Lyr Req/Add: All the Day Singing

Subject: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,karzarian
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 01:30 PM

You wrote a verse to All the Day Singing back in June.

Would you please tell me other verses and from where does the song come??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: open mike
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 04:05 PM

i remember this as one of the
songs presented in a t.v. guitar
course i took in 1970 or so.
All the day a singing,
supper on the ground...
the teacher's name was Laura
not sure if the book is still
around but i did have it once...
i hope we can get the lyrics..
cuz they are gone from my memory banks...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: open mike
Date: 02 Jan 05 - 04:10 PM

this person took the same t.v. guitar lessons...and remembers the song.
perhaps they have the book still??
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=11225#175229

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: Flash Company
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 10:10 AM

Guest: Kazarian... I heard it from the Spinners, Can't remember all the words, but they credited it to Woody, and I seem to recall Pete Seeger doing it too. If I can find the rest of the words 'I'll be back'

FC

Subject: Lyr Add: ALL DAY SINGING (from Spinners)
From: Flash Company
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 10:41 AM

Kazarian.... A bit of googling works wonders sometimes.
Source mysongbook.de/msb/songs/a/alldaysi

ALL DAY SINGING (from Spinners)

All day singing, supper's on the ground
Old folk and young folk are gathering round
All of the neighbours you'll get to see
Oh come along Mary, Come sit by me

Some from Leicester and far away
Come early in the morning and stay all day
Every kind of fiddle you ever did see
Oh come along Mary, come sit by me

Bring your fried chicken, and your chocolate cake
Bring all the goodies that you can bake
Bring along your guitar, harmonica too
Oh come along Mary, oh come along do

Repeat first verse

This was the Spinners version so no doubt the town of Leicester was interchangeable to fit where they were performing. Apparently learnt from Joe Locker of the New Deal String Band.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,karzarian
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 03:23 PM

THANK YOU! I heard before but did not have all the words. The person I heard it from thinks it comes from Louisiana. In my searches for it I found out Supper on the Ground referred to the gathering of church communities for services and then a social afterwards becuase they would all be hungry! So it was on the church grounds. I guess it was like a pot-luck supper with music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,karzarian
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 03:33 PM

Are you talking about the Spinners of Motown fame?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Flash Company- All the Day Singing
From: Burke
Date: 03 Jan 05 - 05:34 PM

All day singing with dinner or supper has been going on in the shape note singing communities for at least 150 years. With 4-5 hrs singing & 1 eating, they are more, singing with pot luck than the reverse. I think some Baptist Associations will also have all day singing events.

They are still going on: Here's a directory

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: Flash Company
Date: 04 Jan 05 - 10:19 AM

Karzarian... No, I'm talking about the Spinners of Liverpool fame.
A UK Folk group, now retired, although I believe Hughie still does a bit now and then.
I found the Louisiana link too, Seems to be a good explanation.

FC

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,Thad
Date: 16 Nov 07 - 12:01 PM

I remember a slightly different version of the first verse from 4th grade. I couldn't recall the first line until I read this thread. That has been bothering me for forty years, so thank you. I have been looking for the book we used (in Missouri) for a long time, too, but don't know what it was or where to look for it.

All the day a-singin', supper on the ground
Older folks and young'uns gathered around
Ev'ry kind of vittles you ever did see,
So come along Mary, and set by me.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 10 - 08:04 PM

All the day a-singin', supper on the ground
Older folks and young'uns gathered around
Ev'ry kind of vittles you ever did see,
So come along Mary, and set by me

Come along from Gloucester and from Toxaway(sp?)
Come on in the morning stay here all day
Bring along your fiddle, your dad's guitar, too
Come along Mary and set by me

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 01:32 PM

I'd be willing to bet that the words are:

All day singing - supper on the grounds.

Because 'supper on the ground' i.e., on the surface of the earth where the dirt and bugs are, is very unappetizing and surely has never been done.

Whereas 'supper on the grounds' - i.e, the outdoor property of the church, is simply a picnic and is a nice idea.
===
How do you pronounce 'Leicester'?

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: Little Robyn
Date: 22 Feb 10 - 01:39 PM

Lester.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: Burke
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 05:44 PM

Leeneia, that's what I thought when I first heard the "on the ground" expression. What I've since learned is that it probably did mean a blanket on the ground with the food spread out. Folding chairs, and truck tail gates would be more accurate for today.

Subject: RE: Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,anna
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 03:48 AM

It is "on the grounds" and people are still doing it, as per this link:

http://www.thepilot.com/news/2010/aug/29/weymouth-supper-on-the-grounds-set-for-september/

Subject: Lyr Add: SUPPER ON THE GROUND
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jul 13 - 11:58 AM

When I was very young, my teacher Angeline Comorre, took out an autoharp and taught her whole third grade class "Supper on the Ground". The song was printed in our children's songbook, and had a picture of yes, people sitting at a picnic on the ground, with a checked tablecloth, and food, and someone was playing a guitar and folks were singing.

The words we learned then were similar to all the versions above:

"All the day a' singin', supper on the ground
Older folks and young'uns', gathered around
All your friend and neighbors, you surely will see
Come along Mary, and set by me" (It was SET and on SIT, colloquial I suppose)

Come along from Gloucester, and from Toxaway
Come here in the morning, stay here all day
Bring along your fiddle, your Pa's guitar too
Come along Mary, and set by me.

Bring your Ma's fried chicken, and some chocolate cake
bring vanilla pudding, all you can make
Every kind of vittle, you surely will see
Come along Mary, and set by me.
Come along Mary, and set by me.

One of the nicest songs I learned as a child. My family still sings it with guitar!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,Garen
Date: 02 Jul 15 - 02:24 AM

In the late 1960's or early 1970's, I learned to play guitar from a show on Public TV called "Folk Guitar with Laura Weber". This was her opening theme song. The song she used for closing the show was, "Sound of Freedom". "What's that I hear now, singing in my ear..."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,Garen
Date: 02 Jul 15 - 02:32 AM

My mistake on previous post.   The Song Laura Weber used to close her show, "Folk Guitar with Laura Weber" was "Freedom Calling".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST,Bob Coltman
Date: 02 Jul 15 - 07:06 PM

"All Day Singin'" was, I believe, first recorded by Adelaide Van Wey on an early Folkways release c. 1950.

Is Ms Van Wey is also the song's composer? I haven't seen the song elsewhere before that date, but I have never been able to pin her authorship down for sure.

Her album, titled All Day Singin', is still available on Smithsonian Folkways FW02009 / FA 2009, which also includes her wonderful "Birdie," "Blackbird and the Crow" and "The Cheat" and four fine Louisiana French Creole songs.

She's a mellow singer with a lovely voice, and this album is well worth hearing.

The "All Day Singin'" track, plus the remaining seven tracks, can be heard at
http://www.folkways.si.edu/adelaide-van-wey/all-day-singin-louisiana-and-smoky-mountain-ballads/american-folk-cajun/music/album/smithsonian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Jul 15 - 10:24 PM

On here 1950 All Day Singin' album on Folkways, Adelaide Van Wey says the song was "collected by Donald Lee Moore of Brevard, North Carolina.

In 1949, Vay Wey and Moore published a book titled Smoky Mountain Ballads, "collected and arranged by Adelaide Van Wey and Donald Lee Moore." Songs in the book were:

All day singin' supper on the ground -- Leather britches beans -- Birdie -- Workin' on the road -- The grave in the clearin' -- Lazy man -- Sorgums (Sorghum) -- The killer -- The wife's lament -- The cheat

I haven't found any version earlier than this 1950 recording. The song is not listed in the Traditional Ballad Index, and I couldn't find it in Roud. There is a gospel song that appears to be based on this traditional song, but the only other recording of the traditional song that I found was the fun recording by the Spinners on their In Concert album.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: All the Day Singing
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Aug 17 - 05:12 PM

Hey.
I know about the background of All Day Singing...my Dad and Don and Al Moore hiked back in the hollers meeting folk and families and hermits. If you want to know more about the history,let me know . [e-mail]