The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #56821 Message #890850
Posted By: Stewie
15-Feb-03 - 02:19 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: My Sweet Farm Girl (Clarence Ashley)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: my sweet farm girl Clarence Ashley
Hi Richie
I wouldn't think so; I have never heard it mentioned in that context. The Meade note is rather tantalising, but rather unsatisfying. It merely indicates that the song is older than the Carolina Tar Heels' 1930 recording. It would be interesting to know what type of 'work gang', Meade was referring to and the nature of the song before Ashley got hold of it. There is no specific mention of the song in Joe Wilson's notes in the booklet accompanying the Ashley 'Greenback Dollar' CD. In his notes to the 1969 Old Homestead Carolina Tar Heels reissue album (Old Homestead Collector's Series OHCS 133), Gerd F. Hadeler wrote: '"Farm Girl Blues' is more in the category of the Negro party blues - characterised by a less intensely introspective lyric, more suited for social entertainment. The words that Walsh and Garley Foster sing are laden with double entendre. This song was later recorded by Ashley and Gwen Foster'.
To me, it sounds more like the comic/doleful songs from the medicine shows whose origin would be impossible to trace and, particularly in the Ashley and Foster recording, there is a strong sense that the style of the performance may have been influenced by Jimmie Rodgers. For me, the song itself, as presented by the Carolinal Tar Heels and Ashley and Foster, does not particularly betray an exclusively black origin.
Regards, Stewie.