Two black versions of the song, from Folkways SF 40079, "Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia": Joe and Odell Thompson (1974) Georgie Buck is dead Last word he said, Don't want no shortnin' in my bread* Caused me to weep Caused me to mourn Caused me to leave my home Oh, it's oh me, oh my, Trouble I do see Georgie Buck is dead Last word he said Don't let a woman have her way Lord, a woman have her way Go and stay all day Don't let a woman have her way It rained and it popped Old Black Annie got shot Down by the barroom door** repeat 3 repeat 1 repeat 2 *Odell's wife Susie Thompson knew this line as "Don't want no children in my bed." **This verse is a crossover from "Black Annie" Dink Roberts (1974) Georgie Georgie Buck is dead Last word he said Don't let a woman have her way (spoken) What y'say, banjo? Yes, if you let a woman have her way (spoken) I ain't talkin' bout you, now (sung) She'll lead you to astray Said I'm goin' to the shack Where the car Number Nine (spoken) What say, banjo? The CD notes, by Cecelia Conway, seem to imply that John Snipes also knew the song but the set doesn't include a rendition by him. Elizabeth Cotten plays a version on her album "Freight Train," part of a medley of banjo songs. The vocals are not very well miked. Georgie Buck is dead, Last words he said Don't want no shortnin' in my bread. Shortnin' in my bread Swimming (?) in my head (last line not quite audible to me) I've downloaded a couple of field recordings from the Digital Library of Appalachia. Black banjoist Rufus Kasey does a nice clawhammered instrumental version from 1984, and there are two 1979 takes by white fingerpicker J Roy Stalcup, with some discussion of the lyrics (he recites a couple of verses but doesn't sing them), as well as how the song crosses over with what he calls "500 Miles," i.e., "Old Reuben." Compare the song "Since I Left My Father's Home," recorded from Clarence Tross of Hardy Co, WV, in 1960 and again in 1974. Both of these recordings are also in the DLA. (1960 recording, a cap) Oh me, oh my I'm sorry I left my home The day I left my father's house That's the day I left my home. Old John Brown is dead Last words he said Never let a woman have her way. If a woman have her way She'll lead a man astray Never let a woman have her way. It's rock, darling, rock, Rock, darling, rock, Lord knows Just 'hind the rock Old Towser treed a fox, And I'll hunt when I get ready[?], Lord knows. Repeat one I'm goin' down the street Kiss the first girl I meet And it's nobody's business but my own. Well the greyhound's on my track And the chicken's in my sack And I'll [?] by the shanty, Lord knows. The 1974 Tross recording, with vigorous banjo, is very poorly miked and the vocal is all but inaudible. Tross was born in 1884 and says he learned the song from his father, who was born abt 1850. I doubt that all the lyrics of the song are of that vintage, but it has some obvious similarities to "Georgie Buck," "Old Rattler," "Skillet Good and Greasy," and other banjo songs of black origin. The melody of the unaccompanied version sounds slightly more archaic to me than the one that he plays on banjo.
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