Lyr Req: Jeff Davis

Subject: Lyr Req: Jeff Davis
From: GUEST,Matty
Date: 08 May 20 - 08:48 PM

I was wondering if anyone has the words for a song apparently entitled "Jeff Davis." Grandpa Jones mentions it his autobiography and gives the opening lines

"Jeff Davis knew when the cruel war began
That he wouldn't be a Union man
Or carry the Union gun"

and attributes it to the Carter Family. He also mentions using the tune for his song "Going Down the Country." I was unable to find the Carter Family or anyone else doing it. I also contacted his nephew, Philip Steinmetz, who remembered the song but couldn't provide any more words or another source.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jeff Davis
From: cnd
Date: 09 May 20 - 01:43 PM

This is really intriguing to me but I can't find anything about it. I really have my doubts the Carter Family did it -- they tended to be a lot more apolitical than that. Plus, like you said, I couldn't find the Carter Family singing it.

I did also find this in a PDF about Merle Travis:

As a kid, he absorbed the rich musical culture of his region. “There was music in the home, of course...then there was a fellow named Colie Addison who played the fiddle and he played the guitar and the old ‘tater bug’ mandolin, and that just sounded the purtiest that I ever heard, to me. And of course in home, whymy dad was a five string banjer picker. But he didn’t have a banjer and he talked about the old time banjer players... I remember he used to talk about a guy named Jim Winders who was a great banjo player. So finally my dad’s brother, named John, Uncle Johnny Travis, he got a five string banjo and Dad traded him out of it and brought it home and Dad, he’d play... pick it, you know, had two different ways, he called it knockin’ the banjer and then pickin’ the banjer. He’d sing songs... he’d sing ‘Jenny Weaver,’ and a song about

Jeff Davis swore when the cruel war begun,
I wouldn’t be the Union man and carry the Union gun,
But I’d rather be the Union man and carry the Union gun
than to be the rebel, the rebel had to run.

“That was the words to the song he sung. And of course he sung some little old verses to ‘Ida Red’ and a bunch of stuff.

Source (PDF will download on click)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jeff Davis
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 09 May 20 - 02:33 PM

That stanza shows up here also on P.136

https://books.google.ca/books?id=t3S4NAPF5KgC&pg=PA136&lpg=PA136&dq=But+I%E2%80%99d+rather+be+the+Union+man+and+carry+the+Union+

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jeff Davis
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 09 May 20 - 04:01 PM

Incidentally, the writers of the song for which we seem to have but one stanza were Moriah and Mintie Anthony according to the link in my last post.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jeff Davis
From: cnd
Date: 09 May 20 - 04:54 PM

So, as was common in the Civil War, it's starting to look like this song drifted from person to person and side to side and changed a bit with their personal vantage points. I found here a reference to a song called "Lincoln Was a Union Man" by Dee Hicks, from the album Five Miles Out of Town: Traditional Music from the Cumberland Plateau. The lyrics from there were:

Honor boys, honor, honor don’t you know
War is ragin’, you’re all a-bound to go
I’d rather be a Union man and carry a wooden gun
Than to be a Rebel and always have to run

Unfortunately, I can't find Hicks' recording online, but I found a cover of it from the folks over at banjohangout. I'll transcribe the lyrics and add them in a separate post, but from listening to the recording, you can tell it's the same rhythm.

Subject: Lyr Add: Lincoln Was a Union Man
From: cnd
Date: 09 May 20 - 04:56 PM

From a recording made by banjohangout user hektic - cover of Dee Hicks
Listen to the recording here
A (little) more context here

Lincoln was a Union man, Union man was he
He was president and set the slaves all free

Honor boys, honor, honor, don't you know
War is raging and we all have to go

Rather be a Union man, carry a wooden gun
Than always be a rebel and always have to run

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jeff Davis
From: cnd
Date: 09 May 20 - 05:03 PM

Incidentally, I've just found the text to Dee Hicks' version, which isn't super different, also on banjohangout.

Lincoln was a Union man, a Union man was he
He was determined to set the darkies free

Honor boys, honor, honor don't you know
War is ragin', you're all a bound to go

I'd rather be a Union man and carry a [wooden]? gun
Than to be a Rebel and always have to run

source: https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/160252