My maternal grandfather sang a Davy Crockett song, but, shamefully, no one stepped in to carry one singing these songs. I have one very poor recording of it, so I can't even include all of the words. Some of them I was stunned to see at this site, but this was the second half of the song; the rest sounds like it was made up of bits and pieces of other songs. On this thread, I saw more familiar words, but they still do not duplicate my granddad's song, which was recorded by a professor at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, along with other songs, including the family's version of "Sweet Betsy from Pike" and one he called "Old Mickey Flannagan's Bull Pup".

This isn't exactly what Daddy Claude sang, but it's fairly close:
DAVY CROCKETT

I'll tell you of a fight that I had with Davy Crockett,
He was half and half horse and half kill-rocket.
I met him a-going out a-cooning .
Said I, "Where' s your gun?"
Said he, "I have none."
Just then l sald.
"How you going to kill a coon?"
Said he, "Pompey Smash, come and go along with Davy
And l'll show you mighty quick how to grin a coon crazy."
We hadn't went very far until we saw a squirrel
Sitting on a pine log, eating sheep sorrel.
He backed both ears and he brayed like a sinner.
And Colonel Davy Crockett was a-grinning for his dinner.
"Take care of black calf
And don't you laugh,
l'll back both ears.
And l'll bite you in half."
I took off my coat and laid down my ammunition.
Said I. "Davy Crockett, I'll cool your ambition.
We fought about a half a day and then agreed to drop it.
For I was badly whipped and so was Davy Crockett.

Recorded by Sarah Ogan Gunning, Folk Legacy

The following lyrics are in a post far above this one:
A version of Davy Crockett (DT) by Sarah Ogan Gunning has a different ending in this version from Randolph, Ozark Folksongs.
Both are based on "Pompey Smash," an old minstrel tune: Lloyd's Ethiopian Song Book (London, 1847) and The Negro Singers Own Book, Philadelphia, 1846.

Lyr. Add: DAVY CROCKETT 2

Now, I'll tell you what I think of old Davy Crockett,
He's half horse, half coon, and half sky-rocket.
I met him one day a goin' out a-coonin'.
I ask him where he's goin' an' he said he's goin' huntin'.
Oh I ask him where's his gun, an' he said he had none.
Says I, Colonel Davy, how you goin' get 'em down?

Says he, Pompey Smash, just follow your Uncle Davy,
An' he'll soon show you how to grin a coon crazy.
We hadn't gone far till Davy thought he seen a squirrel
A-settin' on a pine-knot eatin' sheep sorrel.
Then I begin to laugh an' he began to grin,
Says he, Pompey Smash, let me brace against your heel!

So I stuffed out my heel an' I braced up the sinner,
An' Davy he begin to grin pretty hard for his dinner,
But the critter didn't move, an' he didn't seem to mind it,
But just kept a-eatin', an' didn't look behind it.
Now don't laugh, you big black calf,
For if you do, I'll bite you in half!

We fought half a day an' then agreed to stop it,
For I was badly whipped an' so was Davy Crockett,
When we looked for our heads, Gosh, we found 'em both a-missin',
For he bit off my head an' I'd swallowed his'n!

Text collected by G. E. Hastings, Fayetteville, AK, before 1938. From Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, 1980 reprint, vol. 3, p. 167.

THIS IS MY DADDY CLAUDE'S VERSION of "DAVY CROCKETT":
On a old high bluff in the state of Indiana,
Well-a there's where I lived chucked up in a shanty,
And old massa licked me nearly every morning
When I grabbed boat and paddle and
Jumped aboard a skiff
Upon a river drift;
Killed a-many carp and never niggard less.

Once 'pon a drift, I spied an alligator,
And I jumped in the boat, and I shucked a sweet potater.
Well I couldn't figure out just how I could fix him.
Then I brought me up a brick
Well I fotched him such a lick
It was nothin' but a pine knot upon an oak stick.

Now little Miss Puck married little Willy Wheezer;
Never do you think that-a Billy would deceive her;
He grabbed up the cash, and he shake 'em in his pocket,
And you can't fool around while I sing you "Davy Crockett". [My guess is the song title.]
And all at once he cried;
He's gone off forever on the Philadel-fee-eye [the pronunciation].

Now. one early morning just before the day was broken,
I thought to meself I heared the frogs croakin';
I jumped up, poked me head through the window,
And the moon rushed in like a fire upon the timber
In the d'rection of the noise
By jings! I'll tell you I was one of those boys.

Now I'll tell you of my folks; I'll tell you of my sermon;
I'll tell you where I come from and where I got my learnin'.
I's a redhot, overginned, second best to none
On this side son
By jings! Without my head, I weighed a half a ton.

I'll tell ya of a fight I had with Davy Crockett;
He's a half-coon, half-hoss, rest skyrocket.
And I met Colonel Davy, and Davy goin' huntin'.
Says I, "Colonel Davy, where is your gun?"
Says he, "I got none."
"How ya gonna kill a coon without one?"

Follow 'long with Davy, and Davy's gonna show you how to grin a coon.
Critter followed Davy. Davy saw a squirrel
Settin' on a pine knot eatin' sheepy shirrell (sheep sorrell)
Well he eat 'm and he eat 'm, and he didn't 'pear to mind him
And he eat 'm and he eat 'm, and he never looked behind him
Well he surely must be dead.
We could see the bark flyin' all around the creature's head.

Both went up for the truth to discover
[I absolutely cannot interpret some of the words due to background noise. I plan to contact an aunt who might know the words.]
...if it wasn't a pine knot as big as any barrel.
Says I, "Colonel Davy, that-a surely ain't no squirrel."

"You big man john, giddyup poor beggar, eat a bushel parched corn
Swim-a Salt River back'ards. You kill nine niggers, [not PC~Sorry!]
You curly-faced calf, you better not laugh.
I'll pin back me ears and I'll bite you in the half."

Laid down my gun, throwed down my amminition (sic)
Says I, "Colonel Davy, I'll cool your ambition."
And then we locked arms.
Thought my breath was gone.
I's never held so tight since the hour I was born.

Then we fit for half a day, and then we 'greed to stop it;
I was badly licked, and so was Davy Crockett.
And when we went to find our heads, both heads was missin',
And he'd bit off my head, and I'd swallowed his'n.
And then we did agree
For to leave each other be.
I's awful hard for him, and so was he for me.

What the family always wondered about is the variety of topics; only the last portion is about Davy Crockett though his name or the name of the song appears in the third stanza. My granddad's people not only settled in Illinois but also Pike County, Missouri, from which they became latecomer 49ers in California. My theory is that the song developed around the campfires, where singers united bits and pieces of other songs into the final family product. The tune has an uneven rhythm at times, and the words seem to break up the tune, as if the two are being forced together. The stanzas don't follow the same pattern, with the long and short lines.

How wonderful to find these pieces of the song! Maybe I should check out "Pompey Smash", although that name doesn't appear in the family version.