Lyr Add: Whoa, I Tell You (W. S. Hays, 1879)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Whoa, I Tell You (W. S. Hays, 1879)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Jan 07 - 01:48 PM

refresh, attempting to ignore Gargoyle's comment....
(but I wouldn't delete him here)

Subject: RE: origin: Hold onto the Sleigh
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:12 PM

Obviously, a HOAX.

This is Johnny Cash - doing FOLSOM PRISON BLUES.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

gotta love dem clones on weekends ya neva know who on board.

Subject: RE: origin: Hold onto the Sleigh
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 05:35 PM

THE KICKING MULE

Only a portion of the song, with music, in Brown, North Carolina Folklore, vol. V, "The Music of the Folk Songs."

Recorded by G. S. Robinson, Asheville, 1939, "evidently before the singer turned over his MS text to Dr. Brown." Additional text may be in vol. III.

Once there was a man, his name was Simon Slick,
He had a mule with dreamy eyes- and how that mule could kick!
He'd shut one eye and switch his tail and greet you with a smile,
He'd gently raise you from the ground and kick you half a mile.

Whoa, mule, I tell you,
Whoa, mule I say!
Keep your seat, Miss Liza Jane,
And hold on to the sleigh.

No. 513, p. 328, F. C. Brown, North Carolina Folklore, vol. 5, 1962, ed. J. P. Schinhan, Duke Univ. Press.

Obvious folk crossing with "Simon Slick" and with versions of "Whoa, Mule!" The title "The
Masato (thread 48200) traces "Simon Slick" back to Turney's "The Coons Around Our Block Songster," 1879, but the song is probably older (a song about a canaller?). A cross with "Huckleberry Picnic" is covered in thread 48200.

N. I. White, Simon Slick songs, collected in 1915-1916 in Alabama, of course have no mention of a sleigh, and a different story line from the song by Hays.

SIMON SLICK, (A)

I had a mule one time,
His name was Simon Slick;
He met that Railroad Texas train
And kicked it off de track,
Kicked de feathers from dat goose,
He broke de elephant's back,
Woah mule," I say, "Woah."
Ain't got no time to fool wid you
For fooling wid dis mule.

In another version, the man, not the mule, is named Simon Slick. The single verse is very similar to the first verse of The Kicking Mule" as posted above, recorded by G. S. Robinson.

N. I. White, 1928, American Negro Folk Songs, pp. 227-228.

"De Huckleberry Picnic," words and music by Frank Dumont, Oliver Ditson & Co., c. 1879, does not mention any mules. The song was joined to Kicking Mule!, Simon Slick, Hold Onto the Sleigh, etc. by various singers and vaudeville-minstrel performers.
See thread 48200, where Joe Offer posted the original.
Huckleberry Picnic

Subject: RE: origin: Hold onto the Sleigh
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:59 AM

There may be several "Whoa, Mule!" of carters' and African-American origin. Perrow and others have fragments or verses and it would be difficult to tell if they are of common or independent origin.
5793: Whoa Mule

Stewie and Jim Dixon posted Uncle Dave Macon's version of "Hold on to the Sleigh" Sept. 9, 2003, in thread 31041 (Dave Macon lyrics). It makes a nice contrast? comparison? with the Will Hays original. Nice find!
Macon

Subject: RE: origin: Hold onto the Sleigh
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 11:53 PM

Although the Hays'lyrics establish an origin (even though he may have borrowed from African-american sources) for the Woah Mule songs and the phrase "Hold On To the Sleigh" (also a Uncle Dave Macon song), it seems that "Thompson/Johnson's Old Grey Mule" may be a diferent song.

For example the Georgia Yellow Hammers version doesn't have Hays' chorus and seem like a different song. It also doesn't have the "Liza Jane" or "Hold onto the Sleigh" lyrics in the song.

To check this out I'd like to look at the lyrics to "Thompson's Old Grey Mule" by Thos. P. Westendorf 1884.

Anyone have these lyrics or a link to them?

Anyone have any other version's of Thompson's Old Grey Mule's These one in the DT but it seems more like a compilation.

I can post Georgia Yellow Hammers or start a seperate thread on Thompson's Old Grey Mule,

Richie

Subject: Lyr Add: WHOA! I TELL YOU! (W. S. Hays, 1879)
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 01:17 AM

Hi,
While looking for the source of HARD TIMES I found what is likely the lyric source of Whoa Mule. It's a song posted below by William Shakespeare Hays. I always wondered where the "Hold on to the Sleigh" line came from. Now I know!

Macon also uses this as the title to one of his songs. I believe this is of the African-American tradition as well.

WHOA! I TELL YOU! (1879)
Song & Chorus- To My Friend Chas. B. Chapman, C & M.R.R., Louisville, Ky.
Words and Music by William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907
Cincinnati, OH: Geo. D. Newhall & Co., 62 West 4th St.
[Source: 02567@LoC]

1. I hear dem sleigh bells ringin', De snow am fallin' fast,
I put dis mule in harness, An' got him hitch at last.
O, Lisa get your bonnet, Come and take your seat,
Grab de board you're sittin' on, An' kiver up your feet.

CHORUS Whoa! (I tell you!) Whoa! (I say!)
Keep your seat, my Liza Jane, An' hold on to de sleigh.

2. O, watch dis mule a climbin', For dis ain't half a load,
Find a mule dat's roomy, Give him all de road.
An' don't git scared at nuffin Dat you hear or see;
Liza, I'll stay wid de mule, An' you must stay wid me. (CHORUS)

3. O, see de snow a flying', Look out! let him sail,
Watch dem ears o' his'n, See him wag his tail.
Gwine to de preacher's, Liza, you keep cool,
Aint got time to kiss you now, I'm busy wid dis mule. (CHORUS)

Richie