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Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon

DigiTrad:
ALL IN AND DOWN AND OUT BLUES
THE GAL THAT GOT STUCK


Related threads:
Lyr Req: Got No Silver nor Gold Blues (8)
Lyr Add: Worthy of Estimation (Uncle Dave Macon) (5)
Lyr Add: Country Ham and Red Gravy (Dave Macon) (4)
Lyr Req: Morning Blues / Mourning Blues (10)
Lyr Add: I Don't Reckon It'll Happen Again (16)
Lyr Req: Walk, Tom Wilson, Walk (Uncle Dave Macon) (8)
Lyr Req: Old Ties (Uncle Dave Macon) (7)
Lyr Req: Don't Get Weary (Uncle Dave Macon) (15)
Lyr Req: Good Old Summertime (Uncle Dave Macon) (17)
Lyr Req: Wish I Had Stayed In The Wagon Yard (4)
Uncle Dave Macon (17)
Lyr Req: Hill Billie Blues (Uncle Dave Macon) (4)
Lyr Req: Over the Mountain (Uncle Dave Macon) (11)
Lyr Req: Rise When the Rooster Crows (Dave Macon) (14)
Review: rare video Uncle Dave Macon (36)
Lyr Req: Hold the Woodpile Down (Uncle Dave Macon) (12)
Uncle Dave Macon's Birthday (7 Oct 1870) (5)
When are the Uncle Dave Macon days? (3)
Lyr Req: Kissin' on the Sly (Uncle Dave Macon) (7)
Lyr Req: Oh, Lovin' Babe (Uncle Dave Macon) (6)
Uncle Dave Macon Video? (9)
ADD: We're Up against It Now (Uncle Dave Macon?) (6)
Lyr Req: When the Train Comes Along (Dave Macon) (5)
Chords Req: Nashville (Uncle Dave Macon) (7)
Lyr Req: Take Me Home Poor Julia (Uncle Dave Macon (5)
Lyr Req: Take Me Home Poor Julia (Uncle Dave Macon (2)
Lyr Req: Little Cat (Uncle Dave Macon) (4)
Lyr Req: Country Ham and Red Gravy (Dave Macon) (2)
Lyr Req: I've Got the Mourning Blues (Dave Macon) (7)
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Artful Codger 23 Jun 06 - 10:29 PM
Stewie 07 Sep 08 - 07:31 PM
Bill D 08 Sep 08 - 08:45 AM
Bill D 08 Sep 08 - 08:58 AM
Bill D 08 Sep 08 - 09:08 AM
Q (Frank Staplin) 26 Dec 08 - 03:26 PM
GUEST,Kelly 24 Sep 09 - 07:22 AM
Stewie 24 Nov 09 - 03:36 AM
Jim Dixon 23 Sep 10 - 11:25 PM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 10 - 08:11 AM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 10 - 09:04 AM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 10 - 11:36 AM
Jim Dixon 25 Sep 10 - 04:15 PM
GUEST,jack Warshaw 06 Jan 11 - 12:00 PM
GUEST,Minneapolis 24 Sep 12 - 10:47 PM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 12 - 11:30 PM
Jim Dixon 31 Jul 13 - 08:44 PM
GUEST 10 Jan 14 - 08:53 PM
Jim Dixon 11 Jan 14 - 06:25 PM
GUEST 15 Jan 14 - 07:38 PM
GUEST 30 Nov 16 - 06:03 PM
Jim Dixon 15 Dec 16 - 07:04 PM
GUEST,cnd 15 Dec 16 - 11:33 PM
Levana Taylor 14 Jul 21 - 11:10 PM
Jim Dixon 13 Feb 22 - 11:30 PM
cnd 14 Feb 22 - 08:32 AM
GUEST,Frank Hamilton 17 Feb 22 - 07:38 AM
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Subject: RE: ADD: Uncle Dave Macon Lyrics
From: Artful Codger
Date: 23 Jun 06 - 10:29 PM

The Red Clay Ramblers also recorded "Cumberland Deer Chase", so you might find their take on the lyrics helpful.


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Subject: Lyr Add: ALL GO HUNGRY HASH HOUSE (Dave Macon)
From: Stewie
Date: 07 Sep 08 - 07:31 PM

ALL GO HUNGRY HASH HOUSE

Banjo riff.
Spoken: Hello folks, I'm in New York and from the country, but you can't tell me roastin' ears ain't corn.

There's a hotel in the city as we climb the golden stairs
And they serve the hash up on the second floor
There's a graveyard in the cellar, doctor's office in the parlour
And the undertaker keeps his shop next door

'Touch Me Not' was on the teacups, skeleton crossbones on the plates
'Carve Me Right' is on that turkey you could spell
Oh the biscuits they are named, and I'm going to have them framed
At that all go hungry hash house where I dwell

Oh the donuts they are wooden, and we have Limburger puddin'
We kneel in prayer before we go to grub
If you chance to get a breeze of that ambologneous cheese
You'd have swore somebody'd hit you with a club

That hotel where I stay, it is turning my hair gray
For the landlord is always full of beer
All the beds our bugs have rented, and the air was sweetly scented
By an old-fashioned tanyard in the rear

All the sausages they are marked, if you touch them they will bark
It's a relic sent from Bingen on the Rhine
All the boarders have the croup, caught from drinking frozen soup
At that all go hungry hash house where I dine

They have India rubber pickles, exercises on bicycles
And a dinner bell and gong they can't afford
When they open up the gates, we'll come skippin' on roller skates
At that all go hungry hash house where I board

There's a woman called the duchess, brings the coffee in on crutches
And the cake looks like a sponge that's petrified
Oh the pies are old and grey, they were tackled by a jay
Who went right out and committed suicide

Oh the molasses made of paint, if you smell them you will faint
They are yellow and dished up in a gourd
Oh the eggs are made to match, if you touch them they will hatch
At that all go hungry hash house where I board

Source: Transcription of Uncle Dave Macon (vcl/bjo) 'All go hungry hash house' recorded 14 April 1925 in New York City and issued September 1925 as Vo 15076 and in January 1927 as Vo 5076.

--Stewie.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 08 - 08:45 AM

I've replaced "The Bible's True" (noted above) on my storage site. I have some others if anyone wants to hear Uncle Dave's recordings. I can't leave them up permanently, but will try to respond to requests.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 08 - 08:58 AM

By the way! Here is a link to a text file for most of the Uncle Dave lyrics. (as heard by the poster) http://departments.umw.edu/hipr/www/206/songtext/uncle_dave_macon.txt


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 08 - 09:08 AM

It seems those lyrics were posted by a folklorist at Mary Washington College.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Dec 08 - 03:26 PM

"Rise When the Rooster Crows," transcribed from a Macon recording, in thread 8269:
Rise when the Rooster Crows


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon - Mule Song
From: GUEST,Kelly
Date: 24 Sep 09 - 07:22 AM

Oh Thank You, Thank You for posting lyrics to the "So Long Mule" song. My grandpa (farmer born 1899 in Knox County Indiana) used to sing it to me but all I could recall was the refrain. As I remembered him singing it was "Get a'long mule, quit a'rollin them eyes. . .you can change a fool, but a doggone mule. . .is a mule until he dies."

I've searched by the refrain for a long time without success until today. Again, many thanks!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Stewie
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 03:36 AM

Richie has posted the lyrics to Uncle Dave's 'Hill Billie Blues' in this thread: Hill Billie Blues.

--Stewie.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Sep 10 - 11:25 PM

Corrections to the lyrics of OLD DAN TUCKER that Stewie posted 30 Dec 02 - 09:10 PM:

VERSE 1 LINE 3: Combed his head with a wagon wheel

VERSE 3 LINE 4: Lord bless you, honey, how the ashes flew

VERSE 4 LINE 1: ... booze and Choctaw cider

VERSE 4 LINE 3: Hostetter's bitters* and the doctor's tonic

* an actual brand name. I looked it up!


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Subject: Lyr Add: TENNESSEE JUBILEE (Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 10 - 08:11 AM

You can find an mp3 file of this song here.

There are gaps in my transcription:


TENNESSEE JUBILEE
As recorded by Uncle Dave Macon, June, 1929, Brunswick 355.

SPEAKING: Well, well, folks, I'm feeling fine. Just eat a hearty dinner. Now I'm going to give you something that's round here: An old Tennessee jubilee. But before I sing you the piece, I have a cousin lives down in Rutherford County, Tennessee. She's a woman. And her brother was telling me about her swappin' a dry cow for an old second-hand Ford car last summer, and she learned to run it pretty well in the wheat fields after they got done thrashing, and she decided she'd go into the city on Saturday, but she drove out to the highway and the traffic was so thick, she backed out, and decided to go in at night. So when she did drive in, the first thing she done, she run over the signal line. And the traffic officer stopped her. And there she was, and she stuck her head out the window and said, "What's the matter?" The traffic gentleman says, "Why, you haven't got your dimmers on." She says, "Lord, Lord! I reckon I have. I put on ever'thing Mam laid out for me to wear 'fore I left home."

And she says, "Who is you, anyhow?" He says, "I'm the traffic jam man, ma'am." Says, "Well, I'm mighty glad you told me. Mam told me to fetch her a quart. Have it ready for me as I go out, will you, please?" Ha-ha-ha-ha!

SINGING: Well, it's me and my doney was a-ridin' of a pony,
She in front and me behind the ...
... she'd always ...
She thinks I'm workin' but I ain't doin' nothin'.
Turkey in the hay, ha-ha! ha-ha-ha!

...a tune called Turkey in the straw.

Well as I went down the old state field,
A black snake grabbed me by my heel.
Said I started runnin' but I do my best
To run my head in a hornet's nest

Turkey in the hay, ah-ha-ha
...
...a tune called Turkey in the straw.

UNKNOWN VOICE, SPEAKING: Uncle Dave, you a awful old man to be a-cuttin' up that-a-way.

DAVE, SPEAKING: Yes, but listen, Bud—

SINGING: It's nobody's business, nobody's business
Nobody's business what I do.

Backbone, that's sausage meat,
Hog head and pickled feet,
Nobody's business what I eat. No!
Nobody's business, nobody's business,
Nobody's business what I do.

She buys the gasoline.
I crank the old machine.
Nobody's business what I do.


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Subject: Lyr Add: THE BIBLE'S TRUE (Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 10 - 09:04 AM

You can find an mp3 of this song on this page (or click to play).

There's a version of this in the DT, but it contains a few errors.


THE BIBLE'S TRUE
As recorded by Uncle Dave Macon, April, 1926, Vocalion 5098 and 15322.

1. Evolution teaches man came from a monkey.
I don't believe no such a thing on the days of the week or Sunday.

CHORUS: Well, the Bible's true; oh, yes, I believe it.
I've seen enough and I can prove it.
What you say, what you say,
It's bound to be that way.
God made the world and everything that's in it.
He made man perfect and the monkey wasn't in it.
What you say, what you say,
It's bound to be that way.

2. I'm no evolutionist that wants the world to see.
Ain't no man from anywhere, boys, make a monkey out of me. CHORUS

3. God made the world and then he made man,
Woman for his helpmate. Beat that if you can. CHORUS


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Subject: Lyr Add: FARM RELIEF (Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 10 - 11:36 AM

You can find an mp3 file of this song here.


FARM RELIEF
As recorded by Dave Macon & Sid Harkreader, June, 1929, Vocalion 5341.

[SPOKEN:] Howdy do! Well, folks, you've heard about the farm relief, read about it, heard them talk about it. Well, it's finally got here. They've just about relieved the farmer of everything he's got. Now I'm telling you right. Now I'll sing you about it after I play you a pretty little prelude on the banjo.

1. Farmer just lately moved to town,
Trying every way to cut expenses down.
He lost his job and he didn't do well,
And everybody believes he's gone back to the farm,
Gone back to the farm, gone back to the farm.

2. Hoover was elected president.
Al Smith went right down in defeat.
Majority voted for the high, high chief,
But show me a farmer who's got relief,
Who's got relief, who's got relief.

3. What farmer has to buy is too high yet.
What he has to sell's too low to make a hit.
Bust up your corporations and your trusts,
For if you don't, then the farmer's gonna bust.
Yes, the farmer's gonna bust. Yes, the farmer's gonna bust.

4. Went in a store for to buy the other day.
Here's just what the merchant had to say:
Nothing a-doing on fall terms.*
Without their money, said the wheels won't turn,
Said the wheels won't turn, said the wheels won't turn.

5. Used to go to church for to hear them shout,
Telling the good Lord what 'twas all about.
Now the congregation is all so far
Riding around in new Ford cars,
Them new Ford cars, them new Ford cars.

6. Washington is the law-making place.
The poor old farmer has[n't] enough to say grace.
If there ain't something done for to help his grace,
The poor old farmer's gonna lose his place,
Gonna lose his place, gonna lose his place.


[* on fall terms, that is, on credit, to be repaid in the fall when crops are sold.]


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Subject: Lyr Add: TAKE ME BACK TO MY OLD CAROLINA HOME
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Sep 10 - 04:15 PM

At YouTube you can see an excerpt from the 1940 Hollywood film "Grand Ole Opry" in which Uncle Dave Macon and his son Dorris sing TAKE ME BACK TO MY OLD CAROLINA HOME. He never recorded this song.

(I did, however find that several other artists recorded songs called CARRY ME BACK TO MY CAROLINA HOME or MY CAROLINA HOME, which I assume are related.)

The film shows Uncle Dave performing various acrobatic tricks, even dancing, with his banjo. I think I can hear banjo chords being played during these acrobatics. Am I being fooled by an off-camera musician, or is Uncle Dave really doing this?

The story told by the song seems rather disjointed, making me wonder if we aren't hearing mere excerpts from a longer song.


TAKE ME BACK TO MY OLD CAROLINA HOME
As sung by Uncle Dave Macon (on banjo) and Dorris Macon (on guitar)

1. Me an' my buddy(?) started out the other day,
Studyin' a plan how to get away.
Light come on an' it caught us in the dark,
Waitin' for the Chesterfield train to start.

2. Conductor was a-standin' right nigh the rope(?)
An' he hollered to his passengers, "All aboa'd!"
Then he reached up and he pulled the string.
Bang-a-bang-a-bang-a went the banjer string.

CHORUS: Take-a me back. (Take-a me back.)
Take-a me back. (Take-a me back.)
Take-a me back to that ol' Car'lina home. (Oh, yes!)
Take-a me back. (Take-a me back.)
Take-a me back. (Take-a me back.)
Take-a me back to that ol' Car'lina home.

3. Well, the train pulled on to the very next stop.
I looked around, about seventeen cops.
'Cross the hill you oughta seen me run.
Bang-a-bang-a-bang-a went my Gat-a-ling gun. CHORUS


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST,jack Warshaw
Date: 06 Jan 11 - 12:00 PM

Colleagues,
I've been singing this for over 30 years and transcribed it slightly differently - corrections in CAPS below:

FROM EARTH TO HEAVEN

[Spoken] Now good people I wagoned and farmed for over twenty years and the style on my wagoning firm IS the Macon Midway Mule and Mitchell Wagon Transportation Company. Situated on the dividing line, operated by gentlemen on and up to time. Main office eight and a quarter mile East Main Street, Murfreesboro and ten and three-quarters West Main Street, Woodbury, Tennessee. Now here's my song!

I remember the year when I begIn to haul, it was during the summer time
Back in the those good old days, you could find whisky, beer and wine
I'd walk right in to every saloon, I was strictly up to time
THERE Never was a night that I didn't drive home, wASN'T pullING the end of A line

Chorus:
Been wagoning for over twenty years, and living on the farm
I'll bet a hundred dollars to a half a ginger cake, I'LL BE here when the trucks is gone

I'LL tell you now, THAT THE bone-dry'S COME, you can't find whisky that'S good
Done quit all of my drinking, done gone to serving God
I love to go to big meetings, and I'm a-gonna tell you why
I love to sing and pray to God, sweet Heaven when I die

Chorus

An auto-truck has a DRIVING wheel, while I hold my line
OH when my feet and body gets cold, I'm walking half the time
I speak right to my power, they understand my talk
And when I holler, WAGON RIGHT, they know just WHERE to walk.

Chorus

An auto-truck runs quick and fast, a wagon hasn't THE speed
Four good mules and a Mitchell wagon is the safest, LOAD yes indeed
I'm on my way to Heaven, and I'LL tell you just how I feel
I'd druther ride a wagon and go to Heaven, than to Hell in an automobile

FINAL CHORUS

NOTE: The 'bone dry' refers to the Federal Prohibition of Alcohol Act in force from 1920 to 1933. So Uncle Dave was taking a swipe at bad bootleg whiskey.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST,Minneapolis
Date: 24 Sep 12 - 10:47 PM

Hello, I'm looking for lyrics to "The Station Will Be Changed After Awhile."

If anyone's able to help, that's great. A lot of these old links seem to have expired. Thank you.


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Subject: Lyr Add: STATION WILL BE CHANGED AFTER A WHILE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 12 - 11:30 PM

Here's my transcription from a recording which I found on Spotify. It appears on several albums:


STATION WILL BE CHANGED AFTER A WHILE
As sung by Uncle Dave Macon

SPOKEN: Now, good people, I'm gonna try to play you a pretty little instrumental piece and sing you a beautiful sentimental song.

[INSTRUMENTAL PIECE]

SPOKEN: Now this is a song that is sung by a colored preacher. And he told the congregation that he's a-gonna preach to 'em from the one-eyed chapter of the two-eyed verse of the three who failed to see Peter in the four-corner of the Corinthians. And remember, people, the station will be changed after while.

1. There are people in this world who will try to pull you down,
But I's a-gwine to glory to wear the starry crown.
It's no matter what they do and say,
Gwine to fall on my knees and pray
That the station will changed after while.

CHORUS: Oh, the station will be changed after while.
When the Lord himself shall come,
And the work on earth is done,
Why, the station will be changed after while.

2. Oh, the Bible plainly tells you of that awful judgment day.
That awful day am comin' an' no matter where I be.
You may bury me in the ocean.
You may bury me in the sea,
But the station will be changed after while. CHORUS

3. Oh, the gospel train am comin' an' she's runnin' through the land.
King Jesus is the conductor and she always makes her time.
When she makes the station blow,
You'd better be ready to go.
Why, the station will be changed after while.


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Subject: Lyr Add: OYSTER STEW (parody of "Just Tell Them...
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 31 Jul 13 - 08:44 PM

Uncle Dave Macon didn't sing this. I'm posting this here only so that the lyrics of the parody will be in the same thread as the lyrics of the original. A guest requested this song in the thread 'Mother Songs' of the tear-jerker variety but it isn't really appropriate for that thread either.

From The Alabama Folk Lyric: A Study in Origins and Media of Dissemination edited by Ray Broadus Browne (Bowling Green: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1979), page 391:

154
Oyster Stew
Parody of "Just Tell Them That You Saw Me"

Spaeth (History of Popular Music, p. 277) says there were many parodies of "Just Tell Them That You Saw Me." This one, however, is the only one I have collected. It shows a vigorous reaction against the sentiment of the song.

"Oyster Stew," sung by Mrs. Ruth Clements, Holt, Tuscaloosa County, 1952.

A man happened to an accident upon a railroad train,
A-trying to ride and would not pay his fee.
The doctors they consulted, examined him, and said:
"We'll have to saw his leg off at the knee."
They tried to give him chloroform but he wouldn't take the stuff,
Said, "Go ahead while I'm brave and strong.
And while you're sawing off the leg, oh, please, sir, let me sing."
They did, and then he started up this song:

CHORUS: Just tell them that you saw me and I was losing flesh,
To ups and downs will always be a slave.
Just whisper to mother dear if you get a chance,
Her darling boy has one foot in the grave.

I went to a church festival about three weeks ago,
Was just because I had nothing else to do.
Of course I stayed for supper, which was fifty cents a chair.
The waiter brought me in some oyster stew.
I dipped my spoon into the stuff and found it was all milk.
I swore I'd never go there any more.
At last one lonely oyster came strolling up the top.
He looked me in the face and bravely said:

CHORUS: Just tell them that you saw me and I was in the soup.
I've been brought here just sixteen times alone.
Please, mister, don't you eat me; I'm the only one they have.
Remember you have children all your own.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jan 14 - 08:53 PM

I have a version of "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy" where it sounds like Uncle Dave Macon says "nigger on the log, finger on the trigger and eye on the hog". Does anyone else believe that's what it is? Sorry if the question has already been answered, I only skimmed most of the thread.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Jan 14 - 06:25 PM

To our last guest: You're right. As it explains above, Macon recorded KEEP MY SKILLET GOOD AND GREASY twice. He made the first recording in June 1924, and it was released on the Vocalion label; the second, made in January 1935, was released on the Bluebird label.

I believe I have listened to both versions on Spotify. One version, which I suppose is the first, is 2:32 in length, and he sings "There's a nigger on the log." On the other, which is 2:44 in length, he sings "There's a man on the log."

If you want to sing this, please use the "man" version.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jan 14 - 07:38 PM

I agree, I would definitely use the "man" version if I were to sing it aloud.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Nov 16 - 06:03 PM

I have an original recording of the song. I is on one of those ols thick original record. If interested please contact me @ cuyan21@yahoo.com


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Subject: Lyr Add: HILL BILLIE BLUES (Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Dec 16 - 07:04 PM

I have spelled a few words phonetically, as Macon pronounces them.

HILL BILLIE BLUES
As recorded by Uncle Dave Macon

1. I am a Billie and I live in the hills.
I can whistle an' sing like a whooperwill.
Come across the mountain right down in the holler
To see my little doney just as purty's she can waller.

CHORUS: Oh, tell me how long must I wait?
Lord, I get you now or, Lord, I hesitate.

2. Hello central; what's the matter with the line?
I can't talk to that girl of mine.
Storm last night blew all the phones down.
I can't talk to my Saro Brown.

3. As long as bacon is thirty cents a pound,
I'm goin' to eat a rabbit if I have to run 'im down.
Ice cream cone, bevo(?) steak,
You want to win a woman, get a daddy like a ape(?).

4. I been in the city 'n' I been in the town.
I been in the mountain with the blues rollin' down.
Jumped in the river an' I thought I would drown.
I spied a red-headed woman and I couldn't go down.

5. Whiskey, whiskey, I'm gonna let you be.
The bone-dry law made a Christian out o' me.
Goin' to Oklyhoma to marry me a squaw,
And have a big chief for a daddy-in-law.

6. Got water in the ocean; there's water in the sea.
Since the bone-dry, it's been water for me.
Been on the Southern, the Seaboard, too.
It takes a Henry Ford for to shake me an' you.

7. Oh, me and my partner we both ran to bed,
The jug o' white lightning right under my head.
When I woke up, my supper was cold.
My jug it was empty; Lord, my partner was told(?).


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST,cnd
Date: 15 Dec 16 - 11:33 PM

3: bevo(?) steak is T-Bone steak
daddy like a ape(?) is Cadillac eight
7 my partner was told(?). is my partner was full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnVqlsBlBNc


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Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE (Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Levana Taylor
Date: 14 Jul 21 - 11:10 PM

DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE
As sung by Uncle Dave Macon

I'm gonna sing you about my girl
Down by the river
Sweetest little girl in this world
Down by the riverside

Come my love and go with me
Down by the river
We'll go back to Tennessee
Down by the riverside

Oh lover, love me
Down by the river
Oh lover, love me
Down by the riverside

She dressed so neat and she looked so sweet
Down by the river
Shoes and hat and dressed complete
Down by the riverside

Talk about a pretty girl you oughta see mine
Down by the river
She ain't so good looking but she dress so fine
Down by the riverside

Oh lover, love me
Down by the river
Oh love tell me
Down by the riverside

She walked out late and she walked out sooner
Down by the river
You just ought to see her dressed in bloomers
Down by the riverside

I've been all around this whole round world
Down by the river
I hate the old man, but I love that girl
Down by the riverside

Oh lover, love me
Down by the river
Oh lover, love me
Down by the riverside

She walked so cute, she walked so stout
Down by the river
She walked so fast till she came plumb out
Down by the riverside

She sat down on a bumblebee
Down by the river
It raised a blister on her sister
Down by the riverside

Oh lover, love me
Down by the river
Oh lover, love me
Down by the riverside

Chew my tobacco, spit my juice
Down by the river
Love my doney but it ain't no use
Down by the riverside

I had a letter from the Shiloh town
Down by the river
Big St Louis was a-burning down
Down by the riverside

Oh lover, love me
Down by the river
Oh lover, love me
Down by the riverside

------------------

This is a somewhat naughty song by the standards of its recorded contemporaries. The non-rhyming couplet has me puzzled: "She sat down on a bumblebee/It raised a blister on her sister." What taboo word would rhyme with "bumblebee"?


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Subject: Lyr Add: PAPA’S BILLIE GOAT (Uncle Dave Macon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Feb 22 - 11:30 PM

You can hear this recording at the Internet Archive. However, Spotify has a clearer copy; it is on the Uncle Dave Macon album “Anthology: The Deluxe Collection (Remastered)” (2020).

My transcription: there are a few gaps, marked by ellipses […].

Note that verse 6 seems to be a precursor to “I’m My Own Grandpa.”


PAPA’S BILLIE GOAT
As recorded by Uncle Dave Macon on Vocalion B 14848 (1924)

1. Papa bought him a great big billy goat.
Mama she washed most every day,
Hung her clothes out on the line.
That darned old goat he come that way.

2. He pulled down the red flannel shirt.
He did sorta yank; them buttons crack,
But I'll get even with the son of a gun:
Gonna tie him across the railroad track.

3. Tied him across the railroad track.
Then a train was a-comin’ at a powerful rate.
He belched up that old red shirt
And then flagged down that darned old freight.

4. Went to the depot and I bought me a ticket.
I walked right in there; I sat down,
Stuck my ticket in the brim of my hat,
And the doggone wind blowed it out on the ground.

5. Conductor come around, says: "Gi’ me a ticket."
I had to pay again or be left on the track,
But I'll get even with the son of a gun.
I got a round-trip ticket and I ain't a-comin' back.

6. … an old fool, married me a widow.
The widow had a daughter by the name of Maud.
Father bein’ a widower, married her daughter
And now my daddy is my own son-in-law.

7. Had a little roll, laid it on the board.
… sugar in a gourd.
Sugar in a gourd, you want to get it out
The way to get sugar out,...

8. Come to town the other night.
I heard a little noise and I seed a little fight.
A police watchin’ an’ a-runnin’ all around,
But a load o’ white lightnin’ done come to town.

9. Had a little hen; she had a wooden leg,
The best durn hen that ever laid a egg.
… hen around the barn,
And another little wrinkle wouldn’t do me any harm.

10. I went down the old sage field.
A black snake grabbed me by my heel.
Soon I turned around; I’m gonna do my best,
And I run my head in a hornet’s nest.

11. Went right out upon the steeple
To look right down on the colored people.
Some were black and some were blacker,
And some were the color of a chew of tobacca.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: cnd
Date: 14 Feb 22 - 08:32 AM

The first word of stanza 6 is "Acted"
The first questionable line in stanza 7 is "Tune up the fiddle with the"
The second questionable line in stanza 7 is "Only way to get sugar out [is] to roll the gourd about" (assistance here thanks to the UArk Folk Song Collection)
The questionable line from stanza 9 is "She laid more eggs than any", and on the last line of that stanza it's "another little drink a-wouldn't do me any harm" rather than wrinkle

Otherwise, Jim, your ear is golden as ever!


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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: songs by Uncle Dave Macon
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 17 Feb 22 - 07:38 AM

I'd like to call your attention to a CD by friend Peter Feldmann of Santa Barbara called
"Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm" featuring topflight folk country performers doing the music of Uncle Dave. Peter has been singing and playing bluegrass and old-time music for years and in my opinion, a great player and performer. Byron Berline plays his ass off. Love this CD.


A spammer has decided to try to occupy this thread. If you wish to post musical content, as a moderator to reopen it for you. ---mudelf


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