The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #54404   Message #842819
Posted By: Richie
06-Dec-02 - 11:37 PM
Thread Name: Steamboat coonjine songs
Subject: RE: Steamboat coonjine songs
Guest Q, good thread. I posted from that 1939 article in the Hook and Line thread:

Catfish swimmin' in de river
Nigger wid a hook and line.
Says de catfish, Lookyere, Nigger,
You ain' got me dis time.
....Come on, bale,- got yuh!
(cotton-loading song, New Orleans

There is also a banjo piece named "Roustabout" that is related to "Shout Lulu." The lyrics don't have the steamboat theme. Here is some info about "Ropustabout' from A Fiddler's Companion:

ROUSTABOUT. AKA and see "Shout Lu/Lulu," "Shout Little Lulu/Lulie." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; southwestern Va, western N.C. C Major/G Major (Dent Wimmer): D Major (Dan Tate). GDGD. AABB. The tune is known as a banjo song and employs a special tuning on that instrument.
***
How can you be so mean to me,
Been so good to you.
Wish to the Lord I'd never been born,
Died when I was so young;
Never be here to eat this salty meat,
Or hear your lying tongue.
Who's Gonna shoe your pretty white foot,
Who's gonna glove your hand;
Who's gonna kiss your ruby red lips,
When I'm in a far off land.
Papa will shoe my pretty white feet,
Mama will glove my hand;
Nobody's gonna kiss my ruby red lips,
'Till you return again. (Tom Carter & Blanton Owen)
***
Source for notated version: Fuzzy Mountain String Band (North Carolina), who had the tune from Gaither Carlton {d. 1972} (Deep Gap, N.C.) [Brody, Spandaro]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 236. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 32. Heritage XXXIII, Dan Tate (Fancy Gap, Va.) - "Visits" (1981). Kicking Mule 213, Susan Cahill- "Southern Clawhammer Banjo." Rounder 0035, Fuzzy Mountain String Band- "Summer Oaks and Porch" (1973). Rounder 0057, Dent Wimmer (Payne's Creek section, Floyd County, Va.) - "Old Originals, Vol. 1" (1978. Learned from the Smith boys {John, Dink, and Dan} of Green Creek, Va.).

Richie