Hobart Smith - Topic, Oct 26, 2018
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group
Pateroller · Hobart Smith
Portraits: Hobart Smith: Blue Ridge Legacy
℗ 2001 Rounder Records Manufactured and distributed by Concord Music Group
Released on: 2001-01-01
Auto-generated by YouTube.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the pre-American Civil War banjo tune and folk song that is known as "The Pateroller Song". This tune/song is also known as "Pateroller", "Run Ni-ger* Run", "Run Jimmy Run" and similar titles.
This post presents a YouTube sound file of "The Pateroller Song" along with brief information about the banjo player Hobart Smith who was one of the earliest people to record that tune. This post also presents some comments about and lyric examples of "The Pateroller Song".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/02/some-history-of-slave-patrols-in-united.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some historical information about slave patrollers in the pre-Civil War United States south and after the Civil War, including an excerpt from a Feb. 2026 vlog hosted by Thom Hartmann.
The Addendum to that post presents two comments that I wrote in 2007 on a Mudcat folk music discussion thread about the "The Pateroller Song".
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composers of "The Pateroller Song". Thanks to Hobart Smith and other early musicians and singers who recorded this song. Thanks also to all the collectors of this song and all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I'm an African American who despises the referent that is sometimes referred to now as "the n word". Because I despise that word, I don't use it and I always use an amended spelling for it in any writing that I do, including when I'm quoting other people.
I'm publishing this series for historical, folkloric, socio-cultural, and educational purposes and I definitely don't promote singing "The Pateroller Song" (also known as "Run Ni-ger" Run") for entertainment purposes.
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INFORMATION ABOUT HOBART SMITH, THE BANJO PLAYER WHO IS SHOWCASED IN THE VIDEO AT THE TOP OF THIS PANCOCOJAMS POST
From Ai Overview (This write-up is the result of my Feb. 3, 2026 question "What race was banjo player Hobart Smith?")
"Hobart Smith (1897–1965) was an American folk musician and
virtuoso from Saltville, Virginia, identified as White and Anglo-American.
While part of the white Appalachian tradition, he was heavily influenced by
African-American musicians, learning techniques from them and incorporating
their styles into his banjo, fiddle, and piano playing.
Key details about Hobart Smith:
Background: Born to Louvine and Alexander King Smith, he was
part of a musical family with roots in England.
Musical Influence: Though white, he learned techniques from
Black musicians, including Jim Spencer, and frequented segregated areas to hear
Black music.
Legacy: He is considered a key figure in Southern folk
music, recorded by Alan Lomax."
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobart_Smith for more information about this old time American musician (born May 10, 1897—died January 11, 1965).
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INFORMATION ABOUT AND LYRICS FOR THE BANJO TUNE AND FOLK SONG "PATEROLLER" (ALSO KNOWN AS "RUN NI_GER RUN", "RUN JIMMY RUN" AND SIMILAR TITLES
Online Source #1
From https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Pateroller_Song_(The)
"PATEROLLER (SONG) [2], THE. AKA and see "Pateroller'll
Catch You," "Run Boy Run," "Run Johnny Run," "Run
Ni-ger* Run," "Run Smoke Run." American, Reel and Song
Tune. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The song is reported to be about
pre-Civil War times when plantation owners hired men to patrol for runaway
slaves or slaves out after curfew without a pass. The tune was in the
repertiore of the John Lusk Band, an African-American string band from
Cumberland Plateau region of Ky./Tenn under the title "Pateroller'll Catch
You." Hobart Smith's version is similar to "Salt River (2),"
"Salt Creek," and, a bit more distantly, to "Lonesome
John." See also related tune "Rattlesnake Bit the Baby."
-snip-
*This word (that is now commonly referred to as "the n word") is fully spelled out in this song's title and lyrics.
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Online Source #2
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: Iadded numbers for these comments for referencing purposes only. The "n word" is given in amended spelling in these quotes but is fully spelled out in these comments and lyrics.]
From https://mudcat.org/thread.CFM?threadID=16308 Lyr Add: Run,
Jimmie, Run
1. Subject: Lyr Add: RUN, NI-GER, RUN
From: Abby Sale
Date: 18 Dec 99 - 08:38 PM
It turns out to be a travesty of a travesty of "Run, Ni-ger, Run." That one comes in many forms (See Jane Keefer's Index) mostly as a children's play song, "Run, Child, Run," etc. Most innocuous. Then we find a minstrel show travesty when we Search http://memory.loc.gov "America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets" under "Run, Ni-ger, Run" with Mr Bones singing what was probably well-known to a comic monolog. Rinzler, in the CD's notes doesn't help much but pushes reported versions back to Ozark 1852 reports as ""Patteroller's Song." (It comes with both single or double t's.)
Finally (for me) Lomax in Amer. Ballads & F S, p228 refers to escaping the patrols after Nat Turner's Revolt. The song & persisting base tune "Fire on the Mountain" processed into many instrumental & comic versions.
Virginia: Nat Turner (b1800, executed 11/11/1831) began the only effective, sustained slave revolt in U.S. history on 8/21/1831. The rebellion created panic throughout the white South but put an end to their myth that slaves were either contented with their lot or too servile to mount an armed revolt. [EB] From 1832 "Negroes were put under special restriction to home quarters and patrolmen ("patter-rollers") appointed to keep them in." [Lomax]
Now the more political & story type (not quite balladic) & still likely somewhat corrupt, words are clear: (they're essetially the same as the L of C text as above.)
"'The day is done, night comes down
Ye are long ways from home--
Oh, run, ni-ger, run, patter-roller git you.
"'Yaller gal look and trine keep you overtime,
De bell done rung, overseer hallowing loud--
Oh, rull, ni-ger, run--'
"Like everything of merit it has been plagiarized and burdened with outside inventions until it is hardly recognizable, but the 'Fire in the Mountains' still sticks."
Do, please, marster, don't ketch me,
Ketch dat ni-ger behin' dat tree;
He stole money en I stole none,
Put him in the calaboose des for fun!
Chorus: Run, ni-ger, run, de patter-roller ketch you.
Run,
ni-ger, run! it's almos' day.
De
ni-ger run, de ni-ger flew,
De
ni-ger los' his Sunday shoe.
Run,
ni-ger, run, de patter-roller ketch you.
Run,
ni-ger, run! it's almos' day.
and/or:
Chorus: Oh, run, ni-ger, run! de patter-roller ketch you.
Run,
ni-ger, run! it's almos' day.
Oh,
run, ni-ger, run! de patter-roller ketch you.
Run,
ni-ger, run! it's almos' day.
Some folks say dat a ni-ger won't steal,
But I kotch one in my corn-fiel';
He run ter de eas', he run ter de wes',
He run he head in a hornet nes'!
De sun am set, dis ni-ger am free;
De yaller gals he goes to see;
I heard a man cry, "Run, doggone you,"
Run, ni-ger, run, patter-roller ketch you.
Wid eyes wide open and head hangin' down,
Like de rabbit before de houn',
Dis ni-ger streak it for de pasture;
Ni-ger run fast, white man run faster.
And ober de fence as slick as a eel
Dis ni-ger jumped all but his heel;
De white man ketch dat fast, you see,
And tied it tight aroun' de tree.
Dis ni-ger heard dat old whip crack,
But nebber stopped fur to look back;
I started home as straight as a bee
And left my heel tied aroun' de tree.
My ol' Miss, she prommus me
Dat when she die, she set me free;
But she done dead dis many year ago,
En yer I'm hoein' de same ol' row!
I'm a-hoein' across, I'm a-hoein' aroun'
I'm a-cleanin' up some mo' new groun'.
Whar I lif' so hard, I lif' so free,
Dat my sins rise up in front er me!
But some er dese days my time will come,
I'll year dat bugle, I'll year dat drum,
I'll see dem armies a-marchin' along,
I'll lif' my head en jine der song--
I'II dine no mo' behin' dat tree,
W'en de angels flock fer to wait on me!
Polk Miller, Richmond, Virginia, who interpreted Negro songs
sucessfully on the platform, contributed these stanzas:
I run down to de ribber, but I couldn't get across,
I jumped 'pon a hog and thought he was a hoss!
As I was goin' through the fiel'
A black snake bit me 'pon my heel,
Dat serpent he did 'ceive a shock,
For de ni-ger's heel's as hard as a rock.
As I was passin' Wright's old mill,
My team got balked at de foot o' de hill.
I hollered to de driver, "Dat won't do;
I must shove an' so mus' you."
I don't know any way to post the sheet music here but as I
said, "Fire on the Mountain" is pretty rousing & surely accounts
for the persistance of the song.
I just thought you'd like to know."
Click for related song
-snip-
These words were added by a Mudcat moderator as a hyperlink to this Mudcat post that was begun in 2001: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=29237 Origins: Run, N-gger*, Run"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in that title and in most of the comments in that discussion thread.
**
2. Subject: Lyr Add: RUN, NI-GER, RUN
From: Stewie
Date: 19 Dec 99 - 09:19 PM
Here is the song as sung by the Skillet Lickers – it shares only 2 verses (the 'hornet' verse and the 'snake' verse) with the version sung by Clint Howard on the Watson/Ashley set. Wilson points out that, for Tanner, the song had lost its meaning because when asked what a 'pateroller' was, he could only reply: 'A bad man, I reckon'. As Tony Russell has commented elsewhere, like numerous post-Civil War numbers, the song is basically a pastiche:
RUN NI_GER RUN
Chorus:
Oh run ni-ger run the pateroller will catch you
Oh run ni-ger run you better get away (x2)
Ni-ger run, ni-ger flew
Ni-ger tore himself in two
Ni-ger run, he run so fast
He stove his head in a hornet's nest
Ni-ger run, he run through the field
Black snake caught him by the heel
Some folks say a ni-ger won't steal
I caught three in my cornfield
One had a bushel, one had a peck
One had a roasted ear tied round his neck
Oh ni-ger run, ni-ger flew
What in the devil can a white man do
Hey Mr pateroller, don't catch me
Catch that ni-ger behind that tree
Verse 2 repeated
Ni-ger run, was so fast
Ni-ger he got away at last
Source: Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers 'Run
Nigger Run' Co 1518-D Recorded 28 March 1927. Reissued on Gid Tanner and His
Skillet Lickers 'Hear These New Southern Fiddle and Guitar Records!' Rounder LP
1005 "
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3. Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Run, Jimmie, Run'
From: GUEST,Bud Savoie
Date: 04 Feb 00 - 08:43 AM
"When I was a boy and reading Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle
Remus tales, I recall Bre'r Rabbit strutting around in one of the tales as if
he was "king ob de patterollers." A footnote gave some of the words
to the song, although no music. I have since heard versions of it from many
sources, all changing the operative word to Johnny, Jimmie, slave, chillen,
Smoke, Boy, and others. Hedy West sings "Run, Slave Run" in Vanguard
II, and the liner notes state that the existtence of this song in the lWest
family suggests a long-held sylmpathy for the slaves."
-snip-
[Ironically, I just noticed that the date for comment #3 is the same month and day and almost the same time as when I'm quoting that comment in this pancocojams post. I didn't plan that.]
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Here's the only other comment that is given in that Mudcat discussion thread:.
"Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Run, Jimmie, Run'
From: Dale Rose
Date: 18 Dec 99 - 09:49 PM
"Yes, I enjoyed it. I am always pleased to learn more about
the old songs. Thank You."
-snip-
It's likely that this commenter was referring to the instrumental version of "The Pateroller song" and not the version with the lyrics. But if he enjoyed hearing the lyrics being sung, all I can say is "different strokes for different folks".
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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.
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