The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #64888   Message #1065252
Posted By: Jim Dixon
04-Dec-03 - 12:58 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Happy Frisky Jim
Subject: Lyr Add: HAPPY FRISKY JIM
There is a version of HAPPY FRISKY JIM at the Max Hunter Collection. Unfortunately, the singer couldn't carry a tune in a bucket!

HAPPY FRISKY JIM
(As sung by Mrs. Olive Coberley in Wheatland, Missouri on November 26, 1959)

I'm my Daddy's only son,
Gay an' lively, full of fun.
Got the sweetest gal in town:
Constance Tiny Juice Harp Brown.

CHORUS: Go 'way now. Don't come nigh me.
Like a kite, up to fly me.
Can't be still. Come an' tie me.
Happy, frisky Jim.

I wish you could see my honey lamb
A mouth just like a big giraffe
A big schamon (?), on her head
Stuck up like feather bed.

When the music 'gins to ring,
An' the ladies dance an' sing,
Oh, they look so very neat,
Take this darkey off his feet.

[The notes say that Vance Randolph also collected it.]

The Folk Music Index lists 6 recordings of "Frisky Jim" or "Old Frisky Jim":

1. Hutchinson, Dick (Uncle Dick). Devil's Box, Devil's Box, Ser (196?), 30/4, p24
2. Lamb, Dwight. South Dakota Fiddling Contest, Foss, LP (1978), cut#A.02
3. Robertson, Lonnie. Missouri Fiddling by Lonnie Robertson, Caney Mountain CEP 211, SP (196?), cut# 4 (Old Frisky Jim)
4. Stoneking, Fred. Saddle Old Spike. Fiddle Music From Missouri, Rounder 0381, CD (1996), cut#26
5. Walters, Bob. Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, University of Missouri, LP (1973), cut# 3
6. Walters, Bob. Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1, University of Missouri, Bk (1973), # 3

On the Internet, I find this repeatedly referred to as a "fiddle tune." That probably means most recorded versions don't have words.