Songs In/About Carolinas

Subject: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 29 Aug 15 - 11:47 PM

Blue Sky - Allman Brothers ("Goin' to Carolina")
Charlotte Breakdown - Don Reno (instrumental, NC being Don Reno's birthplace)
Flint Hill Special - Flatt & Scruggs (instrumental, Flint Hill, NC being Scruggs' birthplace
My Cabin in Caroline)
Loafer's Glory - Flatt & Scruggs (Loafer's Glory being a town in NC)
Foothill Hop - The Foothill Boys (album: "Bluegrass from the Carolina Mountains," instrumental), referring to the foothills region of NC (aka Piedmont)
Bluegrass Time - The Foothill Boys (same album, "to the sea in Caroline")
I've Been Everywhere - Hank Snow (though I don't know if it really counts, but mentions Charleston)
Promised Land - Chuck Berry (again one that might not count; "on across Caroline/We stopped in Charlotte to bypass Rock Hill")
Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show ("I'm headin' down south to the land of the pine/thumbin' my way into North Caroline...If I die in Raleigh...Walkin' due south out of Roanoke")
White Lightning - George Jones ("Well in North Carolina way back in the hills")
Carolina In My Mind - James Taylor
Fire on the Mountain - Marshall Tucker ("Moved my family away from my Carolina home")
Poor Ellen Smith - a song of a real murder that happened in NC
Tobacco Road - John D. Loudermilk (about his childhood in NC)
Wreck of Ol' 97 - Boxcar Willie (the song says the train was on its way to Spencer, a town in Rowan County, NC)
Swannanoa Tunnel - Bascom Lamar Lunsford (Swannanoa Tunnel is a tunnel near Asheville, NC)
Muder of the Lawson Family - Doc Watson (true story of a murder in Germantown, NC)
Omie Wise - Doc Watson (about the murder of Naomi Wise in NC)
Otto Wood, the Bandit - The Carolina Buddies (Another murder ballad)
Tom Dooley - Tommy Faile (a murder in Wilkes County, NC)
Brown Mountain Light - Tommy Faile (mysterious lights sighted in points of NC)
Lumberton Wreck - Cauley Family (about a 1933 wreck between a truck and a train)
New River Train - Doc Watson (the New River is in North Carolina)
South Carolina - The Outlaws
South Carolina Rag – Willie Walker
Carolina, I Remember You – Charlie Daniels

The album "Old North State" by The Red Clay Ramblers is also all about NC.

Also, dozens of songs by the Avett Brothers have underlying tones about NC.

Anyone else have some?

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Aug 15 - 12:01 AM

Well, I learned Carolina in the Morning many years before I ever got to the Carolinas. Songwriters are Gus Kahn and Walkter Donaldson, 1922.

Then there's Carolina Moon, written in 1924 by Joe Burke and Benny Davis.

Oh, and Waterbound (Down in North Carolina). I think this is Joe Hickerson's greatest hit (although I like a lot of other Hickerson recordings...)

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 30 Aug 15 - 12:07 AM

Just found Dean Martin's "Just a Little Bit South of North Carolina" and "Carolina Moon"

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Janie
Date: 30 Aug 15 - 09:46 AM

Half a Life Without a Dog Red Clay Ramblers from the 1997 Yonder album. About a ban on dogs in married student housing post WWII at UNC.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 30 Aug 15 - 12:44 PM

Peach Picking Time in Georgia, especially Doc Watson's version, since it has a special shout-out to the Carolinas that other's versions don't have

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 30 Aug 15 - 03:42 PM

I'm Going to Take the Train to Charlotte - Fiddlin' John Carson

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cetmst
Date: 31 Aug 15 - 10:23 AM

Ballad of Frankie Silver(s), Ozark Folk Songs, also in Sharyn McCrumb's novel of the same name
Hickory Winds , Gram Parsons, recorded by Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris and many others
Tear Old Wilson Down, sung by Ed Trickett, I think is Wilson NC
Jesse Helms Has Made a Liberal Out of Me

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 31 Aug 15 - 04:38 PM

Thanks cetmst. You wouldn't happen to have the song or lyrics for that last one available to share, would you? I came up with blanks on Google.

North Carolina is popularly believed to be the location of "Little Sadie," as the towns of Jericho and Thomasville are only 60 miles apart, though the song is more than likely fictitious.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 31 Aug 15 - 05:18 PM

East Virginia Blues mentions North Carolina as the location of the song.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cetmst
Date: 01 Sep 15 - 07:55 AM

Correct title is Jesse Helms Has Made a Radical Out of Me" and was written by Laura Wetzler. Googling Laura Wetzler Jesse Helms
gets reference to the song but not lyrics or tune. My copy is on a cassette I transcribed from a radio program in Washington probably 25 years ago. If I can find it I'll post the lyrics. - Charles

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Sep 15 - 09:42 AM

Here's some commentary about it on a website:

I mentioned that "Glory Glory" was one of those rare lesbian cassette singles. Well, I have another one, which received nationwide airplay for its anti-censorship message. It was all about one of the leading anti-gay figures in this country's history, and many people were delighted last July when he finally died. Here's Laura Wetzler and her song "Jesse Helms Has Made a Radical Out of Me."

....

That was DJ Adler, from her 1982 cassette "Here & Now," and it had both political and cultural commentary, all about those "Talking Gay Bar Blues." DJ is still making music and I know from her site that only 500 copies of her tape were made, so I'm pleased to have one of them. The small quantity of tapes produced was very typical, and makes it very hard for collectors, especially since most dealers, like on eBay, just don't want to bother with tapes, so on this show, you're hearing some rare material.

---------

That was a transcription of the radio show from here

It was also apparently the theme song to State of the Art: Art of the State by PBS, but I also can't find that online.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 01 Sep 15 - 06:06 PM

South Carolina Low Country - Josh Turner

And Joe, when did you live in the Carolinas?

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Sep 15 - 10:32 PM

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,CountryBoy
Date: 02 Sep 15 - 02:16 PM

Blue-tail fly. May be mentioned above.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,WNC Gal
Date: 02 Sep 15 - 03:08 PM

Carolina Skies - Mike Cross

Black Mountain Rag - Doc Watson

Papertown - Balsam Range

Carolina Girls - Chairmen of the Board

I Love Beach Music - The Embers. Doesn't specifically mention NC/SC, but beach music/shagging (the dance, not the amorous activity) is a big part of the local culture.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Sep 15 - 03:13 PM

Anyone mentioned Brian McNeill's song, "Strong Women"? From the Cuillins tae the Carolinas......

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 02 Sep 15 - 09:01 PM

Thanks WNC Gal. How could I forget Doc's? And The Embers' one is pretty true; I've got a nice cassette of "Carolina Beach Music" with that on it.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 05:52 PM

Which comes out first in this respect, North or South Carolina?

Subject: Lyr Add: JESSE HELMS HAS MADE A RADICAL OUT OF ME
From: cetmst
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 06:17 PM

This obviously belongs in another thread but I included it here for its Carolina connection before I listened to it for the first time in many years. Also I have missed a number of words from my transcription'
JESSE HELMS HAS MADE A RADICAL OUT OF ME - Laura Wetzler
Chorus:
Jesse Helms has made a radical out of me   
Makes me want to take of my clothes and shout from the highest tree,
Makes me want to march on Wall Street in my BVD's
Jesse Helms has made a radical out of me.   

I used to teach in Sunday School; I tellered in a bank,
Now a (sexy) photograph is a kind of a sexual prank.

Chorus

I used to (____) discretely,
Now I want to make a collage of my lacy underthings

Chorus

He (_____) with a bankroll, legislating lies
Makes me want to moon my friends across the midnight skies

Chorus

I used to be so proper, I used to be so staid,
Now I want to do the wild thing in the middle of the parade.

Chorus

He'd cover every body, he'd fig-leaf every nude,
(____) was gay wouldn't be safe from the creepy dude.

Chorus

Don't tell me what I can look at, don't tell me what I can (see)
Don't tell me to hide my realities under your cigarette butt.

Chorus

Don't (____) your genitalia, hang the picture on the wall
Fax your copy to the 88 and give Resist a call

Chorus                  

Hope someone can fill in the blanks

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Janie
Date: 03 Sep 15 - 11:16 PM

Probably North Carolina, Kevin, simply because it is a much larger state, and extends much further east to west, and because it geographically was on the cusp both with respect to patterns and practices of slavery and with regards to migratory patterns of western Europeans, especially from the British Isles, pre 1776.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 04 Sep 15 - 10:52 PM

The Glenn Miller 1941 hit "Chattanooga Choo Choo" by Warren and Gordon has the line "Nothing could be finer than to have your ham and eggs in Carolina".

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Sep 15 - 07:26 PM

There's Carolina Star, a lovely song with a nice version on YouTube by Tony Rice, or (even better) a version by the Lee Valley String Band on the BBC soundtrack recording of the TV series Bringing It All Back Home (nothing to do with Dylan!)

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 07 Sep 15 - 09:44 PM

The song "Are You From Dixie" mentions "Are you from Alabama, Tennessee, or Caroline"

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: clueless don
Date: 08 Sep 15 - 08:51 AM

Two I can think of:

Carolina Day by Livingston Taylor

Carolina in the Pines by Michael Martin Murphey

My apologies if someone else already mentioned either of these.

Don

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,JHW
Date: 08 Sep 15 - 12:07 PM

I met a lovely waitress at the pub in Nateby (nr Kirby Stephen) constantly smiling my way. Yes she was called Carolina so I went round singing the Melanie song all week. Alas she's never been there again. This is what happens. Perhaps she'll see this.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Sep 15 - 03:34 PM

From various sheet music collections:

BACK TO THE CAROLINA YOU LOVE, words by Grant Clarke, music by Jean Schwartz, 1914.

CAROLINA BELLE, words and music by H. K. Johnson, 1853.

CAROLINA BLUES, words and music by Dave Ringle, 1922.

CAROLINA DINAH (I'SE A'-WAITIN' FO' YOU), words by Morris S. Silver, music by Joseph C. Northup & Thomas R. Confare, 1905.

CAROLINA IN THE MORNING, words by Gus Kahn, music by Walter Donaldson, 1922.

CAROLINA LULLABY, words by Walter Hirsch, music by Louis Panella, 1921.

CAROLINA MAMMY, words and music by Billy James, 1922.

CAROLINA NIGHTS, words by Richard W. Pascoe, music by H. O'Reilly Clint, 1921.

CAROLINA ROLLING STONE. words by Mitchell Parish, music by Eleanor Young & Harry D. Squires, 1921.

CAROLINA SUNSHINE, words by Walter Hirsch, music by Erwin R. Schmidt, 1919.

CAROLINE, I'M COMING BACK TO YOU, words by Jack Caddigan, music by James McHugh, 1916.

CARRY ME BACK TO MY CAROLINA HOME, words by Benny Davis, music by Abner Silver, 1922.

CUNNIN' CAROLINA COON, words by Matthew Woodward, music by Warner Crosby, 1901.

DANDY JIM, FROM CAROLINA "as sung by B. Williams," 1843.

DINAH FROM CAROLINA, words by Junie McCree, music by Albert von Tilzer, 1909. (Note: this is not "Dinah, is there anything finer...?)

DON'T GO BACK TO CAROLINA, words and music by Tom Mellor, Alf J. Lawrance and Harry Gifford, ca. 1900-1910.

I'M GOIN' TO FIGHT MY WAY RIGHT BACK TO CAROLINA, words and music by Billy Baskette and Jessie Spiess, 1918.

I'M GOING BACK TO CAROLINA, words and music by Billy Downs and Ernie Erdman, 1913.

IN CAROLINA, words and music by Jack Rollett, ca. 1900-1910.

IN THE HILLS OF OLD CAROLINA, words and music by Charles K. Harris, 1902.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE CAROLINA HILLS, words by Beth Slater Whitson, music by Leo Friedman, 1907.

MY CAROLINA CAROLINE, words and music by Billy Johnson, 1901.

MY CAROLINA CUTEY, words by Andrew Sterling, music by Harry Von Tilzer, 1911.

MY CAROLINA ROSE, words by Wendell W. Hall, music by Lou Handman, 1921.

MY MIND'S MADE UP TO MARRY CAROLINA, words by Lew Brown, music by Rubey Cowan, 1917.

OL' CAR'LINA, words and music by James Francis Cooke, 1921.

THAT CAROLINA RAG, words by Jack Coogen and Maurice Burkhart, music by Violinsky, 1911.

THE OLD CAROLINA STATE, words and music by L. F. Whitaker, 1860.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 21 Sep 15 - 03:44 PM

Mojo Collins' album, "Diamond Shoals: Tales Untold" has several songs about the Outer Banks region of North Carolina

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 02:54 PM

MY CAROLINA HOME by Clayton McMichen

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,Barbara Shaw
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 09:43 PM

Poor Boy's Delight: "I'm from North Carolina..." by Benny Galloway, recorded by the Infamous String Dusters.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,Barbara Shaw
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 09:48 PM

Carolina in the Fall by the Kruger Brothers.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 16 Oct 15 - 10:01 PM

Blue Ridge Mountain Blues
Cabin in Carolin
Dixie Darling

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Dec 15 - 09:43 PM

Song of the French Broad River - Obray Ramsey
Battle of Kings Mountain - Obray Ramsey

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: gillymor
Date: 12 Dec 15 - 06:25 AM

White Lightning

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Dec 15 - 07:23 PM

Interested to see there is a song about the Battle of Kings Mountain.

One Fergusson by name invented a new gun mechanism---much faster to use than the older guns requiring a ramrod method of muzzle loading.
He was unfortunately killed at this battle by one of these obsolete pieces.

Anyone have the words.?

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 12 Dec 15 - 08:33 PM

I'll post a new thread about it for you, GUEST. It's on Youtube, but I can transcribe them.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 12 Dec 15 - 09:36 PM

It is posted as "Origins:Jickson Johnson/Johnson Jinkson/3 Butchers." Turns out the song's not about the Battle of King's Mountain, but a variant of those other songs that was changed to take place in King's Mountain.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Airymouse
Date: 13 Dec 15 - 11:49 AM

Bluetail Fly 1st verse
If you should go in the summertime
To South Carolina'a sultry clime
Beneath a tree inclined to lie
You'll surely find the bluetail fly

Old Virginny 1st and 3rd verses
I was borned in Old Virginia
To North Carolina I did go
There I met a pretty girl
But her name I did not know

Her hair was of a darksome color
Her lips were of a cherry red
Her breasts were of a snow-white color
Where many a night I lay my head

I'd rather be on top Black Mountain
Where I know the sun refuse to shine
Than see you be another man's darlin
And know that you would not be mine

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Gutcher
Date: 13 Dec 15 - 12:16 PM

My interest is not primarily in the song about the battle of Kings Mountain it is regarding Ferguson who was killed at that battle.
He is, I take it, the son {grandson?] of that minister and his wife,
from Deeside, NE Scotland, who had 28 children, all surviving to adulthood. Thus taking the scriptural advice to go forth and multiply to a new level.
There must have been some multiple births in the family for one man and his wife to achieve such a number.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 13 Dec 15 - 01:55 PM

The Statler Brothers - A Little Farther Down The Road

I just heard this one off a cassette by the Statler Brothers I bought (The Originals), and it mentions Asheville, Charlotte, Roanoke, and Cherokee, though Charlotte could also be the name of a girlfriend/wife, and Roanoke could be Roaknoke Island, though it more-than-likely is referring to Virginia.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Feb 16 - 10:06 PM

CAROLINA WALTZ - CLYDE MOODY

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,Zeph
Date: 10 Feb 16 - 07:43 AM

Carolina Pines - Kate Wolf

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Feb 16 - 09:41 PM

Merle Travis - Kinfolks in Carolina

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 02 May 16 - 10:34 PM

Stanley Brothers have tons of songs about the Carolina, including That Happy Night and The Lawson family.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Bruce from Bathurst
Date: 03 May 16 - 12:20 AM

"The Boys From North Carolina" - title track from an album by Bob Carlin.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 20 Jun 16 - 08:28 PM

"My Carolina Sunshine Gal" by Jimmie Rodgers

Subject: Lyr Add: CAROLINA SUNSHINE (Hirsch/Schmit)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Feb 19 - 09:57 PM

Words below are from the sheet music at the University of Maine

CAROLINA SUNSHINE
Words by Walter Hirsch, music by Erwin R. Schmidt. ©1919.

Down in Carolina where the sunbeams play,
Down where all the world seems bright,
Pickaninnies romping all the day
In the cotton fields of white.
How my heart is yearning to be there once more, just to hear the darkies’ song.
Carolina sunshine calls me back to the place where I belong.

CHORUS: Carolina sun, I’m lonesome; Carolina sun, I’m blue.
When the day is done, I’m pining for a sight of you.
Makes no diff’rence where I wander, any place I chance to roam,
When the golden sun sinks in the west, then I think of home.

* * *
The Internet Archive has recordings by:
Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra (1919)
Vernon Dalhart (1920)
Sterling Trio (1919)

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: BTMP
Date: 03 Feb 19 - 04:09 AM

Put Me on the Trail to Carolina, by the Louvin Brothers.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 19 - 07:01 PM

There is the song 'Waterbound, we can't get home/ Down in North Carolina'.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: open mike
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 10:57 PM

mentioned earlier.....here is Kate Wolf singing Carolina Pines...Carolina Pines

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: open mike
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 11:08 PM

'My Cabin In Caroline' by Flatt and Scruggs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmR2qIESbh4

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: open mike
Date: 07 Feb 19 - 11:27 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6hNg5UV4T0 Mildred Bailey - CABIN IN THE PINES

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 09 Feb 19 - 06:05 AM

I think Carolina crops up a lot in song because of its amenable Italianate scansion (short, short, long, short syllables), plus it’s versatile rhyming possibilities:

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning
In my mind I’m gone to Carolina
When I was young and in my prime, I left my home in Caroline
Heading down south to the land of the pines, thumbing way to North Caroline
In South Carolina there are many tall pines.....

In short, a songsmith’s dream - can’t really claim that for Omaha, Idaho or Michigan, though a few million residents there might disagree.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Feb 19 - 12:23 AM

Rocky River Home


I'm going back, can't wait for day
I'm headed south; I'm going to stay
In those green fields of Carolina
Take me back to my Rocky River home.

The sky was gray the day I left
I felt just like I left myself
In those green fields of Carolina
When I left my Rocky River home

Each night I pray right from the start
Please end this war, let me depart
For those green fields of Carolina
Take me back to my Rocky River home.

Old Stonewall said, Stand straight and tall
When cannons roar and if you fall
We'll send you back to your Carolina
There to rest in your Rocky River home

When Stonewall fell and Stuart too
The Second Corps was split in two
Take me back to my Carolina
Take me back to my Rocky River home

Our General Lee was brave and true
But in the end the world was Blue
Take me back to my Carolina
Take me back to my Rocky River home.

I'm going back, can't wait for day
I'm headed south; I'm going to stay
In those green fields of Carolina
There to rest in my Rocky River home.

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 03:40 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fw19X_bgkw - Matt Heckler, "Haw River Ballad"

Subject: RE: Songs In/About Carolinas
From: cnd
Date: 19 Sep 23 - 03:40 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fw19X_bgkw - Matt Heckler, "Haw River Ballad"