laddie."

On the other hand, the "hold your tongue" lines exist independent of "x loves coffee." For example, "Tell your mother to hold her tongue. She had a fellow when she was young. Tell your father to do the same. He was the one to change her name" (source: Ed Cray, "Jump-Rope Rhymes from Los Angeles" in Western Folklore, Vol. XXIX, No. 2 (Apr 1970 (available online by JSTOR)), p. 126, ("Tell your mother to hold her tongue") (1 text)). Another game has a mother refuse to allow her daughter to "go down to the corner to meet her beau"; her father says, "Yes my daughter, you may go Down to the corner to meet your beau. Tell your Mother to hold her tongue She had a beau when she was young!" (source: Loman D. Cansler, "Midwestern and British Children's Lore Compared" in Western Folklore, Vol. XXVII, No. 1 (Jan 1968 (available online by JSTOR)), p. 14). - BS"...

-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html for the 2012 pancocojams post entitled Racialized Versions Of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea". Additional pancocojams posts of "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" can be found by clicking that tag below.
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Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to those featured in these videos & to the publishers of these videos.

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Visitor comments are welcome.

"Such A Getting Upstairs" (History Of The Song In The United States & England)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part series on the 19th century song "Sich A Gittin Upstairs" ("Such A Gettin Upstairs").

Part I focuses on the history of this song in the United States and in England.

Part II of this series provides several examples of lyrics for this song and three video examples of Morris dancing to this tune.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

PART I
The once highly popular 19th century song "Such A Gittin Up Stairs" ("Such A Getting Upstairs") is now mostly known as the Headington (Cotswold) Morris dance "Getting Upstairs".

Here are some excerpts from various online articles & discussion forums about the history of that song & dance.

These excerpts are presented in no particular order of preference.

From http://www.americanmorrisnews.org/pastissues/dec2005v25n4/current_issue/rhettkrausev25n4morrisdancingandamerica.html “Morris Dancing And America Prior to 1913” Rhett Krause, M.D.
"Influence on the 19th-Century English Morris
Long before the "traditional" English Morris dances had been recorded, they had been influenced to some extent by popular American culture. At least three English Morris tunes have American origins. The Bampton tune "Bobbing Around" was written in 1856 by William Jermyn Florence (1831-1891), an American composer of popular song. The Catalogue of the British Library lists a copy of this, already printed in London by 1856, over 50 years before it was collected by Sharp. Next is the Headington tune "Getting Upstairs." The original version ("Such a Getting Upstairs") was written and composed sometime in the early 1830's by Joe Blackburn for blackface performers. The song travelled to England with American minstrel shows, and versions were soon published in London. Five decades later, Percy Manning would record a variant of the chorus as one of the songs of the Headington men:

Such a getting upstairs and playing on the fiddle,
Such a getting upstairs I never did see.

Years later the music and dance "Getting Upstairs" were collected by Sharp. Finally, there is "Buffalo Girls," another American minstrel show tune. Joe Trafford, the Headington squire, had heard it played by a military band and taught it to the team musician, with "Buffalo Gals" becoming one of the Headington men's tunes.

Minstrel shows were extremely popular in England from 1843 until the first years of this century, and their effects on British folk culture are not limited to the few Morris tunes listed above"...

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From
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=37741Such a Getting Upstairs [hereafter known as Mudcat: Getting Upstairs]
posted by Steve Gardham; 20 Sep 10 - 07:08 PM
"It [Such A Getting Upstairs] predated Dan Emmett who rose to fame in the 1840s. Emmet was an essential part and instigator of the Minstrel TROUPES, but there were plenty of SOLO blackface performers both in the UK and US before this even going back to the 18thc. I have 'Sich a Gittin' Upstairs' as from Daddy Rice in the early thirties at Baltimore. It gets a mention in Nathan's 'Dan Emmett and The Rise of Early Minstrelsy' but not in connection with Emmett himself.

I have a copy of the song sheet music as performed by Sam Cowell later in England but no doubt he picked it up while in America in his youth as a performer with his family, possibly from T D Rice himself"...

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posted by Jim Dixon, 22 Sep 10 - 09:35 AM
"The oldest reference to the song I can find with Google Books is in The New-York Mirror, Volume 16 (Feb. 2, 1839), page 256:
"By late London papers before us, we perceive that Race has found out a new way to please John Bull. The popularity of "Jim Crow" seems to be eclipsed by the "new fancy song" of "Sich a gittin up stairs." "
-snip-
"Race" here is a reference to blackfaced minstrels. "John Bull" is a reference for people from England" and "Jim Crow" is the song "Jump Jim Crow".

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posted by Billy Weeks, 25 Sep 10 - 10:46 AM
"I have sheet music of 'Sich a Getting Up Stairs' published by Purday in London, probably before 1840. This 'only authentic edition' gives no author credit but it is 'as sung by' T D Rice, with the music 'arranged by' W West. The front has a striking uncoloured lithograph of Rice dancing and playing an invisible fiddle.

The sheet can be confidently dated to 1836 (when Rice first appeared in London) or perhapsthe a year or so later. I find it interesting that Rice did not claim authorship of the song on its first publication here.

Whatever might have been claimed and by whom, it is always difficult to establish authorship of earliest minstrel songs. There was an ungoverned trade in musical material at this level of popular entertainment and there were no enforceable copyright procedures. A few singers,including Rice, said that they had taken or adapted some of their songs from slave originals. I can't see much advantage in making such claims if they were untrue."
-snip-
Italics added by me to highligh those sentences.

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posted by Jim Dixon, Date: 25 Sep 10 - 01:06 PM
"The Levy sheet music collection has 10 copies of different editions of "The Crow Quadrilles." Most say, "Arranged with Figures [i.e. dance instructions] for the Piano Forte by John H. Hewitt"; some editions credit others. Most are dated 1837; the rest have no date. These are tunes only, no lyrics"...
-snip-
That list of tunes includes "Sich A Gittin Up Stairs". The word “crow” in that title means “Black” (actually, “the n word”) as evident from the song titles “Coal Black Rose”, “Jim Crow”, Sambo’s Dress To He Bred’ren”, and “Zip Coon”.

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Although this next comment refers to another American minstrel tune, it is relevent in that it points out the tremendous popularity of blackfaced minstrels in mid 19th century England.

From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=13658 "Help: Buffalo Gals"
posted by Steve Gardham, 18 Nov 09 - 06:14 PM
"The Ethiopian Serenaders came over to Britain after about a year of their successful touring in the States and here they were also a great sensation. They were the Beatles of their day. That would have been about 1844 but I could easily confirm the date. I believe it is from this early impact many of the minstrel tunes were adopted for various uses in this country, perhaps even the Lancashire song posted above. Two minstrel tunes at some point in the mid 19th century became the staple tunes for the Flamborough Sword Dance in Yorkshire, near to where I live. One is 'Buffalo Gals' and the other is 'De Blue-tail Fly' which is one of the widest used tunes in England for all sorts of songs and ditties. They also in Flamborough have set words to these tunes and some of the comic words to 'Old Johnny Walker' (set to Buffalo Gals) are from much older songs adapted to the 'new' tune"...
-snip-
The 1844 date was corrected in that discussion by this citation from Q: "The UK dates for the Ethiopian Serenaders, has, I think been posted in another thread, but your c. 1844 is close enough.

Copies are in the Bodleian Collection, one printed in Birmingham c. 1845"..."

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WHAT DOES "SUCH A GETTING UPSTAIRS" MEAN?
In the "Mudcat: Getting Upstairs" discussion whose link is provided above, the consensus was that "such a getting upstairs" referred to sexual activities that occurred on the floor above the tavern.

It seems to me that the phrase "such a getting upstairs" was expanded -or cleaned up-to mean "a commotion", a "disturbance", a "ruckus", or some occurance that was out of the ordinary but also exciting and perhaps even fun.

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RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754658597 for a review of the 2008 book Blackface Minstrelsy in Britain by Michael Pickering, Loughborough University, UK.

Here's a brief excerpt from that review:
"The historical study and cultural analysis of minstrelsy is important because of the significant role it played in Britain as a form of song, music and theatrical entertainment. Minstrelsy had a marked impact on popular music, dance and other aspects of popular culture, both in Britain and the United States. Its impact in the United States fed into significant song and music genres that were assimilated in Britain, from ragtime and jazz onwards, but prior to these influences, minstrelsy in Britain developed many distinct features and was adapted to operate within various conventions, themes and traditions in British popular culture. Pickering provides a convincing counter-argument to the assumption among writers in the United States that blackface was exclusively American and its British counterpart purely imitative.

Minstrelsy was not confined to its value as song, music and dance. Jokes at the expense of black people along with demeaning racial stereotypes were integral to minstrel shows. As a form of popular entertainment, British minstrelsy created a cultural low that offered confirmation of white racial ascendancy and imperial dominion around the world. The book attends closely to how this influence on colonialism and imperialism operated and proved ideologically so effective. At the same time British minstrelsy cannot be reduced to its racist and imperialist connections. Enormously important as those connections are, Pickering demonstrates the complexity of the subject by insisting that the minstrel show and minstrel performers are understood also in terms of their own theatrical dynamics, talent and appeal."

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Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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Visitor comments are welcome.