Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
From: cnd
Date: 03 Feb 23 - 10:21 AM

Thanks for all those, Jay. I'd love to go through and listen to each and double check you, but I imagine matching some of the transcriptions to the recordings will be a tall order. I may give it a try some time this weekend if you don't get around to it

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Feb 23 - 10:35 AM

Wow! What a trove!

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 12:29 AM

I've been rooting around for links to the different versions, and I've come up with most (but not all) of them. I'll post them shortly.

First, a correction:

"I was gonna cut that other little bull"

This should be:

"Papa's gonna cut that other little bull"

Now, a bigger correction:

After listening to Version #3, I'm pretty sure the lyrics should be:

Tom done buck and y'know Bill won't pull,
Papa's gonna cut that other little bull.
Whoa back, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
("Ta-yah yeah, whoa, back up gee, Buck, yeah!")

Chorus:
Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
Whoa goddamn and whoa, goddamn,
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

Tom done buck and y'know Bill won't pull,
Papa's gonna cut that other little bull.
Whoa back, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
("Ta-yah yeah, whoa, back up gee, Buck, yeah!")

(Chorus)

I taken my gal to the country store,
I bought my gal some calico.
Bought my gal some calico,
I taken my gal to the party-o.
("Ta-yah yeah, whoa, back up gee, Buck, yeah!")

(Chorus)

Me and my gal come a-walkin' down the road,
Wind from 'er feet's knockin' sugar in the gourd.
Sugar in the gourd and the gourd on the ground,
You wanna get the sugar got to roll the gourd around!
("Ta-yah yeah, whoa, back up gee, Buck, yeah!")

(Chorus)

I taken my gal to a party-o,
All dressed up in her calico.
Taken my gal to a party-o,
I wouldn't let her dance but a set or so.
("Ta-yah yeah, whoa, back up gee, Buck, yeah!")

(Chorus)

Tom done buck and y'know Bill won't pull,
Papa's gonna cut that other little bull.
Whoa back, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!
("Ta-yah yeah, whoa, back up gee, Buck, yeah!")

Whoa back, Buck, an' gee, by the lamb!
Who made the back-band? Whoa, goddamn!

*******************************
And here's the link:

Version #3 - YouTube

As always, if I've messed up anything, please feel free to correct.

I also found another recording that I had previously overlooked. On June 15th 1949, just a few months before his death, Lead Belly performed the song in concert in Austin, Texas. Here is a link:

Whoa Buck - Live - June 15, 1949

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 04 Feb 23 - 12:44 AM

Here are the other links I found:

Lead Belly - Whoa Back Buck - Version #1

Lead Belly - Whoa Back Buck - Version #2

Lead Belly - Whoa Back Buck - Version #4

Lead Belly - Whoa Back Buck (Ox Drivin' Blues) - Version #6

These were all that I could come up with. If anyone out there would like to try their hand at tracking down the others, be my guest.

Jay

Subject: RE: Lyr ADD: Whoa Back Buck (Leadbelly)
From: cnd
Date: 05 Feb 23 - 08:39 AM

One idea for the fourth one. Somewhat surprisingly, that is the Golden Gate Quartet backing him.

[Spoken:]
This man was a long way from home. And it was so driven rain… and he's tryin' to get home and you know that's about how much speedy ox in this country. He was drivin' twenty yokes of oxen. Instead of the oxen gettin' faster, they was speedin' up slower. Every once in a while he'd look out on the cut-out, "Ta-ya! Yeah, gee Buck, whoa!"

And my impression of what he says in the sixth one:

Shoutin' on down ol' cotton-eyed Joe,

The seventh version seems to come from this recording. The origin of it is either (ultimately, probably) Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order: Volume 7, track 6 (which matches your title of Ox Driving Moan) or this release, by the Archive of Folk Music (FM 102), which seems to normally title the song Whoe Back Buck, except for the YouTube Music version of the German release (the recording I linked in the intro to this paragraphe), which also calls it Ox Driving Moan.

The first spoken section of that version probably is "them oxen's all bogged down" (instead of balled)

The Alan Lomax version you posted is the source of Fred Burns lyr add way down back in 2000 - link

Otherwise, versions 1-4 and 6-7 sound right compared to your posted lyrics. Note that I've also not found the source for Version #5.