Hi Jim,

I agree with you - there seems to be a 'h' sound rather than 'on', but I can't think what it might be. In fact, I am not sure the word is even 'children' - it sounds like it begins with a 'd' sound to me. However, I believe Uncle Dave is singing 'oh, carve, children, carve' in the last part of the chorus and this is clearest in the very last chorus. I can't hear 'grease' or 'sweet'; it seems to me he is simply singing 'Three or four potatoes in the pan'.

Meade indicates that Uncle Dave Macon & The Fruit Jar Drinkers was the only old-time group to record this. It was recorded on 7 May 1927 in New York City and issued as Vocalion 5151 in August 1927. It has been reissued on CD: Uncle Dave Macon 'Go Long Mule' County CO-CD-3505.

Earliest attribution in Meade is to Sam Lucas ca 1875. The Fiddler's Companion entry for this is:

CARVE DAT POSSUM [1]. See "'Possum Pie" and "Bile Them Cabbage Down." Old-Time, Song. USA; Tennessee, Oklahaoma. G Major. Standard. One part. Charles Wolfe (1991) identifies this as a piece written and performed by black minstrel Sam Lucas about 1870, that appears in a few collections of minstrel songs. Thede printed the following stanza with the tune, collected from Oklahoma fiddlers:
***
Carve dat 'possum Hannah,
Carve dat 'possum soon;
For de pan am ready,
An here am de spoon.
***
African-American collector Thomas Talley, in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (reprinted in 1991, edited by Charles Wolfe), gave the title as "An Opossum Hunt" and printed the text:
***
Possum meat is good an' sweet Carve him to de heart,
I always finds it good to eat, Carve him to de heart
Cho:
Charve dat possum!
Charve dat possum!
Charve dat possum!
Oh charve 'im to de heart!
***
My dog tree, I went to see Carve him to de heart,
A great big possum up dat tree Carve him to de heart,
I retch up an' pull him in, Carve him to de heart,
Dat ol' possum 'gin to grin, Carve him to de heart,
***
I tuck him home an' dressed him off Carve him to de heart,
Dat night I laind him in de' fros', Carve him to de heart,
De way I cooked dat possum sound, Carve him to de heart,
I fust parboiled, den baked him brown Carve him to de heart,
I put sweet taters in de pan, Carve him to de heart,
'Twas de bigges' eatin' in de lan' Carve him to de heart.
***
Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 69. Vocalation 5151 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon (1927).

POSSUM PIE. AKA- "Carve Dat Possum," "Bile Them Cabbage Down." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA. G Major. Standard. One Part. The tune is identified by Thede as a Negro 'banjo tune'.
**
Carve that 'possum Hannah,
Carve that possum soon;
For the pan is ready,
And I am the spoon.
**
Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 69.

--Stewie.