The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #36   Message #571146
Posted By: masato sakurai
13-Oct-01 - 08:15 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: songs of the U.S. Civil War
Subject: Lyr Add: JOHNNY IS MY DARLING & SIEGE OF VICKSBURG
Six songs are asked for here in one thread. The list seems to be of Civil War (Confederate) songs.

(1) 'Twas at the Siege of Vicksburg
(2) Maryland, My Maryland
(3) Where Are My Pants
(4) Johnny Is My Darling
(5) Shortening Bread
(6) Rose of Alabama

(2) is also in the DT (CLICK HERE). Since this is Maryland state song, there're a lot of lyrics sites for this (e.g., CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE). As a Confederate song, CLICK HERE ("My Maryland" in War Songs of the South), or CLICK HERE. The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music has 59 documents for MARYLAND! MY MARYLAND!, including the earliest edition of 1861 "written by a Baltimorean in Louisiana." The Library of Congress has "37 Items containing the exact words maryland my maryland", with the possibly first Confederate publication of 1862 by James P. Randall. Levy has another edition of 1862, which might be the first. If you are interested in "The Red Flag", to the same "O Tannenbaum" tune, CLICK HERE.

Of the remaining 5, (5) and (6) are already in the Forum.
(5) "Shortenig Bread" is HERE and HERE. On the music, see this Fiddler's Companion entry:

SHORTENIN' BREAD [1]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; east Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, north Georgia, Arkansas. A Major: D Major (Fuzzy Mountain String Band). Standard, ADAD (Reaves White County Ramblers) or AEAE. AABB. The melody has wide currency in the South, and appears in many traditional song collections starting with Perrow (1915). Perrow's version was collected from East Tennessee white singers, and has been called an "east Tennessee favorite" by musicologist Charles Wolfe. Mattie Cole Stanford, in her 1963 book Sourwood Tonic and Sassafras Tea, listed it as one of the tunes played at the turn of the century by fiddler George Cole of Etowah County, Alabama (Cauthen, 1990). It was one of the first tunes recorded by Kentucky fiddler Doc Roberts in the 1920's and was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, from the playing of Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's.
***
African-American collector Thomas Talley, in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (1922, a new edition 1991 edited by Charles Wolfe), prints a unique version of the song as "Salt Rising Bread," which goes:
***
I loves saltin', saltin' bread,
I loves saltin', saltin' bread.
Put on dat skillet, nev' mind de lead,
Caze I'se gwinter cook dat saltin' bread;
Yes, ever since my mammy's been dead,
I'se been makin' an' cookin' dat saltin' bread.
***
'Saltin' bread' seems to refer to bread made from water-ground corn meal, remarks Charles Wolfe, while the more common 'shortenin' bread' is bread mixed with bacon bits or bacon gravy, sometimes called 'cracklin' bread.' See also related tune "Three Little Niggers Layin' in Bed" (Pa.). Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1973; pg. 15. Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle Styles), 1979; pg. 12. County 519, Reaves White County Ramblers - "Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. 2." County 526, "The Skillet Lickers, Vol. 2" (1973). Gennett 6529 (78 RPM), 1928, Tweedy Brothers (W.Va. brothers Henry, Charles and George playing two fiddles and a piano). Mountain 310, Tommy Jarrell - "Joke on the Puppy" (1976. Learned from his father). Old Homestead OHCSS 191, "Dykes Magic City Trio" (east Tenn.). Rounder 0035, Fuzzy Mountain String Band - "Summer Oaks and Porch" (1973. Learned from Dan Tate, Fancy Gap, Va.). Rounder 0057, Fred Clifton - "Old Originals, Vol. 1" (1978). Rounder 0089, Oscar & Eugene Wright - "Old-Time Fiddle and Guitar Music from West Virginia." Rounder 0320, Bob Carlin & John Hartford - "The Fun of Open Discussion." Voyager VRLP 328-S, "Kenny Hall and the Long Haul String Band" (learned from a Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers recording).

SHORTENIN' BREAD [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. Standard. AABCC'D. See also the related tune "Irish Cobbler." Source for notated version: James Bryan [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 222. Conqueror 7975 (78 RPM), Doc Roberts (Ky). Rounder 0175, James Bryan - "Lookout Blues" (1983. Learned from Doc Roberts' recording).

SHORTENIN' BREAD [3]. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard. AA'BB'CC'DD'. A variation of version #2. Source for notated version: Gary Lee Moore [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 221.

(6) THE ROSE OF ALABAMA is HERE and HERE. This is one of the Confederate songs (CLICK HERE). Also in Levy (but only one page is given). A song sheet (without music) is in American Memory, Library of Congress.

(4) JOHNNY IS MY DARLING is in Irwin Silber, Songs of the Civil War (1960; reprint Dover, 1995, pp. 209-210), with music. Words by Father Reed; music: "Charlie Is My Darling." The original sheet music is in the Levy collection (CLICK HERE).

JOHNNY IS MY DARLING

Johnny is my darling, my darling, my darling,
Johnny is my darling, the Union Volunteer.

1. 'Twas on a sunny morning,
The brightest of the year,
When Johnny came to my town,
A Union Volunteer. (Chorus)

2. As he came marching up the street,
The bands played loud and clear;
And everyone came out to greet
The Union Volunteer. (Chorus)

3. With proudly waving starry flags
And hearts that knew no fear;
He came to fight for Freedom's rights,
A Union Volunteer. (Chorus)

4. But though he's gone to glory win,
And I left lonely here,
He'll soon return to me again
As Cupid's Volunteer. (Chorus)

(1) "'Twas at the Siege of Vicksburg" is in Edward Arthur Dolph, Sound Off!: Soldiers Songs From Yankee Doodle to Parley Voo (Cosmopolitan, 1929, pp. 287-289) and in Paul Glass, Singing Soldiers: A History of the Civil War in Song (1968; reprint Da Capo, 1975, pp. 208-210), both with music.

'TWAS AT THE SIEGE OF VICKSBURG

1. 'Twas at the siege of Vicksburg,
Of Vicksburg, of Vicksburg,
'Twas at the siege of Vicksburg,
When the Parrot shells were whistling through the air.

Listen to the Parrot shells,
Listen to the Parrot shells,
The Parrot shells are whistling through the air.
Listen to the Parrot shells,
Listen to the Parrot shells,
The Parrot shells are whistling through the air.

2. Oh, well will we remember,
Remember, remember,
Tough mule meat, June sans November;
And the minnie-balls that whistled through the air--

Listen to the minnie-balls,
Listen to the minnie-balls,
The minnie-balls are singing in the air.
Listen to the minnie-balls,
Listen to the minnie-balls,
The minnie-balls are singing in the air.

Note: "Words: Anonymous, Music: Septimus Winner. The Confederates adapted this catchy tune by a Northern composer to describe the bombardment of the strategic port city. The 'Minnie balls' and 'Parrot shells' were coming from General David Porter's Union fleet. The original title of the tune is 'Listening to the Mocking Bird.' Sep. Winner used the pen name of Alice Hawthorne in the first printing of this song." (Glass, p. 208)

(3) "Where Are My Pants"
Can't find this toughest one. Far more difficult than to find my pants.

~Masato