Reclaiming Black Influences On The United States' Old Time Music Genre: Three YouTube Examples Of The Old Time Music Song "Rockabout My SaroJane"

Uncle Dave Macon - Topic, May 25, 2021

Rock About My Sarah Jane · Uncle Dave Macon

 Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music, Vol. 3

 ℗ 2005 Yazoo

 Released on: 2005-06-20
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This YouTube sound file incorrectly attributes this song to the Black American Delta Blues musician and songwriter Charley Patton (born April 1891 (probable) – April 28, 1934).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Patton

Here's a statement about (White American singer/musician) Uncle Dave Macon and the song "Rockabout My SaroJame": "According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Uncle Dave said he had learned the song from black stevedores on the Cumberland River in the l880s." https://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-RockSaroJane.html "Remembering The Old Songs: ROCK ABOUT MY SARO JANE" by Lyle Lofgren (Originally published: Inside Bluegrass, May, 2010)

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series

This post post showcases YouTube examples of the United States old time music song "Rockabout My SaroJame" vy Uncle Dave Macon, by The Kingston Trio, and by Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs.  

"Rockabout My SaroJane" is categorized as an Old Time Music song and a Bluegrass music song. My position is that Black Americans should reclaim our role in the creation of and contribution toward both of these American music genres. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/reclaiming-black-influences-on-united.html _ for Part I of this series. That post provides two article excerpts about the Old Time music song "Rockabout My SaroJane" (also given as "My Saro Jane" and similar titles.)

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, educational, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the original composers and singers of this song. Thanks to the singers/musicians and collectors who have kept this song alive. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. 
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This post is part of an on-going pancocojams series about Black Americans reclaiming our influence on the United States' Old Time Music genre.

As of November 18, 2024, there are no YouTube examples by Black from the United States or elsewhere of the song "Rockabout My SaroJane".

The Uncle Dave Macon song file has a photo of a Blackband composed on men and women musicians (perhaps this photograph was selected as a tribute to this song’s source population.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/black-influences-minstrel-influences-on.html for the 2020 pancocojams post entitled "Black Influences & Minstrel Influences On The Songs That Old Time Music Performer Uncle Dave Macon Sung & Played".

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE #2 - Rockabout My Saro Jane By The Kingston Trio

CompVid101, Sep 10, 2010

The original Kingston Trio of Dave Guard, Bob Shane and Nick Reynolds perform Dr. Lou Gottlieb's arrangement of a song that Uncle Dave Macon heard from black stevedores on the Mississippi River in 1887. Gottlieb, who went on to fame and fortune as the founder of his own pop folk group, The Limeliters, was a stand-up comic and sometime musician in San Francisco in the late 1950s when he heard and befriended the members of the then-unknown Kingston group. He contributed several other arrangements to the goup's repertoire.

 "Rockabout My Saro Jane" appeared on the Trio's first album, the legendary million-selling Capitol T996, "The Kingston Trio,"  which was released June 1, 1958 and which also included the single "Tom Dooley" that sold three million copies and ushered in the popular folk music revival.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLE #3 - My Saro Jane , Flatt & Scruggs , 1964

Wicker Bill,   Nov 10, 2022

Written by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Released January 1964 as a single, it reached #40.
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"Written" here may mean changes or additions to the lyrics and/or the tune since this song was sung and played prior to Lester Flatt and Earl Sruggs. 

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This concludes Part II of this two part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Reclaiming Black Influences On The United States' Old Time Music Genre: Two Article Excerpts With Lyrics About The Old Time Music Song "Rockabout My SaroJane"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series that provides two article excerpts about the Old Time music song "Rockabout My SaroJane" (also given as "My Saro Jane" and similar titles.)

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/11/reclaiming-black-influences-on-united_18.html for Part II of this series. That post showcases YouTube examples of the United States old time music song "Rockabout My SaroJame" vy Uncle Dave Macon, by The Kingston Trio, and by Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs.  

"Rockabout My SaroJane" is categorized as an Old Time Music song and a Bluegrass music song. My position is that Black Americans should reclaim our role in the creation of and contribution toward both of these American music genres. 

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, educational, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the original composers and singers of this song. Thanks to the singers/musicians and collectors who have kept this song alive. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. 
-snip-
This post is part of an on-going pancocojams series about Black Americans reclaiming our influence on the United States' Old Time Music genre.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/03/black-influences-minstrel-influences-on.html for the 2020 pancocojams post entitled "Black Influences & Minstrel Influences On The Songs That Old Time Music Performer Uncle Dave Macon Sung & Played".

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TWO ARTICLE EXCERPTS ABOUT THE SONG "ROCKABOUT MY SAROJANE"
These online sources are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

SOURCE #1
https://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-RockSaroJane.html "Remembering The Old Songs: ROCK ABOUT MY SARO JANE" by Lyle Lofgren

(Originally published: Inside Bluegrass, May, 2010)
"In the March issue, I wrote about Hold That Woodpile Down, a steamboat roustabout song. Here's another steamboat song that would have been lost were it not for Uncle Dave Macon. This one (Vocalion 5152, reissued on Uncle Dave Macon Classic Sides, 1924-1938, JSP CD 7729) was recorded by Uncle Dave on the same day in 1927 as Woodpile, with the same Fruit Jar Drinker sidemen: Sam & Kirk McGee and Mazy Todd. I assume Macon also learned it from traveling entertainers when he was young.

Here's some speculation about what a couple of the terms mean: "rock," used in the sense of rhythmic movement (with sexual connotations), has a long history of usage in ebonics, dating at least to the middle of the 19th century. It's probably a good assumption that Saro Jane is a person, not a boat.

The reference to "hole in the wall" in verse #3 may be about Hole-In-The-Wall Plantation, which was a large cotton plantation a short distance upriver from Natchez. There was once a river landing there of the same name, and Mark Twain mentions it in Life on the Mississippi (chapter 8) as an area where depth measurements were important, so perhaps it means that the boat ran aground there. That interpretation would be consistent with the misfortunes mentioned in the verse #2, where the experienced captain is no longer around to pilot the boat.

I found no reference to a steamboat named MacMillan*, but the last verse dates the song to the American Civil War, and indicates that the narrator plans to (or already has) run off to join the Union side in the battle. Both sides in that conflict converted freight and passenger steamboats into gunships in the hard-fought battle for control of the Mississippi River.

Whatever the meaning, it's fun to sing. There are very few traditional songs that have both a refrain and a chorus, as well as a minor chord. You'll have to listen to the original to figure out how to do Uncle Dave's complex 3-finger banjo picking — it's way beyond me.

[...]

Complete Lyrics:

1. I've got a wife and five little chillun,

Believe I'll take a trip on the big MacMillan,

Refrain:

Oh Saro Jane!

Oh, there's nothing to do but to set down and sing

Oh rock about my Saro Jane.

Chorus:

Oh, rock about my Saro Jane,

Oh, rock about my Saro Jane,

Oh, there's nothing to do but to set down and sing,

And rock about my Saro Jane.

 

2. Boiler busted and the whistle done blowed,

The head captain done fell overboard,

Refrain

Chorus

 

3. Engine gave a crack and the whistle gave a squall,

The engineer gone to the hole in the wall,

Refrain

Chorus

 

4. Yankees build boats for to shoot them rebels,

My musket's loaded and I'm gonna hold it level,

Refrain

Chorus

 [...]

[Note added 12/21/2010: I received an e-mail from Les Caraher with the following information, which seems to me a prime candidate for the Big MacMillan.]:

I read your article on Uncle Dave Macon's Rock About My Saro Jane. Your speculation about the source of the phrase the big MacMillan intrigued me. So, I did a little bit of research on the internet and came up with an alternative source for the phrase. In the article you mentioned the questionable assumption that Uncle Dave remembered phrases correctly and he may have, but if the song is a civil war era song then a lot of folks had to remember things accurately before Uncle Dave got a-holed of it. So, here is my speculation.

It turns out there was a boat that plied the Mississippi all during the civil war as a supply boat. It was called the MOSES McLELLAN. It is not hard to imagine that name changing to the big MacMillan is it?

Here is the reference.

[Note added 6/7/2013: More ideas about the Big MacMillan: I received an e-mail from William Lewis with the following information]:

Just wanted to add my thoughts on Uncle Dave’s Rock About My Saro Jane and the origin of the McMillan reference. I always thought McMillan refered to a boat. However, I have never come across a steamship with that name (not to say there wasn’t one). According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Uncle Dave said he had learned the song from black stevedores on the Cumberland River in the l880s. In the mid-19th century, the Cumberland River supported a large riverboat trade which reached to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers."...
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This is my bold font. That quote doesn’t use bold font for that sentence, but uses it for other sentences in that particular note.

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A sound file of Uncle Dave Macon performing "Rockabout My SaroJane" is showcased in Part II of this pancocojams series.

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SOURCE #2
https://compvid101.blogspot.com/2010/09/rockabout-my-saro-jane.html
Friday, September 10, 2010

"Rockabout My Saro Jane"

Rivers seem to play a larger part in American folk music than they do in that of just about any other country. Sure, there are some Irish folk songs about the Shannon, and the Scots' "Flow Gently, Sweet Afton" is a standard; students of French probably remember singing "Sur le pont d'Avignon," and I have no doubt that the Rhine and the Volga and the Yang-tze and all the other big rivers have inspired some folkloric response.

But consider the rivers of America and the scores of songs they have inspired. The Hudson. The Chattahoochee. The Potomac. The Shenandoah. The Ohio. The Rio Grande. The Arkansas. The Red. The Wabash. And the Father of Waters himself, the Mississippi...and those are just the high profile waterways that have songs attached to them.

I suppose that reflecting on the very old "John Webb" song last week is part of what prompted me to pick "Rockabout My Saro Jane" for this week. I hadn't really thought much about the song for many years until recently. Last April when I was profiling Lou Gottlieb and his arrangement of "Good News", I remembered a passage from folk historian Ronald Cohen's Rainbow Quest that I used in the linked article and cite again here - Gottlieb told Cohen that

I had a wife and children and no money so I started working as a stand up comic and got a job at the Purple Onion. There were three guys there who used to hang around the Hungry i all the time. In fact, they'd be in the dressing room half the time. But they were cute....They were the opening act at the Purple Onion...Well, sir, these kids really had something different. There was a magic about that act that was hard to explain. When they made their first record...they needed a tune. I had a couple of old charts from the Gateway Singers that I quickly re-scored for three voices. They sang a song I stole from Uncle Dave Macon called "Rock About My Saro Jane" and put it on their first album. And they let me publish it. The royalties ultimately came out to thirty grand.

Here is Uncle Dave's recording from which Dr. Lou derived the arrangement to which he refers, courtesy of Chicago area roots expert Jeremy Raven:

[...]

Gottlieb was referring, of course, to the wet-behind-the-ears boys who were forming the Kingston Trio, and his arrangement of "Saro Jane" was a rousing opening number to the second side of that first album. I promptly forgot about the song (after remembering that I had indeed enjoyed it greatly) until late one night at the recent Trio Fantasy Camp in Arizona. A bunch of us were playing a few old KT songs in the Burns/Askins Hospitality Annex when Bob Shane and his wife Bobbie walked in and sat down to listen and sing along. Bobbie requested two songs that she said rightly that no one ever seemed to play at the camp, Stan Wilson's "I Bawled"...and "Saro Jane." Play them we did, and I was struck by what a fine arrangement Gottlieb had come up with and how much fun the song was.

As is obvious in the lyric, "Saro Jane" is a roustabout or stevedore's song from the Mississippi River. Alan Lomax also cites Uncle Dave Macon as the source, asserting that Macon learned the song in 1887 from black workers on the Cumberland River docks in Nashville but maintaining that the song was much older, probably of Civil War vintage. The late Rod Cook specialized in covering Macon's tunes and style - here he is with some absolutely first-class clawhammer on the song:

[...]

In introducing "Saro Jane" in his Folksongs of North America, Lomax says that our country's interior rivers have been "pathways of folklore and song...made by men who shouted in triumph as the loads were hurled down, made by men who were driven by their own unbridled and beautiful strength to bring melody and rhythm...to the breast of the great rivers."

That's unusually poetic for Lomax - but it seems to me to fit perfectly for "Saro Jane" and a few dozen similar songs."...
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I added the bold font to highlight that sentence.

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A drawing of a Black stevedore (dock worker) is shown at the top of this article.

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A sound file of The Kingston Trio singing Lou Gottlieb's arrangement of "My SaroJane" is showcased in Part II of this pancocojams series.

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Black Influences & Minstrel Influences On The Songs That Old Time Music Performer Uncle Dave Macon Sung & Played

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest edition- November 18, 2024

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt on the 2010 article by Michael Yates entitled "Uncle Dave Macon: A Study in Repertoire".

I am particularly interested in the author's statements about the Black influences and minstrel influences on the songs that (White American) Uncle Dave Mason sung and played. I'm also interested in the inclusion of lyrics for some of those songs that are included in these categories.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Uncle Dave Macon for his musical legacy and thanks to the Michael Yates who wrote this article. Thanks also to mustrad.org for publishing this article online.
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This article includes the full spelling of the derogatory referent that is commonly known as "the n word". I've chosen to use the incomplete spelling "Ni-ger"* or "Ni-gers"* for that derogatory referent. Although the use of lower case "n" for that word is considered offensive now, I've retained the lower case "n" spelling that the author of this article used.

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DISCLAIMER: My reprinting this excerpt doesn't mean that I agree with the opinions and conclusions that this author made that diminishes the degree of Black influence on the songs that Uncle Dave Macon sung and played. (i.e. this paragraph that is given below "It has often been said that Uncle Dave Macon, when young, learnt songs from Negroes and that other songs came to him from the entertainers who stayed in his parent’s Nashville hotel. The above comment by Uncle Dave is one of the few direct links that we have to the origin of one of his songs and it acknowledges the fact that he did sing songs that were, originally, from black singers. But this is only one song and, as I hope to show, the picture is not all that clear."

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ARTICLE EXCERPT: UNCLE DAVE MACON: A STUDY IN REPERTOIRE
From https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/udm.htm
author Michael Yates, published 2010 [Pancocojams Editor: This attribution was given in another excerpt of this article that I found via Google search]

"One of the highlights of my musical upbringing was to hear the old Folkways Anthology of Folk Music set of recordings when I was about 15 or 16 years old. The Anthology of American Folk Music is currently available as a CD set on Smithsonian Folkways SFW40090....Now, fifty years later, I still believe that Uncle Dave was one of the greatest of all the Old-Timey singers and musicians that ever recorded. In fact, I would say that some of his recordings, especially those made with The Fruit Jar Drinkers, are possibly the best examples of Old-Timey music ever made. Over the years I must have heard just about all of his issued recordings and each new experience has brought a tingle down my spine. Uncle Dave had one of the largest repertoires of any of the early recording stars. The bulk of his recordings were of late 19th century/early 20th century songs (most with known composers). He also recorded religious pieces, together with some American folk and topical songs. But, unlike, say, the Carter Family or Charlie Poole, I did not hear any Anglo-American folksongs, and this is something that has puzzled me over the years. (In fact, as we shall see later, Uncle Dave did record a couple of Anglo-American songs, but, as these were unissued, there was never any chance of me hearing them!) In a way, this piece is my tribute to Uncle Dave. It is also a massive “Thank You” to him and to all the other musicians who played along and recorded with him.

[...]

Over the years Uncle Dave had picked up a number of tricks while playing his banjo. He would swing the banjo out in front of his body, holding it by the neck with his left hand, and somehow managing to keep the tune going at the same time! He would fan the strings with his hat, or else play the instrument whilst holding it between his legs.

He would also shout out between singing, using phrases such as “Hot dog”, or else “Kill yourself”, and, all the time, he would stomp his feet on the floor creating a rhythm that just drove his songs and tunes forward. He was, without doubt, unique within the field of American music, and the public just loved him. Often, Uncle Dave would add spoken comments to his recordings...

[...]

Over a four day period in 1927, Uncle Dave recorded a total of 38 sides in New York City for the Vocalion Record Company. There were eight solo tracks (banjo and voice), two tracks with Sam and Kirk McGee and a further twenty-eight tracks by Uncle Dave, the McGee Brothers and fiddler, Mazy Todd. Eighteen of these tracks were issued as by “Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers”, the rest as by the “Dixie Sacred Singers”, or else as “Uncle Dave Macon & McGee Brothers”, when Mazy Todd was not playing. As I said above, the tracks by “Uncle Dave Macon & His Fruit Jar Drinkers” are some of the greatest ever recorded and include such classics as Bake that Chicken Pie, Rock About My Sara Jane, Tell Her to Come Back Home, Hold That Wood-Pile Down, Carve that Possum, Sail Away, Ladies, The Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm, I’se Gwine Back to Dixie, Tom and Jerry, The Rabbit in the Pea Patch and Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel.These tracks are all re-issued on JSP box set JSP7729.7

[...]

It has often been said that Uncle Dave Macon, when young, learnt songs from Negroes and that other songs came to him from the entertainers who stayed in his parent’s Nashville hotel. The above comment by Uncle Dave is one of the few direct links that we have to the origin of one of his songs and it acknowledges the fact that he did sing songs that were, originally, from black singers. But this is only one song and, as I hope to show, the picture is not all that clear.

I said at the beginning of this article that I had not heard any Anglo-American songs sung by Uncle Dave. In fact, Uncle Dave did record two such pieces. On 21st June, 1926, he recorded a version of the song Darby Ram (Roud 126) and on 31st March, 1930, a version of the children’s song Little Sally Waters (Roud 4509). Both recordings, however, remain unissued. Uncle Dave, unlike, say, The Carter Family, was not from the Appalachian Mountain region, where Anglo-American songs did survive. He was from Nashville, and the area around Nashville, where both Darby Ram and Little Sally Waters were known in both black and white American song traditions. Darby Ram turns up in black American tradition as the song and tune Didn't He Ramble, although it is still sung today as The Derby Ram by white Appalachian singers. For a recording of Little Sally Walker sung by black Mississippi singers, see the CD 61 Highway Rounder 1703.12

For a recording of Little Sally Walker sung by black Mississippi singers, see the CD 61 Highway Rounder 1703.12 Another such song is one titled Late Last Night When My Willie Came Home (Way Downtown) that Uncle Dave recorded in 1926 with Sam McGee. It goes as follows:

T'was a late last night when my Willie come home,
Heard a mighty rapping on the door,
Slipping and asliding with his new shoes on,
Willie don't you rap no more.

Chorus:
Oh me, it's oh my, what's gonna become of me,
For I'se down town just fooling around,
With no one to stand my bond.

I love you, dear girl, the sea runs dry,
Rock all dissolved by the sun.
I love you, dear girl, the day I die,
Then, oh Lord, I'm done.

Ah, the last time I heard from my momma, Lord,
She was adoing well.
Quit your rowdy way, my son,
Save your soul from Hell.

If I had alistened what momma said,
I'd been at home today.
I didn't listen what momma said,
I threw my young self away. Vocalion 15319. Has been re-issued on JSP7729.13

This is, in fact, the same song that the Mississippi blues singer Skip James recorded in 1931 under the title of Drunken Spree:

I pawned my watch, pawned my chain,
Pawned my diamond ring
If that don't settle my drunken spree,
I'll never get drunk again

It was late last night when Miss Willie come home
She'd made one rap on my door
I said, "Is that you, Miss Willie? I'd like to know
Don't you rap no more"

I love Miss Willie, yes I do
I love her till the sea go dry
And if I thought she didn't love me,
I'd take morphine and die

She's up in her little stockin' feet, tippin' 'cross the floor
Just like she had done before
Yes, and I pawned my clothes, pawned my shoe
I'll never get drunk no more

I begged Miss Willie, down on my knee,
To forgive me, if she please
"Well, you done caused me to weep and you caused me to moan
Done caused me to lose my happy home"

I hollered, "Oh me, oh my,
I'll never let another drink go by"
If I thought she didn't love me,
I'd take morphine and die

I pawned my watch, pawned my chain,
Pawned my diamond ring
And if that don't settle all my drunken spree,
Lord, I'll never get drunk again. Drunken Spree has been re-issued on Document CD 5005.14

James’ song is totally different from any of the other pieces that he recorded in 1931. His line “Take morphine and die” does occur in a number of other songs, ones that were common to both black and white singers, but Uncle Dave’s second verse is taken almost word for word from a number of British folksongs and also occurs in one of Robert Burns’ best-known poems, My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, verse 3 of which is as follows:

Till a' the seas gang dry, my Dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun!
O I will luve thee still, my Dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.

So are there any other songs in Uncle Dave’s repertoire that can be directly traced to black singers? Well, there may be a handful, though, again, things are not so clear-cut. Take the song Run Ni-ger* Run, which Uncle Dave recorded in 1925. All the evidence points to the song being originally from a black tradition and takes the form of a warning to slaves not to try to escape, as they risked being caught by 'patrols' who would take revenge on the slave. Joel Chandler Harris, author of the 'Uncle Remus' stories (first published in the 1880s), mentions the 'patter-rollers' (patrols) in one of his books:

“In the country districts, order was kept on the plantations at night by the knowledge that they were liable to be visited at any moment by the patrols. Hence a song current among the negroes, the chorus of which was: ‘Run, ni-ger*, run; patter-roller ketch you - Run, ni-ger*, run; hit’s almos’ day.’

And another 19th century white writer, Abraham Hoss Yeager, gave this account in his autobiography:

“It gave them (the slaves) extreme pleasure to elude these nocturnal guards and they celebrated their narrow escapes by song. The Negroes called these guards ‘patty rollers,’ and they embalmed the name in the chorus: ‘O! run Ni-ger* run the patty roler’l catch you; O! run Ni-ger* run it’s almost day.’”

Perhaps Uncle Dave did learn this song from black singers, though it must be said that other early white performers also recorded the piece. Versions of Run, Ni-ger* Run were also recorded by Dr Humphry Bate (in 1928), Fiddlin' John Carson (in 1924) and Gid Tanner (in 1927). Carson's recording has been re-issued on Document CD 8015 and the Tanner recording is re-issued on Document CD 8056. The song certainly remained in black traditions until c.1933, at least, when a version was recorded by the Library of Congress from Mose 'Clear Rock' Platt. This recording is available on Document CD 5580.15

This is Uncle Dave’s version:
Spoken: Hello folks, raised in the South among the colored folks, and worked in the fields of corn with them all the days of my life, I will sing them good old southern songs. So now I'm going to sing you a little of "Run Ni-ger* Run the Patroller Will Catch You."

Chorus:
Run ni-ger* run the patroller will catch you,
Run ni-ger* run its almost day.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.

Last year was a good crop year, roasting ears and tomatoes,
Poppa didn't raise no cotton and corn, but Lord, Lord, potatoes.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.

Adam and Eve was down in the garden hoeing around tomatoes,
Adam went around a huckleberry bush and hit her in the eye with a tater.
Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone.

Jaybird built in the tall oak tree,
Sparrow built in the garden,

Old goose laid in the corner of the fence,
And set on the other side of Jordan.

Tell my mammy when I go home,
Girls won't let them boys alone. Run Ni-ger* Run has been re-issued on JSP7729. The final verse is well-known in Britain. It occurs in the children's song I'll Tell Me Ma (Roud 2649).16

As we have seen above, Uncle Dave never “worked in the fields of corn with (colored folks) all the days of my life”. He was just too busy hauling goods around Tennessee, so just how much of his spoken introduction can we believe? And this is not the only problem with his other so-called 'black' songs. Take, for example the first song that Uncle Dave recorded, I’ll Keep my Skillet Good and Greasy, which certainly was sung by black singers. I'll Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy has been re-issued on JSP7729.17 The song begins with this opening verse:

I'se gwine down town for to buy me a sack of flour
Gwine cook it every hour
Keep my skillet good and greasy all the time, time, time
Keep my skillet good and greasy all the time

Verse 5 continues in a similar manner:
I'se gwine to the hills for to buy me a jug of brandy
Gwine give it all to Mandy
Keep her good and drunk and boozy all the time, time, time
Keep her good and drunk and boozy all the time

It’s that phrase “I’se gwine” that I find particularly troublesome. Was Uncle Dave trying to emulate the speech patterns of Negroes, or was this song, like so many others, a product of the 'Black-face Minstrel' tradition? In other words, was it a song written by white singers who were pretending to be black? This was certainly the case with the song I’se Gwine Back to Dixie which Uncle Dave recorded with his Fruit Jar Drinkers in 1927:

I'se a-gwine back to Dixie, no more I’se gwine to wander,
I'se gwine back to Dixie, cain't stay here no longer,
I miss the old plantation, my home and my relations,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.

Chorus:
I'se a-gwine back to Dixie, I'se a-going back to Dixie,
I’se a-going where the orange blossoms grow,
I hear the children calling, I see the sad tears falling,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.

I've hoed in the fields of cotton, I've worked upon the river,
I used to think if I'd get off, I'd never go back, a-no never,
But time has changed the old man, his head is bending low,
His heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go.

I miss my hog and hominy, my pumpkin and red gravy,
My appetite is fading, so settle Uncle Davy,
If my friends forsake me, I pray the lord to take me,
My heart's turned back to Dixie and I must go. I'se Gwine Back to Dixie has been re-issued on JSP7729.18

Here is a song full of nostalgia for the 'Old South', the land of plantations, orange blossom, hominy, pumpkins and red gravy. All that is missing is the image of a happy pickaninni eating a slice of water melon. In fact Uncle Dave recorded several songs that originated from the Minstrel stage. There include the songs Uncle Ned, written by Stephen Foster in 1848, Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel, anonymous words set to a tune by Dan Emmett in 1853, Listen to the Mocking Bird, written by Septimus Winner - as 'Alice Hawthorne' - in 1855 (Uncle Dave only recorded the tune of this song, as a banjo solo), and The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane, written in 1855 by William S Hays. Uncle Ned, Listen to the Mockingbird and The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane have been re-issued on JSP7769. Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel has been re-issued on JSP7729.19

He also recorded a version of Stop Dat Knocking, a song popularized by the Christy Minstrels in the 1850s. The song was the work of A F Winnemore and was first published in 1847. Uncle Dave’s recording, made on the 8th September, 1926, was titled Stop That Knocking at My Door. Stop That Knocking at my Door has been re-issued on JSP7729.20

[...]

Towards the end of his life, Uncle Dave Macon was interviewed by Tennessee folklorist George Worley Boswell (1920 - 1995), who questioned him about the origins of some of his songs. In 1927 Uncle Dave had recorded a song called Rockabout my Saro Jane, which seems to date from the time of the American Civil War. Rock About my Saro Jane has been re-issued on JSP7729.10 Uncle Dave also sang another piece, clearly based on Rockabout my Saro Jane, about Tom Ryman, the man who built the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. There are no commercial recordings of the Tom Ryman song, but Uncle Dave did record it for Boswell.

Cap'n Tom Ryman
Cap'n Tom Ryman was a steamboat man,
But Sam Jones sent him to the heavenly land,
Oh, sail away

Oh, there's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane, oh rockabout my Saro Jane,
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane
Oh, there's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane

Engine give a scratch and the whistle gave a squall
The engineer going to a hole in the wall,
Oh, Saro Jane

There's nothing to do but to sit down and sing
Oh, rockabout my Saro Jane

According to Uncle Dave:

Now that tabernacle what was built down there where we play, Rev'rend Sam Jones converted Cap'n Tom Ryman. He had six steamboats on the Cumberland River and you ought to have seen that wharf just lined with horses and mules and wagons hauling freight to those boats and bringing it back. And Sam Jones preached the low country to him so straight he took them ni-gers* all down there Monday morning and bought all that whiskey and poured it in the river. Took them card tables and built a bonfire and burned 'em up. Clean up. Ni-gers* started this song. Charles K Wolfe A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of the Grand Ole Opry Appendix 1 to Chapter 6, 'Take it Away Uncle Dave'. The Country Music Foundation Press, 1999, pp.116 17

Another Minstrel Show song was I Don’t Care if I Never Wake Up, written by Paul J Knox in 1899. Knox wrote several Minstrel songs, including The Unlucky Coon and Every Darkey Had a Nervous Spell (no surprise, I guess, if they saw titles like that!). But, Knox also had a more tender side, as in his song Ma Daffodil, written in 1900.

The sheet music cover depicts the image of a well-dressed African American and suggests that the song may have been marketed towards a black audience. It is certainly far more respectful than many sheet covers of that era. And, indeed, Knox’s words are also far more restrained than in, say, the song that Uncle Dave recorded, I Don’t Care if I Never Wake Up. I Don't Care if I Never Wake Up has been re-issued on JSP7769.22

Ma Daffodil opens with these lines:
You my sing a-bout your lil-ies
Of your pinks and ro-ses fair,
I know a col-ored la-dy; She's a win-ner ev'-ry-where!
It aint no spec-u-la-tion
When I say she b'longs to me,
There ain't no flow-er grows as sweet as she!

In reality very few southern blacks wanted to return to the old 'back to Dixie' days. They did, of course, leave the south in droves when they could, heading north to cities such as Chicago and St Louis. Clearly songs such as I’se Gwine Back to Dixie, which was actually written by two white singers, Arthur Collins & Byron Harland in 1911, were presenting an idealized version of 'the South' from a white perspective. And we find the same feelings for the old south in the song Rise When the Rooster Crows which Uncle Dave recorded with Sam McGee in 1926. Rise When the Rooster Crows has been re-issued on JSP7729.23 The chorus goes:

I'll rise when the rooster crows,
I'll rise when the rooster crows,
I'm going back south where the sun shines hot,
Down where the sugar cane grows.

In 1889 one Samuel Conrad Hanson published a song book, Merry Songs. (Chicago: A Flanagan Company), which includes a song I’s Gwine Back Souf. According to Hanson, “This is a representation of a melody I heard negroes sing in the South years ago.” Hanson’s chorus goes:

I's a-gwine, you's a-gwine,
I'se a-gwine back Souf
Whar de sun shines hot,
Way down whar de sugarcane grows.

What, I wonder, did Hanson mean when he said that this was “a representation of a melody”. Is he saying that he heard the tune being sung by Negroes? There is no mention of the words. So were they being sung along with the melody, or did Hanson add them to the melody?

Another similar song was Watermelon Smilin’ on the Vine, written by Thomas P Westendorf and published, in 1882, by The W F Shaw Publishing Co (Chicago & New York). Westendorf’s set is as follows:

Dat Water-Million
Oh, see dat water-million a smilin' fro' de fence,
How I wish dat water-million it was mine!
Oh, de white folks mus' be foolish-
Dey need a heap of sense,
Or dey'd nebber leave it dar upon de vine.

Chorus:
Oh, de hambone am sweet,
An' de bacon am good,
An' de 'possum fat am berry, berry fine;
But gib me, yes, gib me,
Oh, how I wish you would!
Dat water-million growin' on de vine.

You may talk about de peaches, de apples and de pears,
An' de 'simmons hanging on de 'simmon tree;
But, bless my heart, my honey!
Dat truck it ain't nowheres,
Oh! de water-million am de fruit for me!

Chorus

When de dew-drops dey is fallin', dat million's gwine to cool,
An' I know den it will eat most awfull fine!
So I'm gwine to come and fetch it,
Or else I is a fool!
If I leaves it dar a smilin' on de vine.

Uncle Dave’s recorded version, which begins with a banjo solo of the tune Listen to the Mocking Bird, follows the Westendorf text fairly accurately and is sung as written. Watermelon Smilin' on the Vine has been re-issued on JSP7729.24 The same cannot, however, be said for Uncle Dave’s version of Carve Dat Possum, composed by Sam Lucas of Callender’s Original Georgia Minstrels in 1875 and published by John F Perry & Co of Boston. This is Lucas’s text:
Carve Dat Possum

Cover of Carve Dat Possum

De possum meat am good to eat,
Carve him to de heart;
You'll always find him good and sweet,
Carve him to de heart;
My dog did bark, and I went to see,
Carve him to de heart;
And dar was a possum up dat tree,
Carve him to de heart.

Carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart;
Oh, carve dat possum, carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum, carve him to de heart.

I reached up for to pull him in,
Carve him to de heart;
De possum he begun to grin,
Carve him to de heart;
I carried him home and dressed him off,
Carve him to de heart;
I hung him dat night in de frost,
Carve him to de heart.

De way to cook de possum sound,
Carve him to de heart;
Fust parbile him, den bake him brown,
Carve him to de heart;
Lay sweet potatoes in de pan,
Carve him to de heart;
De sweetest eatin' in de lan',
Carve him to de heart.

In Uncle Dave’s recording we find the above verses sung out of sequence, with lines from different verses being mixed together. There are also a few lines added to Uncle Dave’s recording that are not in the Lucas text. Carve Dat Possum has been re-issued on JSP7729.25 This suggests that Uncle Dave probably learnt his version of Carve Dad Possum from an oral, rather than a printed, source. But did Uncle Dave learn such songs from black singers? It seems to me far more probable that if Uncle Dave did pick anything up from black singers, then it would have been, for the most part, the 'floating verses' that popped in and out of songs and which were common to both black and white singers. I say “for the most part” because it could be that he did learn one or two songs from black singers, and here I am thinking of his version of The Death of John Henry with its slightly unusual opening lines and tune:

Spoken:
Listen, In every heart there burns the flame,
For the love of glory or the dread of shame.
But oh, how happy we would be if we understood,
There is no safety but in doing good.

People right out west heard of John Henry's death,
Couldn't hardly stay in bed.
Monday morning on that eastbound train,
Going where John Henry is dead, going where John Henry is dead.

Carried John Henry to the graveyard,
They looked at him good and long,
Very last words that his wife said to him,
My husband he is dead and gone, my husband he is dead and gone.

John Henry's wife wore a brand new dress,
It was all trimmed in blue,
Very last words she said to him,
Honey, I been good to you, honey I been good to you.

John Henry told a shaker,
Lord, shake while I sing,
Pulling a hammer from my shoulder,
Bound to hear her when she rings, bound to hear her when she rings.

John Henry told his captain, am a Tennessee man,
Before I would see that steam drill beat me down,
Die with a hammer in my hand, die with a hammer in my hand.

John Henry hammered in the mountain,
Till the hammer caught on fire,
Very last words I heard him say,
Cool drink of water 'fore I die, cool drink of water 'fore I die. The Death of John Henry has been re-issued on JSP7729.26

John Henry may be something of an exception, so let’s get back to those floating verses. Take this example, the song I'm a Child to Fight.

I went down to Memphis, said I did not go to stay,
I saw so many pretty girls, that I could not get away.
Chorus:
I'm a child to fight, I'm a child to fight,
I'm a child to fight, my love, yes, I'm a child to fight.

If I had a scolding wife, I'd sure to whip her some,
Run my finger down her throat, gag her with my thumb.

Hosea Clark's the meanest man, that ever the good Lord made,
Run them n__s to the South, farming the ni-ger* trade.

Old man, old man, your head's a-getting gray,
Come follow me ten thousand miles to hear my banjo play.

Mosquito fly mighty high, flew right by my door,
Hit my foot on that mosquito, said, "he won't fly high no more."

I wish I had a big frame house, eighteen stories high,
Every story in that house was packed with cherry pie.

I went down to Old Joe's house, Old Joe he wasn't at home,
Eat all Old Joe's meat and bread and give his dog the bone. I'm the Child to Fight has been re-issued on JSP7729.27

The reference to Hosea Clark in verse 3 suggests that at least one verse pre-dates the Civil War, and I doubt if anyone today would wish to sing the verse about the scolding wife. The penultimate verse also occurs in a recording that I made of the Appalachian singer Dan Tate, while the final verse is from the folksong Old Joe Clark, which, incidentally, Dan also sang. For recordings by Dan Tate, see Musical Traditions CD Far in the Mountains- volumes 1 & 2 MTCD 331-2. The verse about Chicken Pie occurs in Dan's song Who's On the Way28/

[...]


One of the strangest examples of a “floating verse” appearing in an Uncle Dave song occurs at the end of the song My Girl’s a High Born Lady. This would appear to be a composed song, but right at the end we find this unrelated verse tagged onto the song.

Jaybird and a sparrow, waltzed on a hill together,
Waltzed all night in a briar patch and never lost a feather. My Girl's a High Born Lady has been re-issued on JSP7769.30

Perhaps Uncle Dave had found the song to be slightly too short for a 78rpm side and so just added the verse to make up the time. Interestingly, this verse is quite well-known throughout Appalachia. The verse seems to be especially popular with North Carolina musicians from Round Peak. See, for example, the song Sugar Hill as sung by Tommy Jarrell on County CD Stay All Night…And Don't Go Home (CD2735).31

And this was not the only time that Uncle Dave would mix up all sorts of verses together. Take the song Walk, Tom Wilson, Walk:

Bring up my marbles get back to talk,
But don't knock that meddler, I'm going to tell you so.

Chorus:
Walk Tom Wilson walk out the door,
Police start picking with a brand new dog.

Well I just got back from old New York,
Where I never had been before,
Ain't got as much money as I had when I left,
But I know a whole lot more.

I thought when I left home
I'se a man of some renown,
But in old New York I was on the board,
Just a rube from a one horse town.

And Gee Whiz what they done for me,
Lingered in my memory from the early morn till the sun goes down,
Got bunkoed all around. I couldn't walk ever till the third confound,
Just a darned old rube from a one horse town.

I'd writ some letters on the train,
That I wanted to mail back home,
Tell the folks just what I'd see'd,
And just how fur I'd come.

I saw a box all painted red,
And I dropped my letters in,
Fire engines come from all around,
And the bells begin to ring.

And Gee Whiz what they done for me,
Squirted water all over me,
Grabbed a feller and I said to him, "
Pull me out for I can't swim."
The crowd all shouted "Let him drown,"
"It's a darned old goose from a one horse town. Walk, Tome Wilson, Walk has been re-issued on JSP7729.32

The song kicks off with a verse about Rolley Hole, a form of marbles that is still played today in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. This is followed by the chorus, which gives the song its title, comprising a couple of lines from a Minstrel song, which also entered the Negro song tradition. (Or was it, perhaps, a Negro sing that was taken up by the Minstrel shows?) This is how Thomas W Talley printed the song in his 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes.

He laid up dar lak a bag o' meal,
An' he spur him in de flank wid his toenail heel.

Ole Tom Wilson, he come an' he go,
Frum cabin to cabin in de county-o.

Wen he go to bed, his legs hang do'n,
An' his foots makes poles fer de chickens t' roost on.

Tom went down to de river, an' he couldn' go 'cross.
Tom tromp on a 'gater an' 'e think 'e wus a hoss.

Wid a mouf wide open, 'gater jump from de san',
An' dat Ni-ger* look clean down to de Promus' Lan'.

Wa'k Tom Wilson, git out'n de way!
Wa'k Tom Wilson, don't wait all de day!

Wa'k Tom Wilson, here afternoon;
Sweep dat kitchen wid a bran' new broom.

The song then goes into an almost surreal account of what happened when Uncle Dave visited New York. I would suggest that these verses were composed by Uncle Dave himself.

[...]


Uncle Dave also recorded a version of the American folksong Life and Death of Jesse James. As James’s reputedly died in 1882 the song must have been composed after this date. I say 'reputedly' because when Alan Lomax interviewed the Ozark singer Neil Morris, Morris insisted that James had not been killed by his cousin Robert Ford, but had lived into the early 1900s. Life and Death of Jesse James has been re-issued on JSP7729. Jesse James story told by Neil Morris is on the 4 CD set Sounds of the South. Atlantic 7 82496-2.34

Uncle Dave was also aware of a number of a number of old fiddle & banjo tunes, such as Love Somebody, Soldier’s Joy, Muskrat, Rye Strawfields, Hop High Ladies, The Cake’s All Dough, Bile The Cabbage Down, The Girl I Left Behind Me, Whoop ‘Em Up Cindy, Devil’s Dream and Sourwood Mountain.Love Somebody, Soldier's Joy, Muskrat, Bile The Cabbage Down and The Girl I Left Behind Me have been reissued on JSP 7769. Hop High Ladies, The Cake's All Dough, Whoop 'Em Up Cindy and Sourwood Mountain have been re-issued on JSP7729. Rye Strawfields and Devil's Dream were unissued.35

I think it fair to say that, in general, we can only surmise about Uncle Dave’s early musical influences. He certainly knew quite a few early fiddle and banjo tunes and also knew some songs which, today, we would call folksongs. Many of the songs that appear to have come from black singers did, as we can clearly see, come from the pens of white composers, although, as in the case of Carve Dad Possum, Uncle Dave may have picked these up from oral, rather than printed sources. We also know that, in his recordings, Uncle Dave frequently mixed together lines and verses from different songs.”...

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