The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2410 Message #962066
Posted By: GUEST,Q
30-May-03 - 02:23 PM
Thread Name: ADD: Old Riley / Here Rattler Here
Subject: Lyr Add: RATTLER (from Talley)
Rattler seems to have originated in rural, rather than prison song.
The earliest version was printed by Natalie Curtis Burlin in Hampton Series, Negro Folk Songs, vol. 4 (p. 38) in 1919, under the title "Hyar, Rattler." Seemingly,it is much like the following, but I haven't seen it. Mentioned in Talley.
This one, from Talley, was collected in the 1920s.
Lyr. Add: RATTLER
Go call ole Rattle from de bo'n.
Here Rattler! Here!
He'll drive de cows out'n de co'n,
Here Rattler! Here!
Rattler is my huntin' dog,
Here Rattler! Here!
He's good fer rabbit, good fer hog,
Here rattler! Here!
He's good fer 'possum in de dew,
Here Rattler! Here!
Sometimes he gits a chicken, too.
Here Rattler! Here!
Talley, Thomas W., 1922, Negro Folk Rhymes. From reprint, 1991 edition, University of Tennessee Press, 63, pp. 40-41.
Tally mentions an early commercial recording by George Reneau, from East Tennessee, "Here, Rattler, here," Vocalion 14814, 1924.