Lyr Req: Old Gray Mare

Subject: ADD: The Old Gray Mare (Perrow)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 May 05 - 02:27 PM

Many versions. Perrow collected this one in 1906 from Tennessee whites.

Lyr. Add: The Old Gray Mare (Perrow)

Ole Turkey-Buzzard come a-flyin' a-by, (3X)
Says, "Ole man, yore mare's gon die."

Ef she dies, I'll tan her skin; (3x)
Ef she don't, by doggies!(1) I'll ride 'r agin'.

She got so pore I couldn't ride; (3X)
Bones stuck up right thoo her hide.

Then I hooked 'r to the plough; (3X)
Swore by doggies! she didn't know how.

Then I skinned some pop-paw(2) lines; (3X)
Swore by doggies! she'd take her time.

Then I turned her daown the creek; (3X)
For her to hunt some grass to eat.

Then I follerd daown the track; (3X)
Found 'r in a mudhole flat uv 'r back.

Then I felt so devlish stout, (3X)
Grabbed her by the tail en' puller 'r out.

Then I thought it weren't no sin; (3x)
Took out my knife en' begun to skin.

Refrain
Yankty doodle dum, yankty dee,(3)
Yankty doodle dum, yankty dee.

With music. (1) a common expression in East Tennessee. (2) paw-paw tree. (3) Imitation of the sound of a banjo-string.
Collected from East Tennessee mountain whites; 1906.
E. C. Perrow, 1911, "Songs and Rhymes from the South," II. Songs in which animals figure, 1., JAFL, vol. 25, pp. 137-155. On line, www.immortalia.com

A related song from whites; "I Had a Little Mule and His Name Was Jack."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Gray Mare
From: GUEST,Joe_F
Date: 26 May 05 - 09:44 AM

In Vermont, when I was little, she merely pissed on the whiffletree.

--- Joe Fineman    [e-mail]

||: If you are sitting 5 feet from me, you are seeing me as I was 5 nanoseconds ago. :||

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Gray Mare
From: Abby Sale
Date: 26 May 05 - 09:38 AM

Hmmm. I never connected Old Gray Mare and Little Black Bull (Sam Houston) until now. Obvious when it's pointed out to me! Thanks.

For what it's worth, I'll post the version I learned from Cyril Tawney. He sang it in his "mock rustic" style and declared the version was collected in England - but didn't much into where/when. I was taken with the pronounciation of Houston as "hoos-ton." The all-but-the-same DigTrad version is at Click

  Sam Houston
  
  1. There was an 'eifer in a medder   [meadow] 
             Houston, Sam Houston 
     There was an 'eifer in a medder 
             A long time ago. 
   
          CHO:        It was a long time ago-o-o, 
                  A long time ago-o-o, 
                  There was an 'eifer in a medder 
                  A long time ago-o-o, 
   
  2. There was a fence adound that medder 
             Houston, Sam Houston 
     There was a fence adound that medder 
             A long time ago. 
   
          CHO: 
   
  3. A big black bull came down from the mountain. 
   
  4. He jumped that fence and he oofed that 'eifer. 
   
  5. He missed his mark and he phttt in the medder. 
   
  6. The big black bull went back to the mountain. 
   
  7. His head hung low but his balls hung lower.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD GREY MARE (from Leroy Troy)
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 05 - 08:50 AM

leRoy Troy's version is as follows:

The old spare tire ain't what it used to be,
Ain't what it used to be, ain't what it used to be.
Can't even tell where the retread used to be,
Many long years ago.

The old grey mare is back where she used to be,
Back where she used to be, back where she used to be.
The old grey mare is back where she used to be,
Many long years ago.

She might be old and lean, but she don't need no gasoline.
Yes, the old grey mare is back where she used to be
Many long years ago.

The old grey mare is gettin' more attention, gettin' more attention,
Gettin' more attention, than a widow with a pension.
Yes, the old grey mare is getting more attention,
Than she did long years ago.

And, with all that attention, she's gettin' quite a temperament,
Gettin' quite a temperament, gettin' quite a temperament,
Why they bobbed her tail and gave her tail permanent,
Like they did long years ago.

The farmer hurries home, and grabs the curry comb.
The kids all rush out to the barn, give her oats and hay,
Didn't mean no harm.
Yes, the old grey mare is gettin' more attention
Than she did long years ago.

The farmer and the old grey mare,
They stand by the side of the thoroughfare,
And they make more money standing there, than they did long years ago

The cars a go a speeding right pass, going mighty fast
As they go a whizzin' right past.
A few more miles down, they a'run out a gas,
And the farmer pulls them home.

The farmer gets ten bucks, for towin' cars and trucks.
He's the one they all called a boob, called him a hick,
Called him a rube.
But he ain't got no flat inner tube.
He and the old grey mare.

The garage of yesterday, is full of oats and hay,
And, stead of talking about oil and gas,
They're talking oats and hay, corn and grass.
Yep. The old grey mare is back where she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Gray Mare
From: kendall
Date: 26 May 05 - 07:57 AM

The way I heard it as a boy, the old gray mare she "SHAT" on the wiffle tree. The wiffle tree of course was a part of the rigging for a wagom, the wooden cross piece that the stouters attached to.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old Gray Mare
From: Goose Gander
Date: 26 May 05 - 02:11 AM

And then there's all this, courtesy of the Ballad Index....


Old Gray Mare, The (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)
DESCRIPTION: Concerning an old gray mare (old gray horse, little black bull) that came out of the wilderness (down the meadow, etc.) in Alabam/Arkansas/A long time ago/On to Galilee. Other animals may also be involved. May be used as a playparty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: horse animal nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Randolph 271, "The Old Gray Horse" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune); 559, "Out of the Wilderness" (1 short text, 1 tune); also possibly 429, "John the Boy, Hello!" (1 text, 1 tune, so short that one cannot tell whether it is the same piece or a different one)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 231-232, "The Old Gray Horse" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 271A)
BrownIII 174, "The Old Grey Horse Came Tearing Through the Wilderness" (3 short texts; "A" adds an unusual chorus, "Roll, Riley, roll (x3), Oh, Lord, I'm bound to go")
Sandburg, pp. 102-103, "Old Gray Mare"; 164-165, "Hoosen Johnny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 65-68, "Down in Alabam' or Ain't I Glad I Got Out de Wilderness"" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 45, "In the Wilderness" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 336-338, "Tearin' Out-a Wilderness" (2 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 397, "Hoosen Johnny"; p. 398, "The Old Gray Mare" (2 texts)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 63, "The Old Grey Mare" (1 text, tune referenced)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 408-409, "The Old Gray Mare -- (Get Out of the Wilderness)"
Roud #751
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "The Old Grey Mare" (Conqueror 8686, 1936)
Milton Brown & his Brownies, "The Old Grey Mare" (Decca 5260, 1936)
Fiddlin' John Carson & Moonshine Kate, "The Old Gray Horse Ain't What He Used to Be" (OKeh 45471, 1930)
[Arthur] Collins & [Byron] Harlan "Old Grey Mare" (Victor 18387, 1917) (Emerson 7298, c. 1917)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Old Grey Mare" (Perfect 12421/Conqueror 7071, 1928)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Old Gray Mare Kicking Out of the Wilderness" (OKeh 45183, 1928; rec. 1927)
[?] Jones and [Ernest] Hare "The Old Grey Mare" (Edison 51618, 1925)
Elmo Newcomer, "Old Grey Mare" (Cromart 101, n.d. but prob. mid-1930s)
Land Norris, "Old Grey Mare" (OKeh 45047, 1926)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "The Old Gray Mare" (Columbia 15170-D, 1927)
University Quartet, "The Old Gray Mare" (Pathe 20267, 1917)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness" (tune)
cf. "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" (tune)
cf. "The Big Black Bull"
cf. I Ain't a-Scared of Your Jail (tune, structure)
cf. "Horsie, Keep Your Tail Up" (lyrics)
cf. "Go in the Wilderness" (tune, structure)
SAME TUNE:
Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness (File: San168)
Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts (File: PHCFS133)
Flaotin' Down the Delaware (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 157)
I Don't Give a Darn for the Whole State of Iowa (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 251)
I Ain't A-Scared of Your Jail (on PeteSeeger35)
Notes: The 1858 sheet music credits this to "J. Warner," but no information about Warner has been recovered, and there are indications that the song was in the Black traditional repertoire before the 1850s.
A common bit of folklore claims that this is based on the exploits (?) of an animal that took fright during the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862. The date of the sheet music, of course, proves this false. - RBW
Sam Hinton traces this to an African-American spiritual, "I Wait Upon the Lord" ("If you want to get to heaven go in the wilderness... and wait upon the Lord"). - PJS [See now the Index entry for "Go Into the Wilderness." - RBW]
Are you sure this is the same ballad as "Little black bull come down the meadow/Hoosen Johnny, Hoosen Johnny"? I think they're part of the same family, but maybe we should split them. By the way, there's a great bawdy version of "Hoosen Johnny" called "Houston, Sam Houston", with sound effects. - PJS
It's another case of the extremes being different but the intermediate versions being too mixed to clearly distinguish. Easier to lump the whole family here. If we don't, we WILL mess up. Or, at least, I will. The versions of this song are so diverse that it gets to the point of parodying itself.... - RBW
File: R271

The degree to which all of these are variants of the same song is open to debate, I suppose.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD GREY MARE (THE WHIFFLE TREE)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 26 May 05 - 12:46 AM

From Indiana University Sheet Music Collections:

THE OLD GREY MARE (THE WHIFFLE TREE)
Frank Panella, 1915.

1. Oh! the old grey mare was
Fighting at the front,
Fighting at the front,
Fighting at the front.
The old grey mare was
Fighting at the front
Many long years ago,
Many long years ago,
Many long years ago.
The old grey mare was
Fighting at the front,
Fighting at the front,
Fighting at the front.
Oh! The old grey mare was
Fighting at the front
Many long years ago.

2. Oh! The old grey mare ain't
What she use to be,
What she use to be,
What she use to be.
The old grey mare ain't
What she use to be
Many long years ago,
Many long years ago,
Many long years ago.
Oh! The old grey mare ain't
What she use to be,
What she use to be,
What she use to be.
Oh! The old grey mare ain't
What she use to be
Many long years ago.

Similarly:
3. The old grey mare she
Kicked at the whiffle tree....

4. The old grey mare stood
Under the apple tree....

5. Oh! The old grey mare was
Burning up the track....

6. Oh! The old grey mare she
Lost a tooth or two....

7. Oh! The old grey mare she
Carried Uncle Sam....

8. Oh! The old grey mare she
Liked her applejack....

8. Oh! The old grey mare she
Chewed tobacco too....

Subject: RE: Lyrics to Old Gray Mare
From: Dick Wisan (erratum)
Date: 25 Jun 99 - 10:41 AM

Ooops!. Bungle. Should have been:

If you wanna have a good fight,
Jine the cavalry [3 times]
If you wanna have a good fight,
Jine the cavalry,
Rally boys, around.

THEN

Rally boys around [bis] If you wanna have a good fight
Jine the Cavalry
Rally boys around.

Subject: RE: Lyrics to Old Gray Mare
From: Dick Wisan
Date: 25 Jun 99 - 10:34 AM

rich r's WWI version:

Oh we don't have to hike like the infantry,
Ride like the calvary
Shoot like the artillery
Oh, we don't have to fly over Germany
We're the Q.M.C. [et al]

looks like a re-work on a (Confederate) US Civil War version, parts of which go like this:

If you wanna have a good fight,
Jine the cavalry [3 times]
Rally, boys, around. [3 times]
If you wanna have a good fight,
Jine the cavalry,
Rally boys, around.

Oh, we are the boys who
Rode around MacClellian...

Stuart's people, no doubt.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD GRAY MARE CAME ... (parody)
From: Jon W.
Date: 25 May 99 - 01:47 PM

I've posted this before but here goes again:

The old gray mare came floatin' down the Delaware
Looking for her underwear
Couldn't find 'em anywhere
The old gray mare she had to buy another pair
Many long years ago.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD GREY HORSE CAME TROTTING DOWN ...
From: rich r
Date: 25 May 99 - 12:21 AM

The Frank C Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore lists a variant of the lyrics Joe posted, but not much in the way of explanation except that it was described as a lullaby by the source of this version.

The old grey horse came trotting down the wilderness
Trotting down the wilderness
Trotting down the wilderness
The old grey horse came trotting down the wilderness
Down in Alabam.

Roll, Riley, roll
Roll, Riley, roll
Roll, Riley, roll
Oh, Lord, I'm bound to go

VAnce Randolph's "Ozark Folksongs" contains some other verses:

Little black bull come down in the wilderness....
Long time ago.

Was an old mule and he come from Jerusalem..
Down in Alabam

Barnum caught him, put him in his museum....

Ain't you mighty glad to get out o' the wilderness...

Fifteen cents to get out o' the wilderness....

Randolph also indicated that a related religious marching song called "Go in the Wilderness" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1867.

Then there is the version that goes :

The old grey mare went Ptthhft! down the Delaware ...
Many long years ago.

The old grey mare went Ptthhft! on the whiffletree...
(The Ptthhft! is a sound commonly called a "raspberry")

Parodies from WWI era:

1. The poor old Kaiser ain't what he used to be... Many long years ago.

2.Oh we don't have to hike like the infantry,
Ride like the calvary
Shoot like the artillery
Oh, we don't have to fly over Germany
We're the Q.M.C.

We're in the Q.M. C.
We're in the Q.M.C.
Oh we don't have to hike......

3. Oh Uncle Sammy, he pays the infantry
He pays the calvary,
He pays the artillery,
And then, by gosh, he closes the treasury
To hell with the engineers.

4. Oh, Uncle Sammy, he needs the signal corps,
Wigwag and semaphore
He gets them by the score,
And then, by jing, we're off for a foreign shore,
Good-by, Kaiser Bill!

From the University of Minnesota:

I don't give a damn for the whole state of Iowa....
'Cuz who the hell likes corn.

Finally (for now) there is the scholastic medley of "Row your boat" and "Old Grey Mare"

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Throw the teacher overboard
And listen to her scream.

Five days later she couldn't find her underwear
Couldn't find her underwear,
Didn't have a thing to wear*
Ten days later she was eaten by a polar bear
And that was the end of her

*could this refer to a blue clicky thing that she was lacking?

rich r

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE OLD GRAY HORSE CAME TEARING ...
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 99 - 06:49 PM

Ah, now it's beginning to make sense:

The Old Gray Horse Came Tearing Through The Wilderness

The old gray horse came tearing through the wilderness
Tearing through the wilderness
Tearing through the wilderness
The old gray horse came tearing through the wilderness
Making for de road

Ho, Dinah, ho,
Ho, Dinah, ho, my gal,
Ho, Dinah, ho!
Oh, don't you hear him blow?

(for 2)
Ho, Dinah, ho,
Ho, Dinah, ho, my gal,
Ho, Dinah, ho!
His bridle do rattle so!

(for 3)
Ho, Dinah, ho,
Ho, Dinah, ho, my gal,
Ho, Dinah, ho!
Say, don't you want to go?


Source: Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes, 1922, 1949, 1991

Talley says the song has been labeled, variously, as a Negro spiritual. A play-party song, and a lullaby. It was popular with white fiddlers in the 1920's.

In other versions, "Down in Arkansas" or "Down in Alabam is used instead of "Making for de road."

JRO

---

Click to play

ABC format:

X:1
T:Old Gray Horse
M:4/4
Q:1/4=120
K:G
DD2E2G2G|-GB2B3/2B/2B3/2A/2G|-GA2A3/2A/2A3/2G/2E|
-EG2G3/2G/2G3/2E/2D|-D/2B,/2D2E2G2G|-GB2B3/2B/2B3/2A/2G|
-GA2G2E2D|-DG7|-Gg4d2e|-eB7|-BB4G2A|-AG2E2D3|
-Dg4d2e|-eB7|GB3GE2D|-DG13/2||

Subject: Lyr Add: THE OLD GRAY MARE
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 May 99 - 04:35 AM

Well, BGC, you missed three words from the first verse:

1. Oh, the old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Many long years ago. Many long years ago.
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

2. The old gray mare, she kicked on the whiffletree, etc...
The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be,
Many long years ago.

Here are the notes from Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag:

Before the horseless carriage came, in the years when people went buggy-riding, there were more songs about horses than now. Oats for Dobbin was an expense then as gas is at the filling station now. Fodder for the mare and her foal cost money the same as oil, water, and new wind shields do today. The horse doctor earned his living as the crack mechanic at the garage does, voicing the sentiments of an Arab to his steed, "My beautiful, my beautiful, thou standest so meekly by." The following poem is in a different vein and mood. It is keyed rather to the homely philosophy of an Iowa editor who was asked by a Kansas editor what he wanted on his gravestone. The answer was they could write, "He et what they sot before him." It is not as lofty in manner as the reply of an Iowa farmer asked about his first horse, a two-year-old given him by his father. "How was she? Well, she was stylish but she couldn't stand grief." The melody here is directly appropriated from the negro spiritual, 'The Old Gray Mare Came Tearin' Out the Wilderness.'

I have to say that in this instance, the great Mr. Sandburg's words, while entertaining, are less than informative. anyboy know the real skivvy on this song? Apparently, the song isn't in our database.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics to Old Gray Mare
From: BGC
Date: 24 May 99 - 02:10 AM

Ok, I hope this is some help. If you're a Simpsons fan you may remember an episode in which that song is sung on the "Gabbo" show-if you're not a fan please stick with me.

The only lyrics in the show are "Old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be". To find the original artist and composer you could try looking at the credits at the end of that Simpsons episode as they are usually thorough with respect to that sort of thing. If I have that one on tape, I'll check it out and get back to yoy.

Subject: Lyrics to Old Gray Mare
From: Pooh 1210
Date: 24 May 99 - 12:32 AM

Need lyrics to old gray mare. Thanks.