The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #50284   Message #768162
Posted By: John Minear
19-Aug-02 - 06:27 PM
Thread Name: Come to taw?
Subject: RE: Come to taw?
I'm still looking for information of the old phrase "come to taw" from the last verse of Patty Newman's version of "Buckeye Jim"

Wake up snakes and come to taw,
We won't have any more of your link and law.
Go limber, Jim, you can't go,
Go weave and spin, you can't go, Buckeye Jim.

I did find another song that uses a variant of "wake up snakes". It is in an old book called AMERICAN MOUNTAIN SONGS, compiled by Ethel Park Richardson, edited and and arranged by Sigmund Spaeth, published by Greenberg (I didn't get a date). The last song, on page 104, is "Wake, Snakes!"

Wake, snakes! Day's a breakin',
Peas in the pot an' the hot cakes a bakin'
Snake baked a hoe cake 'an set the frog to mind it
Frog fell a-noddin' an' the lizzard come 'an stole it!
Fetch back my hot cake, you long tail'd nanny!

This looks like a combination of two different songs. The first two lines are similar to the cowboy wakeup calls mentioned earlier, and the rest of the song is often found on its own.