"Old Joe Clark" (General Information & Comments About This American Old Time Music/Bluegrass Music Song)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the Old Time Music /Bluegrass Music tune & song "Old Joe Clark".

This post presents some general information and comments about the song/tune "Old Joe Clark". Some of these entries include lyrics for this song. This post also presents some general information and comments about the song/tune "Old Joe Clark".

The Addendum of this post presents some information about and examples of floating verses from "Old Joe Clark" that are found in some other American Old Time Music/Bluegrass Music songs.

The earliest sources for these songs suggest that Black Americans were the originators of a number of the early verses for "Old Joe Clark" and the other American Old Time Music/Bluegrass Music songs that include those verses. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/04/five-video-examples-of-old-time.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases five YouTube video examples of the United States Old Time Music /Bluegrass Music tune & song "Old Joe Clark".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT MINSTREL SONGS
Since this pancocojams blog focuses on African American culture and other Black cultures throughout the world, I would like to share the reason why I'm publishing posts on 19th century minstrel songs.
 
My focus on 19th century minstrel songs in this pancocojams blog shouldn't be interpreted to mean that I believe that Black Americans composed these songs. 

However, I believe that some themes, terms, and some previously existing floating verses that Black Americans did compose (largely as Southern plantation secular dance/work songs) were taken from those sources by White composers and used in a number of minstrel songs. White men are named as the composers of those songs without any acknowledgement of those Black sources. 

I recognize those Black contributions through these posts and I also recognize that some blackfaced minstrels were Black Americans. The influence of Black Americans in minstrelsy extends from the United States South to music traditions in other parts of the world including Great Britain and South Africa. 

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT "OLD JOE CLARK" 
The sources for these online quotes are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes online.

ONLINE SOURCE #1
From 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Joe_Clark

" "Old Joe Clark" is a US folk song, a mountain ballad that was popular among soldiers from eastern Kentucky during World War I and afterwards.[1] Its lyrics refer to a real person named Joseph Clark, a Kentucky mountaineer who was born in 1839 and murdered in 1885.[1][2] The "playful and sometimes outlandish verses" have led to the conjecture that it first spread as a children's song and via play parties.[3] There are about 90 stanzas in various versions of the song.[1] The tune is based on an A major scale in the Mixolydian mode, but moreover has definite hints of a complete blues scale, namely, the flatted 3rd and 5th.[4]

Although "Old Joe Clark" may have originated in the 19th century, no printed records are known from before 1900.[3] An early version was printed in 1918, as sung in Virginia at that time.[1]

"Old Joe Clark" has been described as "one of the most widely known of all Southern fiddle tunes [as of the late 20th century. ... It] has, to a degree, become part of the [United States] national repertory. One may hear it in bluegrass jam sessions, old-time fiddle sessions, and country dances throughout the United States."[3]

Gary Cooper sang several verses of this song in the 1945 western, “Along Came Jones”.

Lyrics

Fare-the-well Old Joe Clark, goodbye Mitsy Brow-owww-owwwn

Fare-the-well Old Joe Clark, I'm gonna leave this town

Old Joe Clark he had a house 16 stories high

and every story in that house was filled with chicken pie

I went down to Old Joe's house – never been there before

He slept on a feather bed, and I slept on the floor.

 

Refrain:

Round and around Old Joe Clark Round and around I say

Round and around Old Joe Clark. I hav'n't long to stay."...

****
ONLINE SOURCE #2
From https://www.balladofamerica.org/old-joe-clark/
"Old Joe Clark: About the Song

“Old Joe Clark” is an American fiddle tune that is well-known throughout the United States and other parts of the world. Many different verses and choruses have been sung to the tune. The song’s origins are unclear, as is the identity of Joe Clark himself, if the title did actually derive from a namesake. Various claims indicate that Joe Clark may have been a moonshiner in the Virginia hills, a veteran of the War of 1812, or a banjo player from Clay County, Kentucky.

Lyrics

chorus:

Round and round, old Joe Clarke

Round and round, I say

Round and round, old Joe Clarke

I ain’t got long to stay

 

Fare thee well, old Joe Clarke

Fare thee well, I say

He’d follow me ten thousand miles

To hear my fiddle play

 

verses:

Old Joe Clarke the preacher’s son

Preached all over the plain

The only text he ever used

Was high low jack and the game

 

I went down to old Joe’s house

Never been there before

He slept on the feather bed

And I slept on the floor

 

Old Joe Clarke he had a dog

As blind as he could be

Chased a redbug ’round a stump

And a coon up a hollow tree

 

Old Joe had a yellow cat

She would not sing or pray

She stuck her head in a buttermilk jar

And washed her sins away

 

I went down to old Joe’s house

Old Joe wasn’t at home

I ate up all of old Joe’s meat

And left old Joe the bone

 

I used to live on mountaintop

But now I live in town

I’m boarding at the big hotel

Courting Betsy Brown"

****
ONLINE SOURCE #3
From https://wmeamusic.org/files/2016/03/CMPtp2011_GenMus_OldJoeClark-Bartling.pdf
..."Title: Old Joe Clark Composer: Unknown: Folk song of 1860’s Instrumentation/Voicing: Unison singers/folk instruments

[...]

This plan was designed for Grade 5.

[...]

ANALYSIS

Broad Description:
Traditional Type/Genre: American Folk Song/Fiddle Tune Background: Old Joe Clark is one of the most widely know Southern fiddle tunes. It has to some degree become a part of the national folk repertoire. You can hear it in most old time fiddle jam sessions, many blue grass concerts, on multiple recordings, and at country dances across the nation. It has also become a children’s favorite with its fanciful verses and easy melody. 

[...]

This song has traveled all across the nation as a fiddle tune. It also has a tradition of being a children’s play party song. Children have sung it and made up their own verses for many years. Adults have sung it and created verses of their own as well.

[...]

Elements of Music

Form: Verse and Refrain. (AB form)

Rhythm: This arrangement is in 2/4. The two main rhythmic patterns are a steady eighth note pattern in the verse (A) section and a dotted eighth note- sixteenth note - quarter note pattern in the refrain (B) section.

Melody: Mixolydian mode. The Mixolydian scale, or mode, is the fifth of the seven musical modes. It is similar to the major scale except for the lowered seventh. The Mixolydian scale is the scale that appears when a major scale is played with the fifth note (fifth scale-degree) as the root. Thus, a C major scale played from "G" is a G Mixolydian scale. This is why the term "mode" is more appropriate than "scale".

[...]

Texture: Voice and accompaniment. This song is traditionally accompanied by guitar, fiddle, folk percussion (spoons, washboards etc.) banjo, string bass etc. The texture can vary depending on the group that is performing it. Expression: This song should be sung with a lively, joyful and even silly spirit. It is all about having fun and singing with humor. The verses can often be sung by a soloist or solo group. The refrain should be sung a little louder with an emphasis on a steady pulsing beat and the entire community of players and/or singers joining in on this repetitive portion.

Special Considerations: There are so many versions of this song that it is important to emphasize that a group of students may have had experience with a different version than what is being taught. A discussion on the folk tradition of passing songs along through the generations without written notation or verses has created so many different versions. Discuss how different parts of the country may sing it differently. Connecting this song to the social studies unit of pioneers and westward expansion can establish additional insights into the song.

Reasons to Perform this Song: - to learn an American folk song that is part of our American heritage - to learn the historical significance of the song - to improvise lyrics - to learn the rhythmic patterns that include a dotted eighth – sixteenth note pattern - to listen to a variety of versions of the song both vocal and instrumental - to perform on folk instruments - to compose a different verse using musical elements of dynamics and tempo.

Heart Statement: The heart of “Old Joe Clark” is its humorous, joyful feeling that is created by its rhythmic composition of dotted rhythms and improvised lyrics. The fact that individuals would create lyrics for the verses and the community would sing the refrain.

[...]

MUSIC SELECTION “Old Joe Clark” has stood the test of time. It has been sung and played for many generations and has become a part of our national repertoire. It has a rich history and has been performed by a great variety of instrumental and vocal groups. This song has a sense of community because it has been sung for years in a community setting at barn dances, around campfires, at fiddle concerts, folk concerts, and community singing events. Its great sense of fun and humor is appealing to both elementary students and adults. There is so much to teach in the piece including the instruments, melody, rhythms, history, and expression to name just a few. This song just sticks in your head and gets your foot tapping. Every time that I teach this song, I have students tell me that they love making up new verses and singing it to their families."...

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ONLINE SOURCE #4
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=48624
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: old joe clark?
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Jun 02 - 05:24 PM

"A lot of songs have the meter of "Old Joe Clark-Liza Jane." One of these is known as the "The Gal From The South," which usually includes the line

"Old massa had a yaller gal,

He brung her from the south," etc.,

It includes this verse:

Old massa had a banjo,

Its strings were made of twine;

The only tune that I could play

Was "I wish that gal was mine."

"My Liza Jane" has these lines:

Saturday night and Sunday too, pretty gals on my mind;

Monday mornin' just 'fore day, white folks got me gwine,

White folks got me gwine, white folks got me gwine.

When I go to my gal's house and she is at home,

I lays myself back in de big arm cheer and picks on de old banjo,

And picks on de old banjo, and picks on de old banjo.

 

As I went down the new cut road, she went down de lane.

Was de last time I saw my true love, so go 'long, Liza Jane.

Go long, Liza Jane, go long Liza Jane.

 

Not what you want, but offered for comparison. From Newman L. White, American Negro Folk Songs. The chorus you offer is common to several versions of Old Joe Clark (in Lomax, etc.) but not with verses suggesting slavery or playing the banjo.

 

In Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, is the verse:

I had a banjo made of gourd,

The strings was made of twine,

But the only tune that I could play

Was I wish that gal was mine.

 

No verses in Randolph suggest slavery; this one, also from Randolph, suggests prison:

 

Old Joe Clark is dead and gone, I hope he's a'doin' well,

He made me wear the ball and chain,

An' it made my ankles swell.

 

No other verses with this fragment collected in 1930."

****
ONLINE SOURCE #5
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=25394

1.
Subject: RE: Old Joe Clark. THE folk song/tune?
From: The Shambles
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 01:38 PM

"Is Old Joe Clark the complete and typical example of a folk song/tune?

I have heard it played and sung many times. I don't think I have ever heard it played exactly the same twice. As for the words, there appears to be so many different ones, that it is a surprise if you hear ones you know. You don't really expect to hear a familiar version.

Why is it so popular and is it the song/tune with the most versions?"

**
2.
Subject: RE: Old Joe Clark. THE folk song/tune?
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 14 Sep 00 - 02:27 PM

"...just my opinion...but

Old Joe Clark is extremely easy to play (with a noter) on the dulcimer. I suspect it is the quintessential beginners song. Thus, with all of us beginners playing it and feeling like we are really keeping up with the real players/performers, it probably gets bastardized a lot.

 

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong!"

**
3.
Subject: RE: Old Joe Clark. THE folk song/tune?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Jan 04 - 06:16 PM

"Old Joe Clark goes back a long ways (pub. 1842, "Nursery Rhymes," Halliwell) and probably older.

'Joe Clark' cannot be referred or traced to anyone, no connections can be made.

I prefer this one:

Old Joe Clark is a preacher,

He preached all over the plain,

The highest text he ever took

Was high, low, jack and the game!

 

(Randolph, Ozark Folk-Songs, vol. 3, p. 124. Many verses, everyone has contributed over the years).

 

See the threads, esp. 25394 and 48624.

 

Old Joe Clark 25394

Old Joe Clark 48624

 
**
4.
Subject: RE: Old Joe Clark. THE folk song/tune?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Aug 18 - 11:16 AM

"I picked up a copy of Mother Goose Rhymes, and there were the same words used in Old Joe Clark, Little Liza Jane, Whoa, Mule, Whoa, etc.. Which came first? The chicken or the egg?"

**
5. 
Subject: RE: Old Joe Clark. THE folk song/tune?
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Aug 18 - 06:19 PM

"The earliest reference I've seen to the tune/song is from the "Asheville [N.C.] Daily Citizen" of July 8, 1892:

 “At night, the banjos were brought out, and to the strains of ‘Old Joe Clarke’ and ‘Pretty Little Liza Jane’ and ‘I’m gwine down to town,’ the puncheons resounded to the tread of the ‘dancers dancing in tune.’”

**
6.
Subject: RE: Old Joe Clark. THE folk song/tune?
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 12 Aug 18 - 03:23 AM

"Guest: “Which came first? Chicken or the egg?”

 Rooster.

Eliza Jane; Lucy Long; Old Joe and Pomp (Pompey) were all stock minstrel characters pretty much from the start (c.1840.)

 “Many are the verses and variations to Liza Jane, but "Old Joe Clark" is the banner song for length. "There are one hundred and forty-four verses to 'Old Joe Clark,' though I don't know all of them," modestly affirmed a popular "caller" in Nolan County.”

46. OLD JOE CLARK.

Old Joe Clark is dead and gone,

I hope he's doin well(1)

He made me wear the ball and chain

Till it made my ankles swell.

 

Chorus—

 

Round and round, old Joe Clark,

Round and round, I say;

Round and round, old Joe Clark,

I ain't got long to stay.

 

Eighteen pounds of meat a week,

Bacon (candy) here to sell,

How can a young man stay at home,

When the gals all look so well.

 

Old Joe Clark had a big white house,

Sixteen stories high,

And every room in that old house

Was filled with chicken pie.

 

Old Joe Clark is mad at me,

I'll tell you the reason why,

I went down to old Joe's house

And ate all his chicken pie."...

[Thompson, Stith, ed., Some Texas Party-Play Songs, Publications of the Folk-Lore Society of Texas, No.1, (Austin, 1916, p.32)]"

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ADDENDUM: ADDITIONAL COMMENTS ABOUT & EXAMPLES OF SOME FLOATING VERSES THAT MAY BE FOUND IN EXAMPLES OF "OLD JOE CLARK" AND IN SOME OTHER AMERICAN FOLK SONGS 

[DEFINITION OF "FLOATING VERSES" from Google Results (AI)
"In the context of folk and blues music, "floating verses" or "floating lyrics" refer to verses (or stanzas) that appear in multiple songs, often with slight variations, but sharing a common theme or idea. These verses are not bound to a specific song and can be freely borrowed and adapted by different singers and communities.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

Borrowed and Adapted:

Floating verses are like musical building blocks that are taken from one song and reconfigured into another.

Common Themes:

They often express shared experiences or emotions, making them recognizable across different songs.

Tradition-Steeped:

In traditional blues and folk music, singers often have a vast repertoire of floating verses readily available."]...

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FOLK SONG EXAMPLES
These entries are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only

1. 
From http://www.ceolas.org/cgi-bin/ht2/ht2-fc2/file=/tunes/fc2/fc.html&style=&refer=&abstract=&ftpstyle=&grab=&linemode=&max=250?old+joe+clark

"FINGER RING. AKA and see "I Wish't I Had a New Five Cents," "New Five Cents." Old-Time, Breakdown/ Song. USA, Oklahoma. D Major. ADAE. AABB. Originally from African-American tradition. Source for notated version: R.E. Perkins (Sequoyah County, Oklahoma) [Thede].

***

I would not have a yeller gal, I'll tell you the reason why,

She'd blow her nose on yeller corn bread and call it pumpkin pie.

***

Refrain

Wish't I had a finger ring (or, new five cents),

Wish't I had a dime;

Wish't I had a finger ring (new five cents),

To give that gal of mine.

***
I would not have a yeller gal, I'll tell you the reason why,

Her neck's so long and yeller I'm afraid she'd never die.

***

Mawsy had a yeller gal, brought her from the South,

Her mouth looked like an old fireplace with the ashes all raked out.

***

Mawsy had an old gray mare I know her mighty well,

If she ever jumps in my corn patch she'd better jump in hell.

***

Mawsy had an old blind horse, he calls him Bawly Sam,

Every tooth in his old head is sixteen inches round.

****

(See "Old Joe Clark," "Old Dan Tucker" for similar floating verses, also the song "Raise a Ruckus (Roughhouse) Tonight")

Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 67."

-snip-
I found this quote while searching for information about the song "Old Joe Clark".
"yeller gal" = a light skin Black woman

"Mawsy" = a referent for a White woman (such as the Master's wife], in this song "Mawsy" can mean the same thing as "Missy".
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbcU4vQT2j4 "New Five Cents"

Walt Koken, Apr 26, 2022

"There are several versions of this tune out there, some by a different name, but this one, a three part tune, is one of our favorites."

****
2.
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=15777
Subject: Lyr Add: BOIL DEM CABBAGE DOWN
From: Stewie
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 03:34 AM

"For the purposes of comparison, here are 2 of the earliest recorded versions of the song. Fiddlin' John Carson's was the first version recorded - in 1924. Although 'Dem' is retained in the title of the song, Fiddlin' John definitely sings 'them'. However, the 'dem', the 'master', the 'yella girl' and the taking of the wife to 'New Orleans' (John was a Georgian chicken farmer) would seem to betray the song's minstrel/medicine show and black tradition connections. Carson's version was a reasonably sedate affair, accompanied only by his fiddle. Earl Johnson's version, recorded in 1927, is a much more spirited hoedown treatment - and it has totally different verses.

As an instrumental, 'Bile dem cabbage down' was part of the countryman's common stock - black and white - of traditional music that also included tunes like 'Old Hen Cackle', 'Turkey in the Straw', 'Sourwood Mountain', 'Leather Britches', 'Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy' and dozens of others. Clayton McMichen, the 'reluctant hillbilly' and member of the Skillet Lickers', said he won the national fiddle championship 16 times playing the tune. Evidently, he would improvise on the melody like a jazz soloist or modern bluegrasser. Some later fiddlers absorbed part of his improvisations as a normal part of the tune.

 

Anyhow, here are the lyrics of the 2 earliest recordings of the piece as a song. Like all transcriptions of early 78s, they are tentative and subject to correction by other ears - but I have done my best with the equipment at my disposal. Both are very different from that in the DT.

 

Cheers, Stewie.

BOIL DEM CABBAGE DOWN

Boil them cabbage down

Boil them cabbage down

The only tune that I can sing

Boil them cabbage down

 

Master had a little mule

And he called him silent slick

That mule it had such dreamy eyes

But how that mule could kick

 

Quit that ticklin' me

Quit that ticklin' me

Mule go away you let me be

And quit that ticklin' me

 

Feet was light as a feather

Face was made of lead

Mule's (?) kick you feel so quick

Land you on your head

 

Boil them cabbage down

Boil them cabbage down

The only tune that I can sing

Boil them cabbage down

 

Whisky by the gallon

Sugar by the pound

Great big bowl to put it in

Spoon to stir it around

 

Quit that ticklin' me

Quit that ticklin' me

Mule go away you let me be

And quit that ticklin' me

 

Wouldn't marry a yella girl

I'll tell you the reason why

She'd get up the very next morning

Be sure to tell a lie

 

Boil them cabbage down

Boil them cabbage down

The only tune that I can sing

Boil them cabbage down

 

If I had a scolding wife

I'd whup her sure as she's born

Tear her down to New Orleans

Trade her off for corn

 

Quit that ticklin' me

Quit that ticklin' me

Mule go away you let me be

And quit that ticklin' me

 

Now I got no money

Got no place to stay

Got nowhere to lay my head

Chicken a-crowin' for day

 

Quit that ticklin' me

Quit that ticklin' me

Mule go away you let me be

And quit that ticklin' me

 

Fiddlin' John Carson 73040-A-OK 40306 New York 18 December 1924. Reissued on Fiddlin' John Carson 'Complete Recorded Works Vol II' Document DOCD 8015.

 

BOIL DEM CABBAGE DOWN

 

Boil them cabbage down

Turn them hoecakes around

The only tune that I can play

Is boil them cabbage down

 

I went up on the mountain

(It is not known around) (?) Put me in a coffee pot

Blowed me through the spout

 

Boil them …

 

I asked that girl to marry me

She said she'd see me later

She mashed my nose all over my face

Like a great big hard potato

 

Boil them …

 

Wish I had a nickel

Wish I had a dime

Wish I had a redhaired girl

And I could call her mine

 

Boil them …

 

Wish I had a wide (?) brim hat

Push it in the crown

Go to see some pretty little girl

And turn my damper down

 

Boil them …

 

Greenback in my pocket

Whisky when I'm dry

If I come drunk and ragged

I'll live until I die

 

Boil them …

 

Earl Johnson and His Dixie Entertainers 80265-A-OK 45112 23 March 1927 Atlanta Georgia.Reissued on Earl Johnson 'Complete Recorded Works Vol I' Document DOCD 8005."

2. 

Subject: Lyr Add: BOIL THEM CABBAGE DOWN
From: Les B
Date: 02 Dec 99 - 09:10 PM

...Some of the verses to "Bile them..." seem to float between it and "Old Joe Clark" ....

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

"Go Around The Corn, Sally" (19th Century Black American Corn Husking Work Song: information, lyrics, video examples)

2nd Grade "Go Around the Corn Sally"

Winding Ridge, Jun 8, 2012

2nd Graders singing "Go Around the Corn, Sally" during their spring concert.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest update- July 19, 2026

Most of this pancocojams post is a reprint of Part II of a three part pancocojams 2014 series about the African American corn husking song "Round De Corn, Sally". https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/four-examples-of-round-corn-sally.html 

This post (Part II) presents some background information about the song "Round The Corn, Sally" and presents four early text (word only) examples of "Around The Corn, Sally". That 2014 post has no pancocojams visitor comments

Three YouTube videos have been added to that 2014 post: two videos of the song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" and one video of the sea shanty "Go Around The Corner, Sally" which has its source in that corn husking work song. No changes have been made to the word only content of that 2014 post.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/descriptions-of-corn-husking-corn-songs.html for Part I of this series. Part I provides excerpts from two online books about corn husking in the Southern United States during slavery. Part I also includes some comments about pre-mechanical corn husking in the United States apart from United States slavery.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/06/three-examples-of-childrens-song-go.html for Part III of this series. Part III provides video examples and lyrics of the children's song "Go Around The Corn, Sally" which is adapted from the work song "Around The Corn ,Sally".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the performers and collectors of this song. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks to all those who are featured in the videos that are embedded in this post and thanks to the publishers of those videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WORK SONG "ROUND THE CORN SALLY"

Excerpt #1
From https://voices.pitt.edu/TeachersGuide/Unit1/Round%20the%20Corn(er)%20Sally.htm

"Round the Corn(er), Sally

Traditional, 1700s

Song Background

Often novels and memoirs are the only sources for learning the history of a song. Such is the case with “Round the Corn, Sally.” Because it is mentioned in several early American novels, it is one of the earliest known examples of an African American slave song. Dena Epstein notes the presence of “Round the Corn, Sally” in one of the first novels of plantation life, George Tucker’s The Valley of Shenandoah (1824). In the novel The Old Plantation and What I Gathered There in an Autumn Month (1859), James Hungerford cites it as a rowing song. It is also mentioned in Richard Dana’s Two Years Before the Mast (1840).

Eileen Southern notes that “Round the Corn, Sally” was used to coordinate the movements of work teams. Enslaved people loading cotton along the Eastern Seaboard or Mississippi River likely sang “Round the Corn, Sally,” where it was adapted by the seafaring population and turned into a sea chanty. Interaction between various singing populations often gave rise to new songs. The melodies and rhythms of the two versions are similar, and they share a call-and-response structure. The expert chantyman improvised lyrics of the repeating phrase, while the sailors, hard at work, would repeat the chorus. This chanty was likely used to coordinate the crew’s movement raising sails, a strenuous effort made easier by singing. This version of the sea chanty probably dates from the mid-1800s (after California became a US territory), but “Round the Corn, Sally” is a much earlier slave song."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: "Round The Corner, Sally" is the title of the sea shanties (chanties) versions of "Round The Corn, Sally". Except for the refrain "round the corner, Sally", there are no fixed lyrics for that shanty.  Some people believe that "the corner" that is referred to in that song is Cape Horn" at the tip of South America. Some people believe that "Sally" in this song is a general referent for sailors' girlfriends, and others believe that "Sally" is a referent for a loose woman who stands on street corners luring men."     

****
Excerpt #2 [Information about the shanty "Round The Corner, Sally"]  
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNvk3gsCkok&ab_channel=hultonclint [from that YouTube video's summary]
..."Another song is a candidate as a source for "Round the Corner, Sally."  It appears in the text of a James Hungerford, in which the author describes a visit to his cousin's plantation in Maryland in 1832.  With it's musical notations, it is considered to be the first extant text to contain slave songs. "Roun' De Corn, Sally" is described in the context of rowing a boat, but properly attributed as a corn-husking song.  In his 1989 book, ORIGINS OF THE POPULAR STYLE, pg.206, Peter Van der Merwe makes a connection between the similar phrase in the slave song and the chantey, thinking that "round the corn" was a corruption of the chantey phrase, due to confounding the "corn" context with the original meaning.  The original phrase, as supposed by Hugill, was a sort of "gal on the street," later reinterpreted as a sailor's lady-friend of locales that were around the "corner": Cape Horn.  However, some recent interpreters seem to suggest that the plantation song was a source"...

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EARLY EXAMPLES OF THE SONG "ROUND THE CORN, SALLY"

Example #1:
From http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/afro-american/afro-american-folksongs%20-%200148.htm Afro-American Folksongs, A Study In Racial And National Music by Henry Edward Krehbiel (1914, p. 48) [online book]
...“The paucity of secular working songs has already been commented on. Of songs referring to labor in the field the editors of "Slave Songs of the United States" were able to collect only two examples. Both of them are "corn songs," and the first is a mere fragment, the only words of which have been preserved being "Shock along, John." The second defied interpretation fifty years ago and is still incomprehensible:

Five can't ketch me and tea can't hold me—
Ho, round the corn, Sally I Here's your iggle-quarter and here's your count-aquils—
Ho round the corn, Sally] I can bank, 'ginny bank, 'gmny bank the weaver—
Ho, round the corn, Sally!" "

****
Example #2
From http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/fig111.html Slave Songs of the United States edited by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison (1867)
[Musical Notation for "Round the Corn, Sally"]
68
"Five can’t catch me and ten can’t hold me
Ho, round the corn Sally
Ho, round the corn, round the corn, round the corn
Ho ,Ho, Ho round the corn Sally."

****
Example #3:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=52717
Posted By: Charley Noble
23-Oct-02 - 11:27 AM
Thread Name: Origin: Johnny Come Down to Hilo
Subject: Lyr.Add. Round' de Corn, Sally
...Most of us nautical singers are familar with the old sea shanty "Round the Corner, Sally" in which the corner refered to has been ascribed to Cape Horn. Well, try this old plantation corn husking song on for size:

ROUN' DE CORN, SALLY

(corn husking song collected by slaveholder James Hungerford's The Old Plantation and What I Gathered There in an Autumn Month, c. 1832, quoted in THE MUSIC OF BLACK AMERICANS by Eileen Southern, pp. 180)

Grand Chorus:

Hooray, hooray, ho! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray for all de lubly (lovely) ladies! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray, hooray, ho! Roun' de corn, Sally!
Hooray for all de lubly ladies! Roun' de corn, Sally!

Dis lub's er (a) thing dat's sure to hab you, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He hole (hold) you tight, when once he grab you, Roun' de corn, Sally!
Un (an) ole (old) un (one) ugly, young un (one) pretty, Roun' de corn, Sally!
You needen try when once he git you, Roun' de corn, Sally! (CHO)

Dere's Mr. Travers lub Miss Jinny, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He thinks she is us (as) good us any, Roun' de corn, Sally!
He comes from church wid her er (on) Sunday, Roun' de corn, Sally!
Un (He) don't go back ter town till Monday, Roun' de corn, Sally! (CHO)

My interpretations in ()'s.
Cheerily,
Charley Noble

****
Example #4:
[This excerpt of "Round De Corn, Sally" was documented to have been sung by Black people while they marched around the plantation as part of their Christmas festivities, after going to the main house to receive gifts from their former master/mistress.]

From http://books.google.com/books?id=SHRAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA236&lpg=PA236&dq=round+de+corn+sally&source=bl&ots=7d8Yta7mK6&sig=0WAtB-T5dvoAu1mzkfKSPlnZ-3k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aHiYU47ZFIWdyATsx4KIBA&ved=0CCwQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=round%20de%20corn%20sally&f=false The Literary Digest, Volume 10 1895 “Christmas In The South Long Ago”[p 236]

Hooray, hooray, ho
Round de corn, Sally
Hooray for all de lubly ladies
Round de corn, Sally
Dere a Master Howard lub Miss Betty
Round de corn, Sally
I tell you what, she a mighty pretty
Round de corn, Sally...
-snip-
This is followed by other lines that are difficult for me to decipher. However, it appears that those lines are other complementary comments about other (White) people on the plantation.

****
ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEO EXAMPLES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN SINGING "GO AROUND THE CORN, SALLY"

YOUTUBE VIDEO # 2 - River & Relic 2013 concert - Go Around The Corn, Sally

 

Arcege, Dec 6, 2013
-snip-
Here's the only comment (besides mine alerting people to this 2024 post) from this video's discussion thread:

@michaelbaker602, 2024
"Published in “Slave Songs of the United States” in 1867."

****
YOUTUBE VIDEO #3 -  Grove 2nd Grade Music Class

Union Public Schools,  Nov 17, 2016

Grove second graders practice a folk song, starting in on the floor and then creating circles over and over until everyone is in a large circle, singing and dance. Music teacher Stephanie Farlow said the song "Go Around the Corn, Sally" is a timely Thanksgiving folk song because of the harvest theme.
-snip-
My guess is that Grove Elementary School is part of the Union Public School district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  

****
A YOUTUBE VIDEO EXAMPLE OF THE SEA SHANTY "GO AROUND THE CORNER, SALLY"
 
Round the corner Sally (Halyard Shanty)

YANKEE SAILOR,  Jan 14, 2021  #seashanties #seachanties #maritimehistory

These Halyard shanties can always be recognised by the two successive short pulls in the chorus. (ROUND) the corner (Sally)  for example.

Please help us grow this channel and share Maritime History with the world before it vanishes from our collective culture. Like and Subscribe!

****
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Visitor comments are welcome.

YouTube Film Documenting The Life Of Black Musician/Composer DeFord Bailey, The First Country Music Performer To Have His Music Recorded In Nashville, Tennessee

Lenny Brideau, Nov 6, 2020

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about DeFord Bailey and showcases two YouTube videos about DeFord Bailey.

The content of this post is presented for historical, educational, socio-cultural, and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to DeFord Bailey for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/09/2019-article-excerpt-african-american.html for a closely related 2019 pancocojams post entitled "2019 Article Excerpt -"African American Influence on Country Music Can’t Be Understated, or Overstated" (with selected comments)".

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INFORMATION ABOUT DEFORD BAILEY
Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeFord_Bailey
"DeFord Bailey (December 14, 1899 – July 2, 1982)[4] was an American country music and blues star from the 1920s until 1941. He was one of the first performers to be introduced on Nashville radio station WSM's Grand Ole Opry,[5] the first African-American performer to appear on the show, and the first performer to have his music recorded in Nashville.[6] Bailey played several instruments in his career but is best known for playing the harmonica, often being referred to as a "harmonica wizard".

Born and raised in Tennessee, Bailey learned how to play the harmonica while recuperating from polio as a young child. He moved to Nashville with relatives in his late teens and was an important early contributor to Nashville's burgeoning music industry. Among the first generation of entertainers to perform live on the radio, his recorded compositions were well-known and popular.

Bailey toured and performed with many well-known country artists during the 1930s. As a result of the 1941 royalties disagreement between Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), he was fired by WSM and stopped making his living as an entertainer. Afterwards, he supported himself and his family by shining shoes and renting out rooms in his home. He returned to sporadic public performances in 1974 when he was invited to participate in the Opry's first Old-Timers show and in 2005 was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame."...

****
Excerpt #2

From https://time.com/5673476/ken-burns-country-music-black-artists/ "Black Artists Helped Build Country Music—And Then It Left Them Behind" byAndrew R. Chow, September 11, 2019
…"[Ken] Burns’ new 16-hour documentary series, Country Music, arrives Sept. 15 on PBS, and covers a century of the genre with the same painstaking attention to detail seen in his other award-winning series like Baseball and The Vietnam War. He uses archival footage, photographs and extensive interviews to delve into the breakthroughs, tragedies and joys of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and many more familiar names.

But one of the series’ central tenets is that country music has always been home to African-American artists. Burns shows that, just like in rock, jazz and pop, every facet of country — from its instrumentation to repertoire to vocal and instrumental techniques — is indebted to African and African-American traditions, but commercial decisions by white industry executives led to their exclusion from the genre for decades.

[...]

And the one black star of country music’s first era, DeFord Bailey, was likewise treated with an ambivalence that sometimes bled into contempt. The harmonica player, who was the grandson of a slave, became the most frequent performer on the Nashville radio station WSM’s Barn Dance, with his virtuosic renditions of “Pan American Blues” and “The Fox Chase” riling up audiences across the south. In 1927, one of his performances even provided the backdrop for the genesis of the Grand Ole Opry, the radio program that became country music’s central institution, with Bailey one of its pioneer members.

But Bailey’s race was mostly hidden from his radio audience, and when he did go on tour with the Opry, he was forced to find separate accommodations in a segregated South. “He was a mascot — he was very much treated paternalistically,” Huber said. Bailey was fired unceremoniously in 1941. George D. Hay, the founder of the Opry, wrote four years later that “Like some members of his race and other races, DeFord was lazy.”

DeFord spent the rest of his life shining shoes and renting out rooms in his home to make a living. It would take half a century for the Grand Ole Opry to admit another black member (Charley Pride in 1993); besides those two musicians, Darius Rucker is the only other black member in Opry history."...

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THIS EMBEDDED YOUTUBE VIDEO
(with numbers added for referencing purposes only)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOBsnT8P1As
1. @claudiaraab1739, 2021
"I  love black country string band and hillbilly music. I never knew about the marvelous Deford . Just stumbled onto this video. Racism is a curse, he could have stayed on the scene received the recognition he was due but for blind racism,. He was

 A true musical visionary!"

**
Reply
2. @carlabecker1249, 2021
"Is there more info on who created this documentary?"

**
Reply
3. @lennybrideau8999, 2021
"It was Nashville's PBS station that created this back in 2010"

**
Reply
4. @Mike583, 2021
"@lennybrideau8999  Thank you for posting this video. I'm almost 68 & grew up listening to country music. Until I watched the documentary about the beginnings of c.m. produced by Ken Miles, I believe it was, I had never heard of DeFord Bailey. So many sad stories about great people of a different color than white, being unjustly treated, it makes me sick & I'm white! Again thank you for this, I've learned a lot more about this great man!❤"

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@proudamerican9438, 2022
"Wait! Mascot!?!😮😲"
-snip-
This comment refers to the Grand Ole Opry announcer referring to DeFord Bailey as their "mascot".

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: DeFord Bailey - Fox Chase

Robert Montgomery, Oct 20, 2008

DeFord Bailey - Fox Chase (From "National Life Grand Ole Opry" 1967)
 -snip-
Here are some comments from this video's discussion thread, with numbers added for referencing purposes only.

1. @joybird25, 2008
"Deford was one of the charter members of the Grand Ole Opry. Recorded a few songs in 1928 but mostly best seen in person,  Finally in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Deford influenced hamonica players like fellow Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy.  Listen to this master musician perform  effortlessly a fox chase, including calls and yelps to the dogs to make you feel you are right in the action.

Enjoy!!"

**
2. @BlackSmurfPunk, 2008
"Deford Bailey belongs to my top harpplayers. His black hillibilly-style is fantastic, he allways does two things at the same time.

Thanks for posting this clip.

It is a plesure to see this man playing his harp."
-snip-
"Harp" is an informal referent to the harmonica.

**
Reply
3. @martyfan11agnosticalienfan, 2022
"He wasn't one of the charter members of the Grand Ole Opry...

He was THE charter member of the Grand Ole Opry."

**
Reply
4. @cblanch, 2009
"Anyone noticed his style and tone is almost identical to that of Noah Lewis, who was 4 years older, came from Henning, Tennesee (also in Smith County) and died  in 1961,1 year before Bailey. Lewis probably taught him to play the "traditional" stuff. Lewis (Cannon's Jug Stompers) had a major influence on Sonny Terry also who was 16 years his junior and 12 years younger than Bailey.."

**
Reply
5. @nimmaosman9468,  2020
"Sad this legend was fired and resorted to shining shoes and renting out rooms in his home to survive."

**
6. @glencoe6305, 2010
"@phatdic11 I agree with you 100%. The Banjo,supposely,was brought to America, from Africa,by the Slaves. Just think if it wasn't-no Flatt & Scruggs, Dueling Banjos, Grandpa Jones, and comedian Steve Martin,w'd have to find a new hobby. Country Music,in General,w'd be lost.There'd also be no RocknRoll,Carl Perkins,or Elvis."

 **
7. @butanebandit, 2013
"I wish someone would find the original unadulterated tapes of these performances. This show was taped in color in 1967. Along the way, someone must have thought it would be "artful" to turn it sepia to make it look older than it was."

**
Reply
8. @tylerbrandon460, 2018
"I sure the Library of Congress has one."

**
Reply
9. @Richard53445, 2020
"I used to hear Deford Bailly every sat night on the grand ole orpy."

**
Reply
10. @HitecM6, 2022
"Country music originator as Robert Johnson is to blues. African American's have been very influential to this country."

**
11. @harpmonable, 2010
"So good. Have got this dialed except for the crazy little fill 1.17. does anyone have any idea whats going on there?"

**
Reply
12. @tylerbrandon460, 2018
"Slot of things blocking, playing bother sides of the harp, playing with breathing and throat chugs at the same time. He plays about 5 ways at the same time keeping bass, rythym, and multiple melodies going at the same time, simply amazing."

**
Reply
13. @SERGIORAMIREZ-nx5wo, 2023
"Great video I'm hearing the music not the color"

**
14. @endergamer7483, 2020
"Grew up with people that did fox chases and you do that type of talk to the hounds mostly to make sure they don’t get trampled and now when to go after the fox (the sic em part). Reminds me a lot of that."

**
15. @aladinfox4098, 2022
"August 2022, Came here after radio 4 program in UK about black roots and performers in country music."

****
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Visitor comments are welcome.

Children's Singing Game "Tideo" (Information and Lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest updat -March 19, 2025

This is Part I of two part pancocojams series about the American singing game (play party song) "Tideo".

Part I presents information about and lyric examples of the song "Tideo".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/youtube-videos-of-childrens-singing.html for Part II of this two part pancocojams series. Part II presents instructions about one way of playing (dancing) to the song "Tideo" and showcases various YouTube videos of "Tideo".

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

All copyright remains with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
ONLINE EXCERPT ABOUT THE OLD TIME MUSIC SONG/CHILDREN SINGING GAME "TIDEO"
From http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/tideo--indiana-play-party-1916.aspx
"Tideo- Indiana Play-Party 1916
Tideo/Toddy-O/Jingle at the Window

Old-Time Fiddle Tune and Play Party Song;

ARTIST: from Indiana Play-Party Songs 1916

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes

EARLIEST DATE: 1800s

RECORDING INFO: Jingle at the Windows

At- Toddy-O
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p173
Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p160 [1930s] (Tideo)
Fox, Lillian M. / Folk Songs of the United States, Calif. State Series, Sof (1951), p37b
Brame, Thelma. McIntosh, David S. / Folk Songs and Singing Games of the Illinois Ozarks, SIU Press, Bk (1974), p 66 [1948/12/09] (Ti-De-O)
Durbin, Carl. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p313/#525 [1927/06/05]
Lomax, John A.. Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p400/#208 (Tideo)
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-41

SOURCES: Talley; Brown; Mudcat

OTHER NAMES: "Toddy-O;" "Jingle At The Window, Tidy-O;" "Jingle At The Window;" "Ti-De-O" "Jingle at th' Winder" (Randolph); "Pass One Window Toddy-O"

RELATED TO: "Down in Jay Bird Town" "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window;"

NOTES: "Tideo," a fiddle tune and play party song printed as early as 1911 in the [J]ournal of American Folk Lore, has a variety of similar names including Ti-De-O, Toddy-O, Jingle at the Window. Randolph suggests (Randolph, III, 313), on the authority of Lair, Swing Your Partner, that the name "Tide"

[...]

Textually "Tideo," often called "Jingle At The Window" (Randolph, III, 313-14), is closely related to "Down in Jay Bird Town" and "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window" which are other play-party songs. "Down in Jay Bird Town" is found in the 1916 Play-Party Songs in Indiana.

Typical lyrics of Tideo appear:

Pass one window, Tideo.
Pass two windows, Tideo.
Pass three windows, Tideo.
Jingle at the window Tideo.

Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.

[...]

TODDY O

Hands all aroun', toddy-o.
Toddy-o, toddy-o;
First to the left, then to the right,
Swing aroun' ole toddy-o.

Journal of American folklore‎ 1911; Page 311

Pass one window, toddy O
Pass two windows, toddy O
Pass three windows, toddy 0,
Pass four windows, toddy O,

Swing to the centre and bow to your beau,
And all go jingle at the toddy O.

Folk song: U.S.A.: the 111 best American ballads‎ - Page 82
by Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford Seeger - Music - 1947 - 407 pages

Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, low.

Pass one window tideo
Pass two windows Tideo
Pass three windows Tideo
Jingle at the window Tideo

Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo

Ruth Crawford Seeger, in American Folk Songs for Children, has just one verse and refrain for "Tideo," which she calls "Jingle At the Windows":

Jingle at the window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

Jing-ling, jing-ling, jing-ling Jo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

Her source was "Tideo," in William A. Owens, Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Games, Tardy Publishing Co, 1936.

LEAD A MAN

Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
You swing heads, di-dee-o, I swing feet, di-dee-o
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, walkin' on de ice, di-dee-o!

Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o;
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o?

Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,

[title given as "Dance Song" in Dorothy Scarborough {assisted by Ola Lee Gulledge}, "On The Trial of Negro Folk Songs" { Folklore Associates edition 1963; pp.115, 116; originally published by Harvard University press, 1925}

Other versions have the tag "Down in Alabam" or Down in Alabama":

The American play-party song‎ - Page 179 by Benjamin Albert Botkin- 1963 - 400 pages

2. Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Jingle on the window, jingle on the window,
Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Down in Alabama

The University studies‎ - Page 333 by University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus) - Education - 1934 For "Jingle at the Window," see DOWN IN ALABAMA. A (Sung by Charlie Carr, Noble, Cleveland County.)

1. Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo,
Skip three windows, tideo,
Skip four windows, tideo.

2. Skip to the center And choose your beau, ...

or

1 Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo.
Skip three windows, tideo.
Jingle at the window tideo.


There may be a relationship with the fiddle songs titled Dineo and Darneo associated with Sail Away Ladies, a song first recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (which uses di-dee-o in the lyrics), and Sally Ann. Here's some info from Andrew Kuntz:

DINEO- AKA and see "Di‑nee‑o, Ladies," "Darneo," "Sally Ann" Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va. A Major. Standard tuning. The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"

SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. See also related tunes "Big Sweet Taters in Sandy Land," "Great Big Tater(s) in Sandy Land/Lot," "Sandy Land," "Sail Away Ladies" (Kentucky/Tennessee), "Wish(ed) I Had My Time Again" (Ky.). One version of the tune goes by the name "Dineo" in the Franklin/Floyd County area of southwestern Virginia, and it was recorded as “Darneo” by the Blue Ridge Highballers (Yazoo CD 2046).


Tideo THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA 1916

Mrs. Leslie Beall.

1 . Pass one window, Tideo, Pass two windows, Tideo,
Pass three windows, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

2. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

3. I asked that girl to be my wife,
She said, "No, not on your life."
I asked her mother and she said, "No."
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

4. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.

b. At 1, all form a single circle, with each boy in front of his partner. Each player has his left hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of him. Circle left. At 2, each boy makes a half turn to the right and swings his partner.

At 3, each girl steps in front of her partner and all form a single circle again in position as 1.

At 4, each boy turns and swings the girl behind him in the circle.

Begin the song again and continue the game until each girl has been partner to every boy and returns to her original partner, c. The first stanza of a variant which Mrs. Ames calls "Pass One Window Toddy-o" (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXIV, p. 311), is the same as that given above, but the tune is different.

Miss Goldy Hamilton (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXVII, p. 294) prints the words of stanza 1.

****
WHAT "TIDEO" MEANS IN THIS SINGING GAME (added March19, 2025)
There appear to be two schools of thought about the meaning of "tideo" in this singing game.
1. "Tideo: is a "corrupted" (folk processed) form of the word "toddy" (as in "hot toddy" - a usually hot drink consisting of liquor (such as rum), water, sugar, and spices).

2. "Tideo" is a folk process form of a nickname for  such as "Dinah" ("Din nee o").

Meaning #1 makes sense in the "Tideo" singing game as the words to the song are clearly advising someone to "jingle* at the window.

Meaning #1 (referring to a hot toddy) doesn't make any sense at all  as the words to th lyrics are clearly . 

Here's a reprint of he Sally -Ann excerpt given above that suggests that "Tideo" is a folk processed form of the nickname "Dineo":

"DINEO-... The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"

SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of C"...

-snip-
*Here's the meaning of the word "jingle" from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jingle jingle- "to make a light clinking or tinkling sound"

-snip-
A person "jingling" at the window may be doing so to furtively alert someone that she or he is there.

****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

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