No, I missed that, Carter. Thanks for the link.

The song has "Rear back, Davy." The newspapers have a small handful.
The earliest is from the Woodville (Miss.) Republican (March 25, 1851):

"Rear back Davy -- Stand back, Dan;
I'd rather be a n----r than a poor whit man."


Charlotte Observer in 1873:

"Provided we can get Avery to stand on one side and pat and sing 'rare back Davy, &c."

The patting suggests an African-American tradition.

The Memphis Avalanche in 1886 criticizes somebody who called "Rack Back, Davy" "Rare back Davy." Interestingly it notes "No Democrat can afford not to know the air and the song of 'Rack-back Davy,' whose daddy shot a bear."

"Rare Back Davy" was played at an old-time fiddlers' contest in Austin in 1900.

Evidently "Rack [or Rare] back, Davy!" was a proverbial phrase. It seems to have meant something like "lay back and do nothing." I see only three examples.


Greensboro [N.C.] Patriot (Jan. 7, 1835):

"We surely had a right to expect that the new Administration spokesman in North Carolina would lead off for the party in this perplexing difficulty:but it appears that with him too its 'rack back Davy and come up behind!'"

Weekly Messenger (Mayfield, Ky.) (Jan. 3, 1915):

"These 'rear back Davys' always find excuses not to come."

Windsor [Mo.] Review (Sept 12, 1918):

"I have a motorcycle and a sidecar. The motorcycle has a driver, so I sit in the sidecar and 'rare back Davy!'"

Gillymor, The Fiddlers' Companion is now much expanded as The Traditional Tune Index. (No Davys.)