Old Zip Coon
Victor Lethbridge
song.
Thanks,
Victor
Carl Baron
http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc/
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BIG-FOOTED NIGGER (IN THE SANDY LAND). AKA - "Bigfoot." AKA and see
"Big-Footed Nigger/Man in the Sandy
Lot," "Sandy Lot," "Big-Footed Man," "Big-Footed Coon," "Virginia Reel."
Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; N.C., Ala., Miss.,
Tenn. G Major. Standard. AABB. The tune is a mixture of phrases from
common dance tunes. The coarse phrase, played on
the middle strings will be recognized from the "Turkey in the
Straw"-"Natchez Under the Hill"-"Zip Coon" tune family, while the
fine part will be found in tunes like "Fort Smith Breakdown" (as played
by Ozark old-time musician Luke Highnight). Charles
Wolfe says the Stripling Brothers (Charlie and Ira) learned the tune
from local West Alabama fiddlers ("Devil's Box", Dec.
1982), and Robert Fleder (1971) relates (in liner notes to the County
album of Stripling Brothers releases) that Charlie Stripling
recalled "waking up one morning at 3:00 with the second part of the tune
running through his head, having heard it played only
once earlier in the evening by a neighbor, Henry Ludlow." Stripling was
a contest fiddler, and the recording of "Big Footed Man
in the Sandy Lot" includes a 'trick' or feature that helped him impress
judges and win in competitions; in the midddle of the song
he inserts a chorus of "Sweet Bye & Bye." Sources for notated versions:
Liz Slade (Yorktown, New York) [Kuntz]; Charlie
Stripling (Alabama) [Phillips]. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips
(Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 23.
Recorded by the Roane County (East Tenn.) Ramblers {1929 }. County 401,
"The Stripling Brothers." Library of Congress
AFS 4806-H-3, Osey Helton (Western N.C.). Library of Congress recording,
1939, W.A. Bledsoe, Meridian, Mississippi
(appears as "Big Footed Nigger in a Sandy Lot" and was learned from his
father in Lincoln County, Tennessee). Mississippi
Department of Archives and History AH-002, W.A. Bledsoe - "Great Big Yam
Potatoes: Anglo-American Fiddle Music from
Mississippi" (1939). Rounder 0197, Bob Carlin - "Banging and Sawing"
(1985). Vocalation 5321 (78 RPM), Stripling
Brothers (Pickens Cty., Alabama; learned from Henry Ludlow) {1928}
[appears as "Big-Footed Nigger in the Sandy Lot"].
T:Bigfoot
L:1/8
M:2/4
S:Liz Slade
K:G
(3D/E/F/|G)A/A/ BA/(B/|B/)D/G/E/ D(3D/E/F/|G)A/A/ B/A/G/(D/|
E>)(D E/)(3D/E/F/|G)A/A/ BA/(B/|B/)D/G/E/ DD/D/|D/(E/D/)(D/ E)F|
(G/ B) (G/ B:|
|:(e|g/)(a/g/)g/ (g/e/)d|e/f/e/(d/ B/)B/d|(e/ e) (e/ ef|e/(d/B/)B/ d(e|
g)g/g/ g/e/d|e/f/e/A/ G(A/(B/|B/)A/d/(A/ B/A/)G|(C/ E) (C/ E:|
NATCHEZ UNDER THE HILL [1]. AKA and see "Turkey In the Staw," "The Old
Bog Hole," "Old Zip Coon." Old-Time,
Breakdown. USA; Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia. A Major. AEAE.
AABB. The tune is related to, and perhaps
pregenitor of, the American fiddling standards "Turkey in the Straw" and
"Old Zip Coon" (it is distinct from the latter, a
Northern relative, by virtue of the two different beginning measures).
It appears to be American in origin, though Alan Jabbour
sees the roots of the tune in the English country dance melody "The Rose
Tree," while others note the similarities of the English
morris dance tune "Old Mother Oxford." Jabbour (1971) states: "The only
conspicuous difference in the melodic contours is
that 'The Rose Tree' drops to tonic in the third phrase of the second
strain, while the American tunes thrust up to the octave for
rendering much of the same melodic materical." Though it seems clear its
roots were in the British Isles, "Natchez Under the
Hill" appears to have been one of the earliest American tunes that can
be characterized as "old-timey" (i.e. having entered
American traditional fiddling repertoire via the folk process) and a
popular one. It was first published in this country in George
P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume I (1839), and the title was mentioned
in a humorous dialect story called "The Knob Dance,"
published in 1845, and set in Eastern Tennessee. Brown maintains the
tune served as a "rhytmically enlivened" transitional
melody between "The Rose Tree" and the song "Old Zip Coon" (curiously
published in 1834, five years before the Knauff's
printing of 'Natchez'--the two tunes were probably older than their
publications), which closely follows "Natchez" harmonically
and melodically (save the opening arpeggios of "Natchez" are replaced by
a more singable phrase). By at least 1899 it was
enough of a "chestnut" that it had become a category tune for fiddlers'
contests, like the one held that year in Gallatin,
Tennessee. Each fiddler would play his version, and the rendition judged
the best won a prize (C. Wolfe, The Devil's Box, Vol.
14, No. 4, 12/1/80).
**
Marion Thede (1967), quoting Cushman, elucidates the title, the name of
a river town in the state of Mississippi:
**
'Natchez Under the Hill' was in that early day (the late 1700's and
early
1800's) the sine qua non as the point of rendezvous for the rough and
care-for-nothing men who navigated the keel and flat boats on the
Mississippi River ere they were superseded by the steamboat. At that
early day the city of Natchez was an excellent market for the products
of the 'upper country', consequently hundreds of heavily laden and
richly-laden boats congregated there, to the great dread of the
law-abiding and peaceful inhabitants residing in the upper part
of the city, known as 'The Bluff;' for the wild and lawless boatmen
knowing no restraint...indulged in their caprices in every kind of
rowdyism known to man...thus did those specimens of American
freemen spend their leisure hours in drinking whiskey, yelling,
fiddling, dancing, and fist-fighting...'"
**
Sandy Hook, Kentucky, fiddler Alva Greene called his version "Matches
Under the Hill." Kerry Blech suggests comparison
with the Cape Breton/Scottish tune "Old Bog Hole" which seems to be a
close relative or variant of "Natchez." A version of
"Bog Hole" was fiddled by Joe MacLean on Rounder 7024, "Old Time Fiddle
Music from Cape Breton Island."
**
"Natchez" was recorded in 1941 for the Library of Congress by
musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain
fiddler Lon Jordan, of Farmington, Arkansas (AFS 5317 A3), and was
reissued on the Library of Congress LP AFS L62,
"American Fiddle Tunes from the Library of Congress," edited by Alan
Jabbour. Other Libarary of Congress recordings of the
tune were made in 1937 of Theophilus G. Hoskins of Hyden, Kentucky (AFS
1520 A1), and in 1941 of Emmett Lundy of
Galax, Virginia (AFS 4941 A3).
**
Sources for notated versions: W.S. Collins (Pottawatomie County,
Oklahoma) [Thede]; Mrs. John Hunter (Richmond, Va.)
[Chase]. Chase (American Folk Tales and Songs), 1956; pg. 208. Thede
(The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 112-113.
OLD BOG HOLE, THE. AKA and see "Turkey in the Straw," "Natchez Under the
Hill," "Old Zip Coon." Scottish, Country
Dance Tune (4/4 time). A Major. Standard. AAB. Related to the American
tune family "Turkey in the Straw." Kerr (Merry
Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 2, pg. 23. Rounder 7024, Joe MacLean- "Old Time
Scottish Fiddle Music From Cape Breton Island"
(1977).
OLD ZIP COON. AKA and see "Turkey in the Straw," "Natchez Under the
Hill," "The Old Bog Hole." American; Minstrel
Tune, Breakdown, Reel. USA, Widely Known. G Major: D Major (Phillips).
Standard. One part: AABB (Phillips). The title of
this popular tune comes from lyrics of a widely known minstrel song of
the 1800's. In the early history of blackface minstrels,
Colonel T. Allston Brown stated, "the tune of 'Zip Coon' was taken from
a rough jig dance called 'Natchez Under the Hill,'
where the boatmen, river pirates, gamblers and courtesans congregated
for the enjoyment of a regular hoe-down, in the old
time." Mark Wilson says that "Old Zip Coon" was mentioned in chronicles
before 1830, and indeed, it appeared in five
publications accredited to different composers before 1834 (Bronner,
1987) {The titles "Natchez Under the Hill" and "Old Zip
Coon" for the melody appear to have appeared almost simultaneous, for
the former appears in George P. Knauff's 1839
Virginia Reels, volume I, while the latter appeared in 1834}. The melody
is described as variously derived from the ballad tune
"My Grandmother Lived On Yonder Little Green," according to Linscott
(1939), while Bayard (1981) sees the tune as a
composite of two Scots tunes, "The Rose Tree (or "Maureen ni Cullenaun")
and "The (Bonny) Black Eagle"--the 'A' and 'B'
parts respectively of "Old Zip Coon." Jabbour concurs, at least with
"The Rose Tree" being the origin of this family of American
tunes. There is a contra dance of the same name from New England which
Linscott and Burchenal both print. The tune was in
the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham. The elderly Dunham was
Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's.
Sources for notated versions: Willie Woodward (Bristol, N.H.)
[Linscott]; W. Franklin George (W.Va.) [Phillips]. Burchenal,
1918; pg. 20. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg.
102-103. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes,
Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 176. In the repertoire of Uncle Jimmy Thompson
(1848-1931). Edison 50653 (78 RPM), Joseph Samuels,
1919 (appears as last tune of "Devil's Dream Medley"). Gennett 6495 (78
RPM), Doc Roberts (Ky.). Recorded Anthology of
American Music, 1978 - "Traditional Southern Instrumental Styles."
ROSE TREE [1]. AKA and see "Bhíosa lá I bport láirge," "The Dainty Besom
Maker," "Forgive the muse that slumbered,"
"The Gimlet," "I'd mourn the hopes that leave me," "Johnny's Grey
Breeks" [2], "The (Old) Lea Rigg," "Little Mary Cullenan,"
"Little Sheila Connellan," "Maureen from Gibberland," "Phelim O'Neill,"
"Portláirge," "The Rose Tree in Full Bearing," "The
Rose Tree of Paddy's Land." English, Scottish, American; Polka, Country
and Morris Dance Tune (2/4 or 4/4 time). England;
Cotswolds, Surrey, North-West. USA, New England. D Major (Barnes, Brody,
Hardings, Kennedy, Kerr, Mallinson/Polkas,
Miller & Perron, Morrison, Raven, Sweet, Wade): G Major (Bacon,
Mallinson). Standard. AABB (Barnes, Brody, Hardings,
Kennedy, Kerr, Miller & Perron, Morrison, Raven, Sweet, Wade): ABBB
(Bacon, Mallinson). The title comes from a song
called "A Rose Tree In Full Bearing" set to the tune, which first
appeared in print under that title in William Shield's opera The
Poor Soldier (1782). It was used as a reel or country dance tune in
Scotland by c. 1788, and was still known by that title in the
British Isles early 20th century when collected from morris dance
musicians in the village of Brackley, Northamptonshire. A.
Morrison (1976) prints a dance called "The Three Hand Reel" to this
tune. Morris versions hail from the villages of Bampton
(Oxfordshire) and Brackley (Northamptonshire) of England's Cotswolds
(Bacon, Mallinson), and also in parts of North-West
England (Wade) where it is used for a polka step. The author of English
Folk-Song and Dance found the tune in the repertoire
of fiddler William Tilbury (who lived at Pitch Place, midway between
Churt and Thursley in Surrey), who, in his younger days,
played the fiddle at village dances. Tilbury learned his repertoire from
an uncle, Fiddler Hammond, who died in 1870 and who
was the village musician before him. The conclusion was that "The Rose
Tree" and similar country dance tunes survived in
English tradition (at least in southwest Surrey) well into the second
half of the 18th century. The first part of the tune has a
"pronounced likeness" to the American chestnut "Turkey in the Straw,"
according to Bayard (1981), Jabbour (1971), Winston
Wilkinson and others, and is perhaps a pregenitor to the family of
American tunes known as "(Old) Zip Coon," "Natchez Under
the Hill," and "Turkey in the Straw." The first part of the melody bears
a resemblance to "The Lea Rig," and a connection in
print between the two tunes appears in Niel Gow's Second Collection,
where it is printed in C Major and entitled "Old Lee
Rigg--or Rose Tree." The melody was recorded in 1926 by County Sligo/New
York fiddler Michael Coleman, accompanied
by flute player Tom Morrison of Glenamaddy, County Galway. The equally
famous County Sligo/New York fiddler James
Morrison recorded it in 1929 with his band. Bacon (The Morris Ring),
1974; pg. 47. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes),
1986. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 235. Hardings All Round
Collection), 1905; No. 134, pg. 42. Kennedy
(Fiddler's Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 58, pg. 28. Kerr (Merry
Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 4, pg. 21. Mallinson (Mally's
Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, Vol. 2; No. 61, pg. 29. Mallinson (100
Polkas), 1997; No. 65, pg. 25. Miller & Perron (New
England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 67. Morrison (Twenty-Four Early
American Country Dances, Cotillions & Reels, for
the Year 1976), 1976; pg. 56. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984;
pg. 149. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS).
Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 58. Wade (Mally's North West
Morris Book), 1988; pg. 8. Front Hall 05, Fennigs All
Stars- "Saturday Night in the Provinces." North Star NS0038, "The
Village Green: Dance Music of Old Sturbridge Village."
Veteran VT111, Francis Shergold - "Greeny Up" (1988. Recorded from
Bampton, England, morris musicians).
T:Rose Tree
L:1/8
M:C
R:Polka or March
K:D
|:fe|d2 B2 A2 F2|AB AF A2A2|d2cde2 de|f2e2 eg fe|d2B2A2F2|AB AF A2A2|
d2cd (3efe de|f2d2d2:|
|:e2|f3ef2g2|a4g2f2|e2b2b3a|b2e2 egfe|d2B2A2 FG|AB AF A2 FA|d2cd (3efe
de|
f2d2d2:|
SUCH A GETTIN' UPSTAIRS [1]. AKA and see "Getting Upstairs," "Gittin'
Upstairs," "Asa Hoge Tune," "Never Seen The
Like." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Virginia, southwestern Pa., Arkansas,
Tennessee, Kentucky. D Major (Bayard): G Major
(Bayard). Standard. AB. An early version of the tune was published by
George P. Knauff in his Virginia Reels, volume IV
(Baltimore, 1839). Samuel Bayard (1981) thinks the tune may have
originated as a stage or vaudeville number, and indeed, it
was adopted by American minstrels and was first published as a minstrel
song in the 1830's. It was in the repertoire of minstrel
Thomas "Daddy" Rice and Sigmund Spaeth reports it was sung by P.T.
Barnum in black-face. The minstrel publication
mentions its interpretor as "Mr. Bob Farrell, the Original Zip Coon."
The song was said by Brown to have been featured by
one Barney Burns, a low comedian connected with a rural travelling
circus in the mid-nineteenth century. Several writers,
beginning with Winston Wilkinson (Southern Folklore Quarterly, Vol. VI,
No. 1, March 1942, "Virginia Dance Tunes"), have
found that "Such a Getting Upstairs" is derived from the morris dance
tune "Getting Upstairs," collected by Cecil Sharp and
published in 1909.
**
Various ditties or rhymes have been collected with the melody in
American tradition, including floating verses. Wilkinson (1942)
printed these:
**
Old Molly Hyar, what you doin' dar?
Settin' in a cornder smokin' a cigyar.
Such a gittin' up sta'rs I never did see
Such a gittin' up sta'rs I neved did see.
And:
Some love coffee, some love tea,
But I love the pretty girl that winks at me.
Such a gittin' up stairs you never did see,
Such a gittin' up stairs you never did see.
**
This rhyme was collected with one of Bayard's Pennsylvania-collected
versions:
**
Went upstairs with a dollar and a half,
Came downstairs with a cow and a calf.
Such a gittin' upstairs I never did see,
Such a gittin' upstairs'll never do me.
**
The tune is probably the "Getting Upstairs" mentioned in a 1931 account
of a LaFollette, northeast Tenn., fiddlers contest. It is
similar to West Virginia fiddler French Carpenter's "Shelvin' Rock." The
title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain
fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph,
published in 1954. Wilkinson finds a variant of the melody as
a play-party tune collected in Indiana, and in similar use by children
in Liverpool, England (where they sing a rhyme beginning
"Up the streets and down the streets," which Wilkinson sees as a
possible morris dance relic). North Georgia fiddler Clayton
McMichen, recording with the Skillet Lickers for Columbia in 1929 (No.
15472), sang the song as "Never Seen the Like Since
Getting' Upstairs."
**
Sources for notated versions: George Strosnider (elderly fiddler from
Greene County, Pa., 1930's), Irvin Yaugher (fiddler from
Fayette County, Pa., 1946; learned from his great-uncle), Frank Thomas
(elderly fiddler from Somerset County, Pa., 1946),
Thomas Hoge (fiddler and fifer from Greene County, Pa., 1944; as he
fiddled it in the 1870's), and Hiram White (elderly fiddler
from Greene County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]; James H. "Uncle Jim" Chisholm
(Albmarle County, Va) [Wilkinson]. Bayard
(Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 170A-E, pgs. 122-123. Ford (Traditional
Music in America), 1940; pg. 239. Wilkinson
(Southern Folklore Quarterly), 1942; pg. 4. County 786, Clyde Davenport
(Ky.) - "Traditional Music From the Cumberland
Plateau, Vol. 1."
T:Getting Upstairs
L:1/8
M:2/2
S:"Uncle Jim" Chisholm, Albermarle County, Va.
K:D
ag|fdec A2c2|dfed f2g2|fdec A2c2|1 dfec d2:|2 dfec d2 a>g||
f2g2a2d2|f2g2 a3a|b2a2g2f2|e2f2g2||
TURKEY IN THE STRAW. AKA and see "Old Zip Coon," "Natchez Under the
Hill," "The Old Bog Hole." Old-Time,
Breakdown: Irish, English, Canadian; Reel or Hornpipe. USA, Widely known
and has even entered English country dance
tradition. Canada, Prince Edward Island (where Ken Perlman says it is a
very popular tune). G Major (Bayard, Brody,
Linscott, O'Neill, Perlman, Phillips, Raven, Ruth, Shaw, Sweet): C Major
(Ford): D Major (Bayard, Moylan). Standard. AB
(Bayard, Shaw): AABB (most versions).
***
An overwhelmingly popular tune in American fiddle tradition. Bayard
(1981) suggests that a Scottish tune called "The (Bonny)
Black Eagle" (also called "The Way to Edinburgh" by Oswald) resembles
"Turkey in the Straw" in in both parts. Besides
Samuel Bayard, Alan Jabbour, Winston Wilkinson, George Pullen Jackson
and others think that a tune with an even stronger
resemblance in the first part to the first part of Turkey is "The Rose
Tree" (Maureen ni Cullenaun). Their apparent conclusion is
that the Turkey tune is a composite of two older Scottish tunes, the 'A'
part of "The Rose Tree" and the 'B' part of "The
(Bonny) Black Eagle." There are other speculations: Nathan ("Dan
Emmett," pg. 168) gives an Irish reel which seems to bear
close resemblance to the 'A' part of Turkey, while Dreamer (in the
Oxford Book of Carols, pg. 252) gives a "little known
Scottish melody" with a second section equivlent to that of Turkey
(Bayard wonders if this particular strain has long been a
floater). According to Linscott (1939) the tune is based on the old song
"My Grandmother Loved on Yonder Little Green."
Michael Cooney lists a number of fiddle tunes to which "Turkey in the
Straw" is supposed to have been related, including
"Glasgow Hornpipe" (Irish), "Haymaker's Dance" (English), "The Post
Office" (Irish), "Lady Shaftsbury's Reel" (Scottish),
"Rose Tree in Full Bearing" (Irish), "Old Mother Oxford" (a morris dance
tune known in England and Scotland), and "Kinnegad
Slashers" (Irish). Captain Francis O'Neill, in Waifs and Strays of
Gaelic Melody suggested the latter was the original source of
"Turkey," although most reviewers dismiss this as an incidental
resemblance only based on some similarities in the first part.
***
Whatever its origins, it was "undoubtedly in American folk tradition
before the 19th century," says Bronner (1987), and that
popular theater and minstrel groups during the 19th century helped
consolidate and spread its popularity (it was often called
"Old Zip Coon" in minstrel tradition). Fuld reports the title "Turkey in
de Straw" appeared in 1861 attached to the tune through
new song lyrics, copyrighted by one Dan Bryant, the melody labled only
an "old melody."
***
Mention of the tune in playlists, periodicals and literature abound.
"Turkey" was cited as having commonly been played for
Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn,
New York Folklore Quarterly); Bronner (1987)
agrees that it was commonly played in New York state for dances in the
early 20th century. It was in the repertory of Buffalo
Valley, Pa., region dance fiddlers Harry Daddario and Ralph Sauers. It
was one of the tunes listed by the Clarke County
Democrat of May 9, 1929, that was predicted would "be rendered in the
most approved fashion" at an upcoming contest in
Grove Hill, Alabama (Cathen, 1990). "Turkey" was played at a fiddlers'
contest in Verbena in 1921 according to the Union
Banner of October 27, 1921, and was one of the melodies listed as an
example of an "acceptable old-time number for a
fiddlers' convention in Fayette, Alabama (Northwest Alabamian, September
4, 1930) {Cauthen, 1990}. Cauthen (1990)
further cites a 1925 University of Alabama master's thesis by S.M.
Taylor entitled "A Preliminary Survey of Folk-Lore in
Alabama" in which the tune is listed, and found it mentioned by Lamar
County, Alabama, fiddler D. Dix Hollis in the Opelika
Daily News of April 17, 1926, as one of "the good old tunes of long
ago." The title appears in a list of the repertoire of Maine
fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion
fiddler in the late 1920's). Catskill Mountain region
fiddler Harry Robinson (Lackawack, New York) was recorded in the field
in 1944 by Benjamin A. Botkin (AFS 7759)
playing an unaccompanied version of "Turkey in the Straw." The tune was
recorded for the Library of Congress by
musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, from the playing of Ozark
Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's, while Texas fiddler
Eck Robertson's (with Henry Gilliland) recording of the piece (backed
with "Arkansas Traveller") was the third best-selling
country music record of 1923. It was in the repertoire of Virginia's
Fiddlin' Cowan Powers and Family in the 1920's. Paul
Gifford remarks that, around the Sault Ste. Marie area of northern
Michigan and Ontario, "Turkey in the Straw" is played in the
tradition in the key of B Flat Major.
***
The tune was popular enough that even Irish-American bands recorded it:
O'Leary's Irish Minstrels, from Boston, recorded it
in 1928, and that same year the Flanagan Brothers recorded a medley in
New York featuring "Turkey" along with "Chicken
Reel" and "Arkansas Traveller." O'Neill printed a version of "Turkey"
which was recorded in more modern times by the Irish
band De Dannan (on "Song for Ireland"). Scottish band-leader Jimmy
Shands recorded "Turkey" in a 1939 medley as with
"Chicken Reel." "Turkey" was recorded and played by Sliabh Luachra
(Rushy Mountain region, County Kerry/Cork) fiddler
Denis Murphy and accordion player Johnny O'Leary, who learned it from
influential fiddler Padraig O'Keeffe, although where
he learned the tune is unknown.
***
Lyrics set to the tune usually go something like the following:
***
As I went down the new-cut road,
I met Miss Possum and I met Mr. Toad.
And every time the toad would sing,
The possum cut the pigeon-wing.
Chorus:
Turkey in the straw, haw! haw! haw!
Turkey in the hay, hey! hey! hey!
The bull-frog danced with his mother-in-law,
And they played 'em up a tune called turkey in the straw. (Ford)
***
African-American collector Thomas Talley, in his work Negro Folk Rhymes
(1922, reprinted in 1991 edited by Charles
Wolfe), printed an unusual version called "A Day's Happiness." Wolfe
notes that while there were dozens of recordings of the
tune by early country musicians there were very few by blacks. Talley's
song goes:
***
I went out to milk an' I didn' know how,
I milked dat goat instid o' dat cow;
While a Nigger a-settin' wid a gapin' jaw,
Kept winkin' his eye at a tucky in de straw.
***
I went out de gate an' I went down de road,
An' I met Miss 'Possum an' I met Mistah Toad;
An' ev'y time Miss 'Possum 'ould sing,
Mistah Toad 'ould cut dat Pigeon's Wing.
***
I went in a whoop, as I went down de road;
I had a bawky team an' a heavy load.
I cracked my whip, an' ole Beck sprung,
An' she busted out my wagin tongue.
***
Dat night dere 'us a-gittin' up, shores you're born,
De louse go to supper, an' de flea blow de horn.
Dat raccoon paced, an' dat 'possum trot;
Dat old goose laid, an' de gander not.
***
Sources for notated versions: Edson Cole (Freedom, N.H.) [Linscott]; Les
Weir and Ken Kane, 1976 (Central New York
State), Charley Hughes, 1973 (Central New York State), and John
McDermott, 1926 (Central New York State) [Bronner];
eight southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard]; Thadelo Sullivan via accordion
player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the
Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; Johnny Morrissey (1913-1994, Vernon River,
Queens County, Prince Edward Island)
[Perlman].
***
Adam, 1928; No. 22. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No 320A-H, pgs.
276-279. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983;
pg. 280. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No 3,
pgs. 21-22, No. 31, pg. 121, No. 39, pg. 145.
Cazden, 1955; pg. 26. DeVille, 1905; No. 78 & 97. Ford (Traditional
Music in America), 1940; pg. 59. Howe (Diamond
School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 44. Howe (School for the Violin),
1851; pg. 43. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1, pg. 23.
Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. 84-85. Messer (Way
Down East), 1948; No. 52. Moylan (Johnny
O'Leary), 1994; No. 247, pg. 142. O'Malley, 1919; pgs. 13 & 40. O'Neill
(Krassen), 1976; pg. 155. O'Neill (1850),
1903/1979; No. 1520, pg. 281. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 739,
pg. 129. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince
Edward Island), 1996; pg. 65. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg.
43. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes),
1994; pg. 246. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 166.
Robbins, 1933; No. 26 & No. 158. Roche Collection,
1982, Vol. 3; No. 215, pg. 81 (Irish march version). Ruth (Pioneer
Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 18, pg. 8. Shaw
(Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 389. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg.
79. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 113.
White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; pgs. 33 & 73. White's Unique
Collection, 1896; No. 173. CCF2, Cape Cod Fiddlers -
"Concert Collection II" (1999). Conqueror 7741 (78 RPM), Doc Roberts.
Edison 51278 (RPM), Jasper Bisbee (Michegan),
1923 (appears as last tune in "Girl I Left Behind Me" Medley). Flying
Fish 102, New Lost City Ramblers - "20 Years/Concert
Performances" (1978). Folkways FA 2337, Clark Kessinger- "Live at Union
Grove." Folkways FA 2381, "The Hammered
Dulcimer as played by Chet Parker" (1966). Front Hall, Fennigs All Star
String Band - "Fennigmania" (1981). Gennett (78
RPM), The Tweedy Brothers (1924. W.Va. string band). MCA-116 {formerly
Decca DL7-4896}, Bill Monroe- "Bluegrass
Time." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Cyril Stinnett -
"Plain Old Time Fiddling." Paramount 3015 (78 RPM),
John Baltzell (Mt. Vernon, Ohio), 1927. Paramount 33153 (78 RPM), Dr. D.
Dix Hollis (Alabama, 1861-1927), 1924.
Rounder 0117, "Blaine Sprouse." Sonyatone 201, Eck Robertson- "Master
Fiddler." Victor 19149 (78 RPM), Eck Robertson
(West Texas), 1922.
T:Turkeys in the Straw
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (739)
K:G
BA|G E2 F EDB,C|DEDB, DEGA|BABc dBGA|B A2G AcBA|G E2 F EDB,C|
DEDB, DEGA|B d2 e dBGA|BGAF G2||GA|B d2 e dBGA|Bdde dcBA|
Bdef gfed|BA (3Bcd e2 ef|gfge dged|BdAG E2 GA|BdAG EDB,D|E G2 A G2||
ZIP COON. See "Old Zip Coon."
ZIP COON STOMP. Old-Time. The title appears in a list of traditional
Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by
musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
Ceolas > Tunes > Fiddler's Companion
Victor Lethbridge
Victor
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