I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog

Subject: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: GUEST,Dan Watt
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 09:55 AM

Can anyone give me a source, a recording, or music and lyrics to a song about an escaped or freed slave, with the chorus (as I recall)

"I'll dance me a jig and I'll dance me a jog
cause I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
ain't no one gonna take 'em from me
c'mon jeff davis, git along general lee"

I learned it in camp when I was a child. I suspect it was in one of the early "people's songbooks" but I can't find it?

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 02:27 PM

I'm not sure where I learnedd this song, but I've forgotten some of the words. Do you have them all? If so, can you send them to me at [e-mail]? Thanks. I don't know the origin of the song
Sally Rogers

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 03:25 PM

I"ve just found a connection to the Brothers Four, but no attribution for the song, just that they sang it.

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: GUEST,Sally Rogers
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 03:31 PM

I found it on YouTube with the Brothers Four singing. It gives credit to Albert Wood, they recorded it ("Dance Me a Jig") in 1964 on their SIng of Our Times album.

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: cnd
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 03:41 PM

The Brothers Four title this song "Dance Me A Jig." Here are the liner notes from the album it was released on, Sing Of Our Times, Columbia CL 2128 (1964).

A great many songs have been written about the escape of Negro slaves. Some urge escape (like "Take This Hammer"), some warn of the dangers of running away, while still others musically describe the exact rivers and trails that led North. We like this particular one very much. It's a bright, happy story, concerned mainly with the sheer joy of being free.

So that doesn't help much in finding their origins to the song.

Here's the lyrics, copied and corrected as I hear them

Get along there Jeff Davis, get along there General lee

I'm going up to the Freedom Land,
Got me two pigs, got 'em here in my hand;
The Bible says it's wrong to steal and to lie
So I asked my dear Lord to close both His eyes.

While I dance me a jig and I dance me a jog,
'Cause I got me a pig and I got me a hog.
Ain't no one gonna take 'em from me.
Get along there Jeff Davis. Get along there General Lee!

I didn't want no posses chasing after me,
So I took all the livestock and set 'em free,
Oh, master 'll be so mad that he's liable to bust,
'Cause he gotta catch 'em all while I'm kicking up dust.

While I dance me a jig and I dance me a jog,
'Cause I got me a pig Lord and I got me a hog.
Ain't no one gonna take 'em from me.
Get along there Jeff Davis. Get along there General Lee!

If you pigs are wondering how you got your names,
Well, you and them two rascals are one and the same,
And if you don't stop acting like your two namesakes,
I'll have roast pork in the morning and some tasty ham steaks.

While I dance me a jig and I dance me a jog,
'Cause I got me a pig and I got me a hog.
Ain't no one gonna take 'em from me.
Get along there Jeff Davis. Get along there fool!

I'm an old man, but I'd like to bet,
That I am one man old master won't forget,
The look on his face will be something to see,
When he finds those pigs are gone and I am free!

I'm going up to the Freedom Land,
Got me two pigs, got 'em here in my hand;
The Bible says it's wrong to steal and tell lies
So I asked my dear Lord to close both His eyes.

While I dance me a jig and I dance me a jog,
'Cause I got me a pig lord and I got me a hog.
Ain't no one gonna take 'em from me.
Ain’t no one gonna take 'em from me
Get along there Jeff Davis. Get along there General Lee!

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: cnd
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 03:48 PM

Here's how the song was reported in HOOTENANNY TONIGHT!, Folkways FN 2511 (1959).   Notes by Irwin Silber, noted historian of Civil War music.

DANCE ME A JIG (Elizabeth Knight, accompanied by Jerry Silverman)

Words and music by Al Wood

Dr. Herbert Aptheker, editor of "A Documentary History of the Negro People" reports the following story as told by Harriet Tubman, one of the great women of our history. During the Civil War, Harriet Tubman, who was a scout for the Union Army, led a raiding expedition in South Carolina, probably around 1863. After the raid, in which many Negro slaves escaped from the plantation, one elderly woman making her way to freedom was struggling with her children, her
clothing, and as many personal possessions as she could manage. She was also leading two pigs which she had "liberated" from her master's plantation. The pigs, unaware they were headed for freedom, insisted on acting stubborn. The woman, her patience at an end, finally began insulting the pigs to prod them along and began
shouting, "Come along Jeff Davis; Get on Beauregard!"

Al Wood has taken the liberty of substituting General (Robert E.) Lee for General Beauregard, mainly because it sings better that way.

I'll add the lyrics again since they're more substantial in this rendition of the song.

I'm going up to the Freedom Land,
Borrowed two pigs, got 'em here in my hand;
The Bible says it's wrong to steal and tell lies
So I asked my Lord to close his eyes.

CHORUS:
While I dance me a jig and I dance me a jog,
'Cause I got me a pig and I got me a hog.
Ain't no one gonna. take 'em from me.
Come on Jeff Davis! Get along General Lee!

When my two sons escaped early last year,
Master liked to tore out all his hair,
When he misses me I'm gonna laugh till I cry,
'Cause that poor fool will probably stretch out and die.

(CHORUS)

I didn't want no posses chasing after me,
So I took all the livestock and set 'em free,
Now master's so mad that he's liable to bust,
'Cause he gotta catch 'em all while I'm kicking up dust.

(CHORUS)

If you pigs are wondering how you got your name,
Well, you and them two rascals are just the same,
And if you don't stop acting like your two namesakes,
I'll have roast pork in the morning and tasty ham steaks.

(CHORUS)

I am an old lady, but I'd like to bet,
That I'm one woman old master won't forget,
The look on his face will be something to see,
When he finds the pigs are gone -- and I am free!

(CHORUS)

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: cnd
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 03:49 PM

Fresno State agrees with what was alluded to by Silber: this song is a construction by Al Wood in 1952 based on the story of Harriet Tubman. See http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/SCWF360.html

Subject: RE: I've got me a pig and I've got me a hog
From: cnd
Date: 24 Feb 21 - 03:53 PM

The only other recording I've found of the song comes from Inman and Ira on Singing Spokesmen for the New Generation, Mercuru SR-60778 (1963). You can listen here

The lyrics are substantially the same as the Brother's Four version.