BTW, dictionaries are silent on any likely meaning of "jigger up behind." "Jig 'er" would be nearly as opaque.

If I had to guess, my weakly informed guess would be that "Rack Back Davy" was an alternate name for "Cumberland Gap."


The couplets scan well to a simple version of the tune, which is first mentioned in 1879 in Tennessee (which proves nothing except that it already existed). Words to a song called "Cumberland Gap" seem to have been set to that tune in 1862 or '63; perhaps that was the impetus for the name change.

Or not. All speculation, of course.