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Edited by Azizi PowellThis is Part I of the pancocojams series on the Old Time Music tune and song "Granny Does Your Dog Bite?". "Granny Will Your Dog Bite?" is also known as "Chicken In The Bread Tray" and other titles.
This post presents several excerpts about the tune/song "Granny Will Your Dog Bite". These excerpts include lyrics for that song. Additional lyrics for "Granny Will Your Dog Bite" are also included in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/09/two-sound-files-two-videos-of-old-time.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II presents two sound files and two videos of the Old Time Music tune/song "Granny Will Your Dog Bite".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composers of "Granny Will Your Dog Bite". Thanks to the collectors of this song and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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EXCERPTS ABOUT THE SONG "GRANNY DOES YOUR DOG BITE"
These excerpts are presented in no particular order. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1
From https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Granny_Will_Your_Dog_Bite%3F_(1)
...GRANNY, WILL YOUR DOG BITE? [1]. AKA and see "Betty Martin," "Boating Up Sandy (3)," "Brad Walters," "Chippy Get Your Hair Cut," Gippy Get Your Hair Cut," "Hog Eye an' a 'Tater," "Hog Eye Man (The)," "Hog Eye [1]," "Jake Gilly," "Jake Gillie," "Old Mother Gofour," "Old Granny Rattle-Trap (1)," "Pretty Betty Martin," "Very Pretty Martin," "Sally in the Garden (1)," "Tip Toe Fine," "Fire in the Mountain (1)," "Fire on the Mountain (1)." American, Reel and Song Tune. USA; Kentucky, Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma. ...
R.P. Christeson says his version is dissimilar to the tune of the same title in Ford (1940), but is similar to "Tip Toe, Pretty Betty Martin" in the same book. Bayard (1981) notes the resemblance between this tune and the "Betty Martin" variants, many listed as alternates above. He believes the tune possibly has Norwegian connections (though he did not elaborate or offer sustaining information). The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozarks Mountains fiddlers in the early 1940's (in particular from Arkansas fiddler Lon Jordan, in 1941), and was recorded commercially by Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers in 1928. See also related tunes "Gate to Go Through" and "Old Coon Dog (2)."
Ford (1940) said that "occasional
verses" were sung by fiddlers while playing the tune, and indeed, various
verses have been collected from both white and black sources. (Ford's
collection area was the Mid-West, often Missouri, and Thede printed Oklahoma
versions). Charles Wolfe (1991) remarks the tune has been collected widely from
Mississippi to California, and notes that Ray Browne (writing in The Alabama Folk
Lyric, 445) heard it often as a banjo tune popular more with blacks than
whites.
African-American collector Thomas Talley, in his Negro Folk Rhymes (edited in a new edition by Charles Wolfe in 1991) printed lyrics under the title "Chicken in the Bread Tray." They go:
Auntie, will yo dog bite?
No, Chile, No!
Chicken in the bread tray
A makin' up dough
Auntie, will yo broom hit?
Yes, Chile, Pop!
Chicken in the bread tray,
Flop, Flop, Flop!
Auntie, will you oven bake?
Yes, Jes fry!
What's dat chicken good fer?
Pie, Pie, Pie!
Auntie, is yo pie good?
Good as you could 'spec,
Chicken in the bread tray;
Peck, Peck, Peck!
Bruce Baker found the following reference in the North Carolina State Archives (Raleigh, N.C.) in the Lowry Shuford Collection in a folder marked "Civil War Reminiscences." The folder contains a document titled "From 1861 to 1865 As I Remember" by J. A. Bush, Sr., of Lenoir, N.C., wherein he writes:
D. A. Griffin was one of them (i.e. the musicians). When he came to Lenoir to be sworn in, he was playing on his fife, 'Oh, Granny, will your little dog bite? No, child, no.' He took his fife to camp with him and played every evening.
Baker concludes that, while there is no way of knowing which
of the "Granny" tunes was the one Griffin played, the reference it
"does suggest the tune was playable on a fife and that this floating lyric
was floating around Caldwell Co., N.C., in the early 1860s."...
-snip-
The first portion of this comment beginning with the title "Granny Does Your Dog Bite?" was reformatted to enhance its readability.
****
Excerpt #2
[given as is with typing or spelling errors]
From https://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/AfroAmFolkMusicMissL67_opt.pdf "Afro-American Folk Music from Tate and Panola Counties, Mississippi"
[page] 10
A5 Granny, Will Your Dog Bite
Spoken and played on the washtub by Compton Jones, ncar
Senatobia,
MississiPPi, September 5, 1970. Recorded by David Evans.
This highly repetitious piece, which consists here of fifteen almost identical couplets, is one of the most popular in this community. I have recorded it as a banjo piece, a children's rhyme, a fife and drum piece, a piece played on the drums only, and a chant by teenage girl cheerleaders at a community baseball game, accompanied by beating on the grandstand. Its popularity lies in the fact that the drum or other percussion instrument is made to correspond in its beats to the rhythm of the words.
When drummers do this, they say that they are making the drum "talk it." This ability to make the drums " talk it" is highly regarded in the community and is considered the sign of a good drummer. Older drummers often criticize the younger ones for making their beats depart too much from the rhythm of the words.
Some performers in the area substitute "Sally" for "Granny" in this piece. The words are commonly encountered in both the black and white folk song traditions of the South, and Dorothy Scarborough says that it is a piece that "every Southerner knows." Its usual form is something like the following:
Chicken in the bread tray scratchinf( 0 111 dough.
Grall/l )' , will your dog bile? No, cbild, 110.
These lines are commonly heard as a "floating"
couplet in various squaredance fiddle tunes.
The importance placed upon making a drum "talk it"
can probably be related to the widespread African (especially West
African) institution of "talking drums." In many African languages
pitch and rhythm are important factors in the determination of word meaning. As a
result, messages, usually of a proverbial or traditional nature, can
be beaten on drums and understood by the speakers of the language. It
would appear that this concept has persisted, in a considerably diluted
and altered form, among black people in the United States. In the English
language proper pitch and rhythm are not necessary for understanding, but
something of the value placed upon them in African languages has been
retained, as has the idea that speech can be reproduced on a musical
instrument. The ability to make a guitar, harmonica, saxophone, or any instrument
"talk" is one of the most important aesthetic criteria in all forms of
black music and is particularly highly valued in this area of Mississippi.
Usually, however, this expression is used only metaphorically, and it is not
expected that the musician will actually play something that can be
understood as a spoken statement. The recordings in this part of Mississippi
of "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite" are, therefore, rather unusual in
their strong emphasis upon correspondence between spoken text and
instrumental rhythm. Like many African talking-drum messages, the words
of this piece are almost proverbial. The real significance of the
expression, if any, is difficult to determine. Questions about it only produce
laughter and chuckles and the repetition of the phrase "Granny, will
your dog bite? No, child, no." A probable reason for the laughter is
the fact that the line is popular among children and therefore not to be given
serious consideration. It functions with children as a practice rhythm for
percussion
[page] 11
playing. It is very similar to the kinds of one-measure phrases that form the rhythmic units in fife and drum music (cf. AI) and in much of the string-band dance music, which is moribund in the area today.
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This summary includes here a lists of publication from
1922 through 1968 that include “Granny will your dog bite. The booklet text continues with these lyrics that end that commentary about that particular song.]
Granny, will your dog bite? Granny, will she bite?
Granny, will your dog bite? No, child, no.
Granny, will your dog bite? GranllY, will she bite?
Grallny, will your dog bite? No, child, no, child, no,
child, no.
Etc.
****
Excerpt #3
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24197
From: Uncle Jaque
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 10:57 PM
" "Granny" was a popular fiddle tune in the 1850s,
and was adapted by Military Fife-and-Drum Corps on both sides of the Civil War.
It is a regular part of the repitoire of the 3rd Maine Regimental Field Music
(F&DC) Reenactment Unit, of which I am a Member. It has a really kickin'
rudimental drum beat to it - particularly the bass, which really thunders. I
too would like to know the lyrics; all I know is "Granny will yer dawg
baht?; Hellfahre, no!". On the Ken Burns CW series, a historian recalls how
when one Volunteer Regiment had all of it's Musicians shot down in battle, one
enteprising Infantryman with a fiddle approached the Commanding Officer with
the offer to "fiddle the boys in" on the next charge... which he did,
to a rousing rendition of "Granny". It was his last tune."...
**
2. Subject: RE: Granny does your dog bite?
From: PoohBear
Date: 09 Aug 00 - 10:59 PM
"That sounds like one of the lines from the chorus of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" "
3. Subject: RE: Granny does your dog bite?
From: Grab
Date: 10 Aug 00 - 08:30 AM
"
****
4. Subject: RE: Granny does your dog bite?
From: GUEST,Journeyman Alto
Date: 26 Oct 16 - 10:33 AM
" "Granny does your dog bite, your hen peck, your rooster
fight?
Your turkey walk a rail fence?" "No child
no."
"Granny does your dog bite?" "No child no
child,
Pappy took his biter off a long time ago." "
Excerpt #4
From
1. Subject: RE: Origin of Ida Red
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Sep 02 - 09:57 PM
"Bob Wills lyrics: the verse "My Old Missus ...set me
free" occurs in many variations in Negro songs. "Chicken in the
breadpan" is another floating or borrowed verse.
One of the many "set me free" verses, this one
from Newman L. White, 1928, American Negro Folk-Songs, reported from Alabama,
1915.
My ole mistis promised me
When she died she'd set me free.
She lived so long
That her head got ball,
And the Lord couldn't kill her with a hickory maul.
Also this one from Alabama, 1915 (same reference):
Chicken in the bread tray
Scratching out dough;
Sally, will your dog bite?
No, child, no."
There are innumerable verses of this type, sung by both
Negroes and Whites, and used in play-parties by children and adults. They pop
up wherever a filler verse in needed.
2.
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Sep 02 - 11:21 PM
"So, far, it seems that "Ida Red" is an old fiddle tune to which have been applied verses from numerous sources.
[…]
There is a parallel fiddle tune called "Chicken in the
Bread Tray" or "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?" Here is what Talley
says about it*. "Ira Ford, in his Traditional Music of America (1940) lists
this as a square dance tune, with the lyrics as "occasional verses"
fiddlers sang in calling sets. It has been called [Chicken- Granny] and has
been collected widely from Mississippi to California [Note- also by Brown in
North Carolina and by Randolph in Missouri]." "Ray Browne, in The
Alabama Folk Lyric [1979], notes that he has heard it often as a banjo tune and
that it "seems to be a greater favorite with Negros than Whites." The
opening quatrain appears often in white old-time music recordings of the
1920s." Lines appear in "Shootin' Creek - Ida Red."...
-snip-
Regarding Guest's statement "Here is what Talley says about it", Guest is probably referring to Thomas W. Talley. Here's a quote from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_W._Talley "Thomas Washington Talley (October 9, 1870 – July 14, 1952) was a chemistry professor at Fisk University and a collector of African American folk songs
[...]
Negro Folk Rhymes (Wise and Otherwise)
Talley began collecting rural black folk songs later in his
life. Talley's first collection, published in 1922, Negro Folk Rhymes (Wise and
Otherwise) contained 349 secular folksongs and spirituals. Already being
well-known as the first such collection assembled by an African-American
scholar,[2] the book was seen at the time as a "masterpiece of the
field".[5] It was not only the first compilation of African-American
secular folk songs, but also of folk songs of any kind from Tennessee.[2] An
edited edition of Negro Folk Rhymes" was re-released in 1991. Additional
published works about music by Talley include The Origin of Negro Traditions
and A Systematic Chronology of Creation.[1]
-snip-
It's possible that Thomas W. Talley could have written that information that Guest shared, but I think it's more likely that they were added to the 1991 edition of Negro Folk Rhymes by Charles Wolf, that edition's editor.
**
3. Subject: RE: Origin of Ida Red
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Sep 02 - 07:59 PM
"Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers recorded a 'chicken in the breadpan' variant under the title 'Hog-eye' which has some lyric similarities with the 'Hog-eye Man', best known as a sea shanty. It is included in NLCR 'Old-Time String Band Songbook' and has been released on CD in Dr Bill McNeil's box set 'Somewhere in Arkansas: Early Country Music Recordings From Arkansas 1928-1932' Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies, no catalogue #. Below is McNeil's transcription:
HOG-EYE
Chicken in the breadpan kicking up dough
Sally will your dog bite? No, child, no
Sally's in the garden sifting sand
Sally's upstairs with the hog-eye man
Sally's in the garden, sifting, sifting
Sally's in the garden sifting sand
Sally's in the garden, sifting sifting
Sally's upstairs with the hog-eye man
Sally will your dog bite? No, child, no
Daddy cut his biter off a long time ago
Sally's in the garden sifting sand
Sally's upstairs with the hog-eye man
Sally's in the garden, sifting, sifting
Sally's in the garden sifting sand
Sally's in the garden, sifting sifting
Sally's upstairs with the hog-eye man
Source: transcription by W.K. McNeil of Pope's Arkansas
Mountaineers 'Hog-Eye' recorded in Memphis TN on 6 February 1928 and issued as
Vi 21295."
****
Excerpt #5
From https://secondhandsongs.com/work/236043
Added by mduval32323
Written by [Traditional]
Language: English
Comments
Traditional American reel and song tune first recorded as an instrumental by the Virginia Ramblers (aka Floyd County Ramblers) in August 1930.
Granny will your dog bite, dog bite, dog bite,
Granny will your dog bite , Lord, child no;
Wolf bit 'er biter off long time ago.
Related to another fiddle tune Sally in the Garden / Hog Eye, which says "Sally will your dog bite, no sir, no..."
****
Excerpt #6
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmoZPpnCO8o&ab_channel=DanyRosevear "Granny will your dog bite? - a traditional fiddle tune" published by Dany Rosevear, July 31, 2018
Granny will your dog bite, cow kick, cat scratch?
Granny will your hen peck, sow root the corn patch?
Granny will your duck quack, old grey goose hiss?
Granny will your dog bite? "No, child, no!"
Open up the gate and walk on through,
Spy an old dog but he won’t bite you.
Granny will your dog bite? "No, child, no!"
Hog bit’er pecker off a long time ago.
Chicken in the bread pan, bread pan, bread pan,
Chicken in the bread pan, scratching out dough.
Rooster in the barnyard, barnyard, barnyard,
Rooster in the barnyard, a-strutting while he crows.
****
Excerpt #7
From https://fornoob.com/what-does-the-line-granny-does-your-dog-bite-no-child-no-mean-in-the-song-the-devil-went-down-to-georgia/
1. "Question
what does the line ‘granny does your dog bite no child no’
mean in the song ‘the devil went down to georgia?
its blowing my mind"
2. Answer
"
3. Answer
"All of the phrases after "He played..." are
traditional fiddle tunes.
****
This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series on "Granny Does Your Dog Bite?"
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