Black & White Versions Of "Charley He's A Dandy"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides examples of the song "Charley He's A Dandy" from Black American & White American culture.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed this song and are mentioned in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SONG
"Charley He's A Dandy" is an alternative title for play party songs that may be most often known as "Weevily Wheat". Those songs are also known as "Four In The Middle", "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss”, "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees", and "Over The River (or "The Water") To Charley".

Links to some other pancocojams posts about those songs are found in the Related Links section below.

"Charlie's A Dandy" is an example of a Southern & Appalachian play party song that has both Black versions & White versions. In the rare event that any racial demographics are given online for these songs, they are using only attributed to White Americans. That attribution ignores the extensive cross pollination that occurred between Black & White Southern & Appalachian residents regarding dance tunes & songs, play party songs, and minstrel songs.

In 1967 when I first happened upon Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Songs: Wise & Otherwise, I thought that the inclusion of those songs or rhymes in that book meant that African Americans originally composed all of those examples "from scratch", without those songs being based, inspired by, or were portions of any previously composed song. I now know that that assumption is just as much mistaken as the belief that no Southern or Appalacian American secular dance or play party song was created in whole or in part by Black Americans.

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TEXT EXAMPLES OF "CHARLEY'S HE'S A DANDY" SONGS
Example #1:
From http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm electronic book version of Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes [pages 84-85]

HE LOVES SUGAR AND TEA
Mistah Buster, he loves sugar an' tea.
Mistah Buster, he loves candy.
Mistah Buster, he's a Jim-dandy!
He can swing dem gals so handy.

Charlie's up an' Charlie's down.
Charlie's fine an' dandy.
Ev'ry time he goes to town,
He gits dem gals stick candy.

Dat N***ah, he love sugar an' tea.
Dat N***ah love dat candy.
Fine N***ah He can wheel 'em 'round,
An' swing dem ladies handy.

Mistah Sambo, he love sugar an' tea.
Mistah Sambo love his candy.
Mistah Sambo; he's dat han'some man
What goes wid sister Mandy.
-snip-
Editor's comments
The n word
What is now known as "the n word" was fully spelled out in this example.
**
"jim-dandy"
From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/jim-dandy
"One that is very pleasing or excellent of its kind.
Jim (nickname for James) + dandy."

From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jim-dandy
"Jim-dandy! First Known Use: 1887: something excellent of its kind"

Simply put, using contemporary African American colloquialism, a "dandy" is a "sharp dresser", a man who is very attentive to fashion.

The word "dandy" may have come from the 1843 minstrel song “Dandy Jim from Caroline”. Click http://www.pdmusic.org/1800s/43djoc.txt for lyrics for that song. WARNING: Lyrics Include a form of the n word.

Note that the name "Jim Dandy" and the name "Dandy Jim" probably influenced the title of 1960s R&B Jim Dandy songs such as "Jim Dandy To The Rescue". However, the characterization of the "Jim Dandy" in those 1960s songs is different from the older characterizations.

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UPDATE: March 23, 2015
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixty_Minute_Man
..."Bragging about sexual prowess was a feature of the "hokum" style of early blues recordings. The reference to "Dan" (alternatively, "Jim Dandy") dates back at least to minstrel shows in the nineteenth century. A common reference was to "Dan, the Back Door Man" - the lover of a married woman who would leave her house by the back door - as in a song of that title recorded by Georgia White in 1937."

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/03/take-it-easy-greasy-dan-back-door-man.html
for a post on two dirty Blues songs "Take It Easy, Greasy" & "Dan, The Back Door Man".

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Example #2:
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=97222
"Origins: Weevily Wheat"

CHARLIE'S SWEET
From EFFSA Cecil Sharp
Sung by Mrs. Laura V. Donald
Dewy Va. June 10, 1918

As I come over we trip together,
It's in the morning early.
Heart and hand I give to thee,
So true I love thee dearly.

I won't have none of your weavil wheat,
And I won't have none of your barley.
Give to me the good old wheat,
To bake a cake for Charlie.

Charlie he's a nice young man,
Charlie he's a dandy.
Charlie he's the very one
That sold his daddy's brandy.

I've got a sweet little wife,
A wife of my own choosing.
Hug her neat and kiss her sweet,
And no more go a-courting.
-snip-
Editor's note:
"Trip together" probably means "skip together".

A number of other lyrics of this song are found on that Mudcat discussion thread.

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Example #3:
From http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/coffee-grows-on-white-oak-trees.aspx [No date given]

FOUR IN THE MIDDLE; COFFEE GROWS ON WHITE OAK TREES
Sung by: Emma Puterbaugh Medlin
Listen: http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/medlincoffee1261.mp3

Coffee grows on white oak trees,
The river flows with brandy o’er.
Go choose you one to roam with you,
As sweet as sugar and candy, too.
Rally-ally-um-bum, sugar and tea.
Rally-ally-um-bum, candy.
Rally-ally-um-bum, sugar and tea,
Swing your little miss so handy.
Handy, handy, handy
Candy, candy, candy.

NOTES [from that link] : "This is part of the large Western Country family of songs that includes “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss," "Four in the Middle" and “Wheevily Wheat.” The versions from Wolf Folklore collected in the 1950s and 1960s are listed Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle) showing the relationship with the play-party song "Four in the Middle." Also found in Randolph, Vol. III, #524, "Four in the Middle"; Brown, Vol. III, #78, "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees." Randolph's Ozark version gives the tune as "Skip to My Lou."..."

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FEATURED SOUND FILE
Ray Heatherton - Weevily Wheat



boyjohn, Uploaded on Sep 3, 2010

From the Playtime records 78 rpm #369.
-snip-
"Weevily wheat" means wheat that has weevils in it.

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RELATED LINK
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/coffee-grows-on-white-oak-trees-four-in.html

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees (Four In The Middle), examples & comments

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series of posts on the song "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees" (also known as "Four In The Middle").

This post presents information about & examples of those songs.

Part II presents an example of and comments about a parody of "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees". That parody is entitled "Coffee Grows On White Folks Trees" and is found in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise.

Part I is a companion piece to http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/examples-of-dance-josey-cant-dance.html and
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/chicken-in-fence-post-information-lyrics.html

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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GENERAL OVERVIEW OF "COFFEE GROWS ON WHITE OAK TREES"
"Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees" ("CGOWOT") is a 19th century American play party song that -given its YouTube entries- appears to be quite popular not only as a fiddle tune but as a song sung by high school and other chamber choirs.

The play party song "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees" is also known as "Four In The Middle" and "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss” among other titles. Those titles are derived from lyrics found in those songs. Verses from "Coffee Grows On White Oak", including the verse that contains those particular lyrics, are also found in other play party songs.

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WHAT THE WORDS "COFFEE GROWS ON WHITE OAK TREES" MEAN
During my research on this song, I came across an online comment which explained the meaning of the words "Coffee grows on white oak trees". Unfortunately, I can't find that website. However, I recall that the author indicated that those words referred to the use by Southerners of acorns from White Oak trees as a substitute for coffee during the Civil War. That acorns from White Oak trees could be used that way is confirmed by this quote which I later came across:

"Processing Wild Acorns as Food
...Ground and roasted white oak acorns made a good coffee substitute and was used by the pioneers for just such a purpose. Though they taste like coffee, they lack caffeine, so you can drink till your hearts content and not get the coffee jitters. White oak acorns are much lower in tannin and thus more desirable.”
http://syzygyastro.hubpages.com/hub/Wild-Acorns-as-Food

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PLAY PARTY SONGS
From http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lhf01
Texas State Historical Association – Folk Music
"...Another folk song-and-dance tradition is the play party. Many early Texas settlers were fundamentalists who believed that dancing and fiddle music were sinful. They satisfied the universal urge to move to music with the play party, which was song-accompanied dance that allowed no instruments. They called their rhythmical group movements "marches" or "games," they danced in rings or in longways formations but never in squares, and they swung each other by hand, never by the waist. They used many popular dance tunes—"Old Clark," "Old Dan Tucker," "The Gal I Left Behind Me," "Willis in the Ballroom"—but because of the lack of instrumental music, the words became all-important. Play-party songs have preserved many stanzas that were lost in the fiddle-dance tradition. A play party usually began with a choosing game such as "Needle's Eye" or "Hog Drovers," then progressed to ring-game songs like "Saro Jane" or "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees," and in full swing went into longways dances like "Weevily Wheat," "Little Brass Wagon," and "Baltimore." Play parties were not only popular among fundamentalists; they were necessary when no musician was around. In spite of the reservations laid on the players by their elders, play-party songs and formations were just as joyful and exuberant as their sinful fiddling square-dance counterparts."
-snip-
Note that some versions of "Weevily Wheat” include “Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees” verses.

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TEXT EXAMPLES OF "COFFEE GROWS ON WHITE OAK TREES" (FOUR IN THE MIDDLE)
A number of play party versions of "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees”/"Four In The Middle" can be found online. Here are two examples with performance instructions. (Remember that performance instructions for this song may vary among examples.)

Text Example #1: Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees
From http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/folkden-wp/?p=6920
Roger McGuinn - In The Folk Tradition
Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees [includes musical notations]

"This is a Southwestern play-party song. Play party songs were designed to protect young people from the evil business of square dancing. Any number of couples would join hands and form a ring. The ladies would march around a single man and sing the first part of the song at a slow tempo. The man would chose a partner from the ring and the dancers would skip around them singing 'Two in the middle and I can't dance Josie.' This would continue until all couples were In the center. They would swing left and Right.

Lyrics:

[D] Coffee grows on white [Bm] Oak trees
[D] The river flows with [Em] brandy O[A]
[D] Go choose someone to [Bm] roam with you
[Em] Sweet as lasses [A] candy O
[D] Two in the middle and I [Bm] can't dance Josie
[D] Two in the middle and I [C] can't get [A] around
[D] Two in the middle and I [Bm] can't dance Josie
[G] Hello [A] Susan [D] Brown

Four in the middle and I can't dance Josie
Four in the middle and I can't get around
Four in the middle and I can't dance Josie
Hello Susan Brown

[D] Railroad, [F#m] steamboat, [Bm] river and [G] canal
I lost my [Em] true love on that [A] raging canal [D]
[D] O she's gone, gone, gone,
O she's gone, gone, gone, [A]
O she's gone on that ragin' [D] canal (X2)

Fiddler's drunk and I can't dance Josie
Fiddler's drunk and I can't get around
Fiddler's drunk and I can't dance Josie
Hello Susan Brown

Cow in the well and can't jump Josie
Cow in the well and can't get around
Cow in the well and can't jump Josie
Hello Susan Brown

Railroad, steamboat, river and canal
I lost my true love on that ragin' canal
O she's gone, gone, gone,
O she's gone, gone, gone,
O she's gone on that ragin' canal
(X2)
-snip-
"Josie" here refers to a type of couple's dance.

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Text Example #2: FOUR IN THE MIDDLE
From http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/escuecoffee1242.html

Sung by: Jack Escue
Recorded in Sidney, AR 8/30/57

Coffee grows on a white oak tree,
River flows with brandy,
Choose you one as we go out,
Sweet as 'lasses candy.

There's four in the middle,
And you'd better get around.
There's four in the middle,
And you'd better get around.
There's four in the middle
And you'd better get around,
For I love my Susie Brown.

Six in the middle,
And you'd better get around.
There's six in the middle
And you'd better get around.
Six in the middle
And you'd better get around,
For I love my Susie Brown.

Now we're all in the middle,
And you'd better get around.
We're all in the middle
And you'd better get around.
We're all in the middle
And you'd better get around,
For I love my Susie Brown.

(Mr. Escue: "In this sing and play, they're all around a circle. They're going 'round and 'round and there's a extra boy and a girl in the center of the ring, and when it comes to choose your partner, why, each one of them chooses another boy and another girl, and they swing by the right, and back by the left, and on around. And then another couple joins in when it says six in the middle and they do the same thing. Swing them by the right and then back by the left, and then when you sing all in the middle, that means all eight is in there a-swinging with the right and then with the left. And that's the way you do that.")

Also found in Randolph, Vol. III, #524, "Four in the Middle"; Brown, Vol. III, #78, "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees."

Click http://web.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/songs/escuecoffee1242.mp3 for this recording.

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FEATURED VIDEO EXAMPLES (Choir Renditions)

Video Example #1: Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees



Lincoln High School Choirs, Published on Oct 22, 2015

Bella Voce performs Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees. Part of the Choral Preview Concert on October 21, 2015.
-snip-
This video replaces the one that was originally embedded in this post, but is no longer available.

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Video Example #2: Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees



David Fazzini, Published on May 2, 2013

2013 Notre Dame Prep High School Women's Ensemble sings Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees arranged by William R. Fischer. This was recorded at State Festival in the Rochester High school auditorium. The chorus earned an excellent rating with this performance. David Fazzini (director), Jessica Zelinski (accompanist)

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR COMMENT
In the rare event that any racial demographics are given online for "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees" ("Four In The Middle"), those songs are usually only attributed to White Americans. That attribution ignores the extensive cross pollination that occurred between Black & White Southern & Appalachian residents regarding dance tunes & songs, play party songs, and minstrel songs. With regard to the song that is the focus of this post, the fact that African American folklorist Thomas W. Tally included a parody of "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees" [whose title is "Coffee Grows On White Folks' Trees"] in his 1922 collection of Negro Folk Songs serves as documentation that Black folks knew that "CGOWOT" song.

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BONUS VIDEO
Here's a video of a related folk song entitled "Weevily Wheat":
140 0818 [Weevily Wheat/Four In The Middle]



vanvalinv, Published on Dec 3, 2012

This song should be done in groups of four people. For the Weevily Wheat part of the song, you can hold hands and swing them, OR hold hands and walk in a circle going left, then right. For the multiplication part of the song, you pile hands on top of each other then release from the bottom of the pile.
-snip-
This rendition of "Weevily Wheat" shows why that song is sometimes also called "Four In The Middle".

Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=97222
"Origins: Weevily Wheat" for a discussion about "Weevily Wheat"/"Four In The Middle" songs. Some of those songs include the "Coffee Grows On White Oak Trees" verse. Here's an excerpt from one of those comments which was posted by Goose Gander, 15 Dec 06 - 08:28 PM :

"Amzie Casner Tabor of Trinidad, Colorado, remembered this from around 1900 as a dance like a Virginia reel to teach children their multiplication tables." [then includes the lyrics]
-snip-
This and another comment on that discussion thread imply that
the multiplication lyrics were a later addition on to that song.

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Thanks to the composers & collectors of these featured songs. Thanks also to those who are quoted in this post, those who are featured in these videos, and those who published these videeos on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Chicken On The Fence Post (information & lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Update: Dec. 12, 2020

This is Part II of a two part series of 19th songs that include the phrase "dance Josey" or "can't dance Josey".

This post focuses on the play party song "Chicken On The Fencepost".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/examples-of-dance-josey-cant-dance.html for Part I of this series. That post focuses on the songs "Hello Susan Brown", "Hold My Mule" and several other songs.

The content of this post is provided for folkloric, recreational, and aesthetic purposes. 

Thanks to all those who composed these songs. Thanks to those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube and thanks to those who are featured in that video.

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BACKGROUND OF THE "CHICKEN ON THE FENCE POST" PLAY PARTY SONG
"Chicken On The Fence Post" is lifted from the 19th century couples' dance (reel) that is known as "Hello Susan Brown", "Four In The Middle" and other titles. All of those songs -including "Chicken In The Fence Post" are likely of African American origin. The term "Dancing Josey" is also a likely indication that this song is of African American origin. 

Here's information about those dances from http://www.fieldrecorder.com/docs/notes/playparty_owens.htm
Play-Party Songs and Dances in Texas

From Bill Owens "Tell Me a Story, Sing Me a Song"
"...In parts of Texas "Dance Josey" became so popular that play-parties are still remembered as "them old Josey parties." The song was easily adapted to the place, the time, the dancers, or the need for a laugh:

Chicken on the fence post, can't dance Josey;
Chicken on the fence post, can't dance Joe;
Chicken on the fence post, can't dance Josey;
Hello Susan Brown ee o.

Hold my mule while I dance Josey, Etc.

Big foot Charlie can't dance Josey, Etc"

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FEATURED VIDEO: Chicken On a Fencepost
Note: The YouTube video that was originally featured in this post is no longer available.

Here's a link to another video; {Unfortunately, this new Google blog format won't allow me to embed the video itself ).

Chicken on the Fencepost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLIvNL3j928&ab_channel=CraigHurley

Craig Hurley, Dec. 18, 2018

-snip-
How that game is played in this video:
Children form two circles, one inside of the other. Children in each circle hold hands with the person on either side of them. Each circle moves in the opposite direction. Two people outside of the outer circle run around to outer circle moving in opposite directions.

At the end of the word “brownie-“o”, all of the people forming both of the circles race their linked hands up in the air forming an arch. Both of the two people who were outside the two circles try to get in the second circle before the other one. When one of those people gets in that circle, the game begins again.

The second circle makes sense, given the "four in the middle" lyrics for early versions of this song.
-snip-
Another version of the "Chicken On The Fence Post" play party song can be found at http://abbottmusic.blogspot.com/2013/02/chicken-on-fencepost.html
"2 concentric circles w/ two “foxes” on outside.

Teacher chooses 1 “gate” in each of the circles. Rubber chicken is placed in the inside circle.

Gates are closed. Foxes may watch now. Both circles sing while moving in opposite directions. On the “o” of Brownie-o” the 2 gates open forming a maze in which foxes race to grab the chicken from the middle of the center circle.
-snip-
Notice the addition of a "rubber chicken placed on the inside of the circle (ring). It seems to me that using that type of prop is an unnecessary substitute for children developing & using their imagination.

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Pancocojams Editor's Notes:
The word “Brownie-o” appears to be a contemporary, rhythmical revision of the earlier form of that last name. It's likely that "Brown" was originally used as a reference for a Black woman as was the case with the Jamaican & American sea shanties "Sally Brown". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/04/sally-brown-sally-sue-brown-sea-shanty.html for information about and examples of "Sally Brown".

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UPDATE: Dec. 12, 2020
On Dec. 10, 2020 Rhonda, an elementary school music teacher asked "Many music educators are citing this web post as evidence that Chicken on a Fence Post/Dance Josey is racist and therefore we shouldn't use it anymore. I personally feel that if this is a song that was likely of African-American origin that to stop using it is even more racist. Just curious - where do you weigh in on this issue? Is the song racist, so we shouldn't use it?"

In this post I indicated that I believe that "Chicken On The Fence Post" is probably of Black (African American) origin.  I never suggested that this singing game was racist and I'm sorry that anyone jumped to that erroneous conclusion from reading this pancocojams post.

There is a BIG difference between bein racist and and stating the likely racial provenance (the origin or earliest known history of ) a singing game. My statement about the likely provenance of "Chicken On A Fence Post" is African American, isn't racist,. It's a statement of (likely) fact.   

Rhymes, singing games, and other lyrical compositions could be racist when they mention race.* However, "Chicken On A Fence Post, singing game doesn't even mention race**.  

All songs, rhymes, and singing games are racial (i.e. they are composed by a person or persons who are of one or more races/ethnicities. ("Ethnicity" in that sentence has the United States meaning of "Latinx"). The composer/s may be unknown and therefore the race/s of the composer/s may be unknown. However, the structure, lyrics, accompanying activities, and where early examples of the song were collected should be used to infer the race/ethnicity of their composer/s. I believe that "Chicken On The Fence Post" is of African American origin for those reasons.  

I'm opposed to a color blind attribution for singing game, songs, and rhymes that just refer to those compositions as "folk music" or "American folk music". 

In case there's any doubt, I like the "Chicken On The Fence Post" singing game, and I applaud its inclusion in elementary school music curriculums along with the statement that the composers of this singing game are unknown, but they were probably African Americans.  
-snip-
* Some versions of older and contemporary rhymes do mention race and can be considered racist or at least concerning about the realities of racial attitudes, perceptions, and experiences. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html for a pancocojams post about an example of what I call racialized rhymes (i.e. rhymes that have been adapted to include race/ethnicity). Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/anti-asian-rhymes-i-went-to-chinese.html for a pancocojams post about examples of "I Went To A Chinese Restaurant" whose words and/or gestures I consider to be racist. 

** In the context of the "Chicken On A Fence Post" singing game, there are several reasons why the   last name (surname) "Brown" may have been used in the line that includes "Susan Brown eeo":
1. The last name "Brown" may have been a nod to the race (skin color) of the people who originally composed and sung this singing game. Also, read my earlier comment about the name "Sally Brown" being a generic referent for Black women in Caribbean/United States shanties.

2. The last name  "Brown" may have been used because it rhymes so easily with other common English words such as "down" and "downtown". (for instance in the old singing game "Little Johnny Brown"/lay your comfort [blanket] down" and the large rhyme family "I Went Downtown To See Mrs. Brown" or "Charlie Brown".) 

3. "Brown" may have been used because it was and still is a common last name in the United States and elsewhere. 

Either one or more of these points may have been the reasons why the last name "Brown" is used in that "Chicken On A Fence Post" singing game.

With regard to point #1,in some singing games such as "There's A Brown Girl In The Ring" the last name "Brown" may have been used to help children develop and/or reinforce self-esteem and group esteem. In the singing game "There's A Brown Girl In The Ring", "brown" is an adjective. In contrast,  in the singing games "Chicken In A Fence Post" and "Little Johnny Brown", "Brown" is a last name. 

In these singing games the last name "Brown" wasn't used to identify a person in the group who has brown skin or to make fun of a person because of her or his brown skin. However, the "Chicken In A Fence Post" could be harmful to people's racial self-perceptions and people's racial group esteem if that last name was changed to "Susan Black eeo" or "Susan White eeo" based on the skin color of the game's participants. And, in the same way, I very much frown upon changing the word "brown" to another skin color.  I hope that music education teachers and others teaching these songs would know better than to do this. 

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