METHODIST PIE
Bradley Kincaid version, 1928

I was down to camp meetin' The other afternoon
For To hear them shout and sing.
For to tell each other How they loved one another
And to make hallelujah ring.

There's old uncle Daniel And brother Ebenezer,
Uncle Rufus with his lame gal, Sue,
Aunt Polly and Melinda And old mother Bender,
Oh, you never seen a happier crew.

Well, they all go there For to have a good time
And to eat that grub so sly,
Have applesauce butter With sugar in the gourd
And a great big Methodist Pie.

CHORUS:
Oh, little children, I believe,
Oh, little children, I believe,
Oh, little children, I believe,
I'm Methodist till I die.
I'm Methodist, Methodist, 'Tis my belief,
I'm Methodist till I die.
When old grim death comes knocking at the door
I'm Methodist till I die.

Well, you ought to hear the ringing When they all get to singing
That good old by and by.
See Jimmy McGee in the top of a tree
Saying, how is this for high?

Then they cotch a hold of hands And march around the ring,
Kept a singing all the while
You'd think it was a cyclone a-Comin' through the air,
You could hear them shout a half a mile.

Then the bell rings loud and the great big crowd
Breaks ranks and up they fly
While I took board On the sugar in the gourd
And I cleaned up the Methodist Pie. CHORUS

With music arranged by Irma Kincaid, pp. 42-43.
Bradley Kincaid, April, 1928 (six printings by July, 1929), "Favorite Mountain Ballads and Old Time Songs," as sung over WLS, the Prairie Farmer Station. Copyright, 1928 by Bradley Kincaid.

This is the earliest printing (and recording) of this song, according to The Traditional Ballad Index (see posting above).
Bradley Kincaid was born in Garrard County, KY, at the edge of the mountains. The family originally came from Scotland and settled in Virginia. On WLS radio (Chicago, "The National Barn Dance"), Kincaid was known as "The Mountain Boy with His Houn' Dog Guitar and Old Mountain Songs."
His little book has a good selection of ballads and old songs, with tunes, which I will list in a separate thread. The first song, of course, is "Barbara Allen."