The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #79702   Message #1447598
Posted By: Joe Offer
31-Mar-05 - 02:48 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Methodist Pie
Subject: Lyr Add: METHODIST PIE (from Vance Randolph)
I don't think it would be right to have just one version of the song, would it? Here are two from Vance Randolph's Ozark Folksongs.
Oh, by the way, I can tell you as a Catholic, that Catholic pie isn't very tasty.
But you can drink beer at a Catholic Friday night fish fry.
-Joe Offer-

Methodist Pie
(Randolph #291A)

I went to the camp meetin' t'other afternoon,
To hear them shout and sing,
And tell each other how they love one another
And to make hallelujah ring.
They all went there to have a good time,
And eat the grub so sly,
Applesauce, butter, sugar in the gourd,
And a great big Methodist pie.

CHORUS
Oh little chillens, I believe,
Oh little chillens, I believe,
Oh little chillens, I believe,
I'm a Methodist till I die.
Methodist, Methodist is my belief,
Methodist till I die.
Till old grim Death comes a-knockin' at the door,
I'm a Methodist till I die.

There was old Uncle Daniel and Brother Ebeneezer,
Uncle Rufus and his lame gal Sue,
Polly and Malindy and old Brother Bendy,
You never saw a happier crew.
You ought to hear the ringin' when they all got to singin'
That good old By and By,
And see Jim Magee in the top of a tree
Sayin' how is this for high?

They all took hands and walloped round the ring,
Kept singin' all the while,
You'd have thought it was a cyclone comin' through the air,
You could hear them shout half a mile.

Sung by Mrs. Laura Wasson, Elm Springs, Arkansas, January 28, 1942. Sometimes she sings this with "an exaggerated nigger-minstrel pronunciation," using de for the, udder for other, etc.

Click to play




Here's #291B, from Mrs. Lillian Short of Galena, Missouri, February 23, 1941. It seems to be an alternate ending of the song, with some overlap with #A

Then they all catch hands and march around the ring,
Keep a-singin' all the while,
You'd think it was a cyclone coming through the air,
You could hear them shout a half a mile.

Then the bell rings loud and a great big crowd
Breaks ranks and up they fly,
While I took the board on the sugar in the gourd
And cleaned up the Methodist pie.