The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #116137   Message #2492203
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
12-Nov-08 - 05:55 PM
Thread Name: Origins: The authors of the 'Carter Family songs'
Subject: RE: Origins: The authors of the 'Carter Family' songs
"Bury Me Beneath the Willow" was collected in folk version by H. M. Belden, 1909, in Missouri, title "Under the Willow Tree." The song is widespread and in many collections.

The S. C. Foster song, "Under the Willow She's Sleeping," does not have comparable lyrics, but it could have been the inspiration.

"Tell Me That You Love Me Yet"-- W. S. Hays, "We Parted by The Riverside," 1866.

"The Cannonball" ("The Cannonball Blues")-- From Norm Cohen, "Long Steel Rail," pp. 413-425. Derived from "Mr. McKinley," first heard by Eleanor Farjeon, sung by D. H. Lawrence (yes, that's right). Another source wrote that Lawrence sang the song to her in 1915. No idea where he got it. Four verses preserved. (Lawrence also collected and sang spirituals)
1
Mister McKinley, he ain't done no wrong;
He went down to Buffalo, way Michigan along,
For to lay him down boys, to lay him down.

The best known version of the above is "White House Blues," sung by Charles Poole. Two verses:

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Came the train, she's just on time,
She's run a thousand miles from eight o'clock to nine,
From Buffalo to Washington.
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Yonder comes the train, she's comin' down the line,
Blowin' ever' station, "Mr McKinley's a dyin'"
It's hard times, hard times.

The Carter version removes mention of McKinley, and is turned into a 'My baby's left me' blues. A. P. Carter claimed that he got the song from Leslie Riddles, but the dates don't fit.
1
Oh, listen to the train, coming down the line,
Trying to make up all of her lost time
From Buffalo to Washington.

The Carter verse 'You can wash my jumper, Starch my overalls,...,' variant, was collected by Holloway (MS) in 1915, Alabama; N. I. White, "American Negro Folk-Songs," 1928:

Starch my jumper and patch my overalls,
So if I miss the local, I ken ketch the Cannonball.