I've been searching various databases for a while looking for early mentions of American fiddle tunes.

To judge from books and newspapers, one of the more popular 19th century tunes was called "Rack Back Davy."

It may have been played in Missouri as early as the 1820s. It is definitely mentioned in neighboring Arkansas in 1837. Uncle Remus mentioned it. By 1900, "Rack Back Davy" was known in at least 15 states, from Pennsylvania to California and Louisiana to Idaho.

Confederate veteran Val C. Giles recollected that it was one of the tunes he heard played most often during the Civil War.

A few lyrics even found their way into print:


Rack back, Davy. Daddy shot a bear,
Shot him in the tail [or "eye" or "eyeball": draw your own          conclusions] and never touched a hair.

Rack back, Davy, jigger [or "rarin'" up behind;
You show me your foot [sic: draw your own conlcusions] and I'll show you mine.

Rack back, Davy. Don't care a damn [or "Stand up, Dan"].
I'd rather be a n----r than a mean white man.

Rack back, Davy, cuttin’ up a shine;
Gal with the red ha’r setttin’ up behine.

Rack back, Davy; cuttin’ up a shine;
High Betty Injin, tiptoe fine.

Oh! rack back Davy, cuttin’ up a shine;
Devil’s in the cane-brake, chasin’ up behine.

Two or three of the phrases are familiar from elsewhere.

Now here's the punchline: I've been unable, on line and elsewhere, to find an actual printed *tune* (or tunes) to go with the title! This is amazing, given the widespread playing of it (or them).

Incredibly too, "Rack Back Davy" doesn't appear in Vance Randolph's 1954 list of some hundreds of fiddle tunes played in the Ozarks: practically where the title was first mentioned! Nor is it in Ira W. Ford's "Traditional Music in America," whose editor was born in Missouri in 1878.

The Traditional Tune Index has no entry for it.

Surely such a popular tune couldn't have just disappeared. Presumably it (or they) still exists under different names. But what names? And why did the "Rack Back Davy" title vanish?

Was "Davy" Davy Crockett (176-1836), noted as a bear hunter?

Is there some connection with "Black Jack Davy"?

"Rack back" seems to mean "come back in a hurry," but not even that is certain.

Comments on any of this?