The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #74536   Message #1354386
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
11-Dec-04 - 08:28 PM
Thread Name: Tune Req: Young Mr. Lincoln
Subject: RE: Tune Req: Young Mr. Lincoln
As suggested by the titles in Botkin, "The American Play-Party Song," there seem to be several titles and several variant tunes but all with the same meter. Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs, vol. 3, pp. 309-13, uses the title "Four in the Middle." Susie Brown appears in two versions. Music given for one version. "The Cuckoo Waltz" appears to have to have been a separate song which was joined. A few verses:

Four in the middle, you cain't git around, (3X)
Hello Susan Brown,

Big white house and nobody livin' in it, (3X)
Hello Susie Brown.

Get out of the ring if you can't jump Josie, (3x)
Hello Susie Brown.

Four in the middle an' two wants out, (3X)
Swing your lady round an' about.

We're goin' down the river,
We're goin' mighty slow,
We're goin' down the river
To old Shiloh.

Coffee grows on white oak stumps, etc. - a thread on this one.