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Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
DigiTrad:
HAND ME DOWN MY WALKIN' CANE
Related threads:
Lyr ADD: Hand Me Down My Walking Shoes/or my cane (25)
Lyr Req: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (10)
Lyr Req: Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane (17)
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Subject: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: GUEST,jmrnky Date: 15 Aug 01 - 03:05 PM Do any of you know the origin of "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" I have one source that says it was written by James A. Bland of "Golden Slippers" fame. However, that was the only one. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: JenEllen Date: 15 Aug 01 - 03:18 PM Which version? This one?
Hand me down my walking cane
Do you have any other information?
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Amos Date: 15 Aug 01 - 04:01 PM I like the one that goies: Hand me down my walking cane, Hand me down my hat Hurry up and don't be late Ain't got time for that! A |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Chicken Charlie Date: 15 Aug 01 - 06:24 PM Try also under the title "Yonder's Wall," or "Look over Yonder's Wall." Don't know as I ever heard it attributed to anybody, but the version I picked up had this verse form:
Look over yonder's wall; hand me down my walkin' cane. CC |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: GUEST,Reiver 2 Date: 15 Aug 01 - 08:26 PM I've found the song in 4 or 5 different songbooks that I have in my library (all are the version mentioned by JenEllen -- I've never heard of any other version.) Most of these have no information whatsoever about the song. Only one has the notation, "trans. by Hugo Frey". I'm not sure, but I think that means "transcribed". Not coincidently, I think, that comes from the book AMERICAN COWBOY SONGS, Edited by (who else?)Hugo Frey. The book bears the notation Copyright 1936, Robbins Music Corporation, 799 Seventh Ave. N.Y., N.Y. (copyright assigned in 1932). I'm afraid this information doesn't help you much! |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Troll Date: 15 Aug 01 - 09:29 PM I learned this one from my Dad in the '40's (Jen-Ellen's version) and have performed it for years. I have no idea where it came from. My whole family is from the rural South. troll |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: rangeroger Date: 16 Aug 01 - 04:33 AM Lou Rawls does an excellent version of this song. rr |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Mooh Date: 16 Aug 01 - 08:47 AM JenEllen's version appears on "Whiskey Before Breakfast" by Norman Blake, my favourite version. The only book version I have is the same with a little variation in words. Love that Blake! Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Whistle Stop Date: 16 Aug 01 - 10:40 AM Yeah, that's the version I know too, Mooh. Great album by one of my favorites. Don't have it in front of me (I'm at work), so I can't check it for writer's credit, but I'll take a look tonight. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Louie Roy Date: 16 Aug 01 - 01:34 PM I have no idea when this was written or by whom but I learned it off of an Edison record in 1930 and I firmly believe it was written in the 1800s by a church revival group.(guessing of course)Here are the words I learned in 1930 Hand me down my walking cane Hand me down my walking cane Hand me down my walking cane Going to leave here on the mid night train For all my sins have been taken away
I got in a fight and lost my hat
I got drunk got throwed in jail
I went to church to confess my sins
It thanked the Lord and went outside
So hand me down my walking cane
I will not be back again Louie Roy |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: JenEllen Date: 16 Aug 01 - 02:24 PM Version I'd learned: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane Hand me down my walking cane Hand me down my walking cane Hand me down my walking cane Lord, I'm leaving on the midnight train All my sins are taken away
Well, hand me down my rocking shoes
Well, hand me down my white sports coat
Well, hand me down my walking bone
Incidentally (and very non-folk), JerryLeeLewis did a 'killer' version of this song. Worth looking up.
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Whistle Stop Date: 16 Aug 01 - 02:42 PM Lots of variants to this song, obviously. The biggest difference in the Norman Blake version is that he sings the last line of each verse "My sins, they have overtaken me". Puts a different spin on it. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Louie Roy Date: 16 Aug 01 - 03:52 PM OOPH,The fourth verse should be The beans were tough and the meat was fat The beans were tough and the meat was fat The beans were tough and the meat was fat And oh my God I couldn't eat that For all my sins were taken away Writing from memory my brain isn't as good as it used to be Louie Roy |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Barbara Shaw Date: 16 Aug 01 - 04:19 PM Couple more verses that we use, with a different last line: Hand me down that bottle of corn Hand me down that bottle of corn Hand me down that bottle of corn Gonna get drunk as sure as you're born My sinful days have overtaken me. And if I die in Tennessee And if I die in Tennessee And if I die in Tennessee Ship me home by C.O.D. My sinful days have overtaken me. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Mooh Date: 16 Aug 01 - 06:28 PM Songs For Pickin' and Singin' ("a complete set of simple chords for each song" Selected and arranged by James F. Leissy) 1962 Fawcett Publications, page 110. Paperback. Got the book from one older sister who got it from our mother, both of whom went through a sort of folk period. I'm keeping it. My kids can have it when I'm gone. Too bad the folk scare didn't last longer. Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Amos Date: 16 Aug 01 - 06:33 PM I just realized the version I thought of is actyually the opening lines of "The Rubber Band Man", a short-lived rock hit from around 1963!!! "You never heard a sound like the Rubber Band man!! "You oughta be around when the Rubber Band Man Starts to jam!!"... Sorry! LOL.... A |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Stewie Date: 16 Aug 01 - 07:18 PM Several old-time artists recorded it in the 1920s, including Kelly Harrell, Ernest 'Pop' Stoneman and Carson Robison. I have not heard the Pop Stoneman one, but it could be the one Louie Roy recalls because Stoneman recorded the song for Edison in 1930. Ivan Tribe notes that Stoneman's was a rendering of 'the old James Bland minstrel song'. I got the following verses from a newsgroup and added a couple - they include all the verses Harrell used plus others, and duplicate a few posted above:
Different choruses to the song:
--Stewie.
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Stewie Date: 16 Aug 01 - 07:23 PM Correction to above posting - Stoneman recorded the song in 1927, not 1930 and Harrell had recorded it a year earlier, in 1926. My apologies for the couple of missing breaks above - I thought I had them all. Perhaps a kind clone could fix them. |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Troll Date: 16 Aug 01 - 07:30 PM The Stoneman version is probably the one my Dad knew and taught me.The time period and area of the country are right. troll |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Fortunato Date: 17 Aug 01 - 09:59 AM Thanks, Stewie, for the background info. I don't introduce songs with derivation anymore, but I enjoy knowing. It creates for me a kind of inner resonance with the song. As always you provide excellent information. regards, Chance |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Louie Roy Date: 17 Aug 01 - 10:32 AM Stewie,Maybe with the avenues of info that you have you can answer this question.When was the last Cylinder Edison Record made and when was the last thick flat Edison Record made?We had a lot of the flat Edison Records in 1930 but I don't think we bought any in 1930.I think in 1930 we started buying the 78s.Anyway it took a special needle to play the Edison it was actually gold tipped.Thanks for all the correct info you have been able to share it really helps for the ones that document their collections.Louie Roy |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: GUEST,jmrnky Date: 17 Aug 01 - 12:12 PM Thanks to all who sent answers. It would seem that there might be some basis for the attribution to James Bland. I, too, like knowing as much as possible about a song. It seems to add something to the performance of it. jmrnky |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: masato sakurai Date: 17 Aug 01 - 12:39 PM The Great Song Thesaurus (Oxford UP) has an entry "(Oh) Hand Me Down My Walking Cane," and it says:
1865 w.m. traditional black American spiritual
Was it? What was the evidence? Erskine Peters' Lyrics of the Afro-American Spiritual (Greenwood) contains a seemingly related one:
Hand me down my silver trumpet, Gabriel,
Well, this version looks like a spiritual. But the collection (without melody) doesn't give the date or place it collected. According to Index to Negro Spirituals (Cleveland Public Library), "Hand Me Down" (this short title) is located in Utica Jubilee Singers Spirituals (1930), which I have not seen. There is no mention of "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" in Blues and Gospel Records 1890-1943 (Oxford UP); the titles of 10 recordings are "Hand Me Down the Silver Trumpet," "Hand Me Down the Trumpet Gabriel," "Hand Me Down the Silver Trumpet Gabriel," "Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet, Gabriel," "Hand Me the Silver Trumpet," and "Hand Me Down" (and "Hand Me Down My Old Suitcase").
Surely, this version of "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" (so the title goes) has the silver trumpet" line, so these two song families are related; at least they were intermingled somewhere. But, up to now, I cannot confirm the thesaurus.
cho: Oh, hand me down (Hand me down)
If you get there before I do
Oh, Satan's mad an' I am glad The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music has HAND ME DOWN DEM GOLDEN SHOES (Composer, Lyricist, Arranger: By Jacob J. Sawyer. Publication: Boston: W.A. Evans, 1883). The Library of Congress has two items of this song (this and this ). My guess (without any evidence)is, this was mistaken for James Bland's "Dem Golden Slippers." |
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Subject: RE: Hand Me DownMy Walking Cane From: Stewie Date: 17 Aug 01 - 07:42 PM Louie Roy, you will find the answer to your questions on Tim Gracyk's homepage. Scroll down to the 'Old Records' section and you will find 2 essays that cover what you want to know: 'Phonograph Cylinders - A Beginner's Guide' and 'Edison Diamond Discs - Those Thick Records'. Gracyk's site is full of great info: Masato, thanks for the information. I too saw that UK site with 'walking cane' title to a text that doesn't mention it - odd. I had a trawl around the net for Bland's text on which Stoneman's version was based (Ivan M. Tribe - 'The Stonemans' Uni of Illinois Press) but was unable to find it. There are several of Bland's lyrics available on the net, but not that one. --Stewie.
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Subject: Lyr Add: HAND ME DOWN MY WALKIN' CANE From: Stewie Date: 17 Aug 01 - 08:38 PM I have found the following on this page: Click Given the ambiguous note, however, it is difficult to know whether these are Bland's original verses or not. HAND ME DOWN MY WALKIN' CANE This is another of James Bland's great contributions to the age of minstrelsy. It has known many verses. In fact, we have added a few for good measure. 1. Oh, hand me down my walkin' cane, Oh, hand me down my walkin' cane, Oh, hand me down my walkin' cane, I'm gonna catch the midnight train 'Cause all my sins are taken away. 2. Oh, hand me down my old buzz saw, Oh, hand me down my old buzz saw, oh, Hand me down my old buzz saw, I'll need it down in Saginaw, 'Cause all my sins are taken away. 3. Oh, hand me down my old banjo, Oh, hand me down my old banjo, Oh, hand me down my old banjo, I'm gonna play for the U.S.O., 'Cause all my sins are taken away. 4. Oh, if I die in Tennessee, Oh, if I die in Tennessee, Oh, if I die in Tennessee, Just send my bones back C.O.D., 'Cause my sins are taken away. On the subject of verses added 'for good measure', the 'Folksinger's Wordbook' gives these extra ones not noted above: But if I should die in New York State Just ship my body back by freight The devil chased me round a stump I thought he'd catch me at every jump Now some folks say it ain't no fun When a song like this goes on and on Yes, on and on, and on and on On and on and on and on |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Mysha Date: 15 Aug 14 - 07:39 PM Hi, Black past has it James A. Bland, 1880. Sources given for the page are: - David Ewen, Great Men of American Popular Song (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1972); - Rayford Logan and Michael R. Winston, eds., Dictionary of American Negro Biography (New York: W.W. Norton, 1982); - Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997). It might be a bit of work to trace that year in them, though. Bye Mysha |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 16 Aug 14 - 12:47 PM Was Bland first, or was its origin in spirituals like "All My Sins Done Taken Away"? See St. Helena Island Spirituals Permathread, 130500 Bland was a member of the first all black minstrel group in the 1870s, the Georgia Minstrels. He heard spirituals from ex-slaves working on the Howard campus. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: HAND ME DOWN MY WALKING CANE From: Jim Dixon Date: 04 Feb 19 - 01:22 PM I found sheet music for this song at Baylor University. No songwriter is named in the sheet music, which tells me the publishers took it to be a traditional song in the public domain. However the sheet music includes chords for guitar and ukulele, and complete tablature for a Hawaiian guitar solo (as well as the usual piano arrangement), with the notation “arr. by Nick Manoloff” so I assume the publishers are claiming copyright on that basis. The cover shows a picture of Art Kassel with the caption: “Art Kassel and his Kassels in the Air.” The cataloguers have added the notation: “Sometimes attributed to James Bland” and “Bland, James A. (James Allen), 1854-1911.” HAND ME DOWN MY WALKING CANE Published by Calumet Music Co., ©1935. 1. Hand me down my walking cane Hand me down my walking cane Oh, hand me down my walking cane, I’m a-goin’ to leave on that midnight train, ‘Cause all of my sins are taken away. 2. Hand me down my bottle of corn, Hand me down my bottle of corn, Oh, hand me down my bottle of corn, I’m a-goin’ to get drunk as sure as you’re born, ‘Cause all of my sins are taken away. 3. I got drunk and I got in jail, I got drunk and I got in jail, Oh, I got drunk and I got in jail, And I had no wife to go my bail, And all of my sins are taken away. 4. Beans was tough and the meat was fat, Beans was tough and the meant was fat Oh, beans was tough an the meat was fat, And oh, my Lord, I couldn’t eat that, So all of my sins are taken away. 5. If I had listened to what mama said, If I had listened to what mama said, Oh, if I had listened to what mama said, I’d ‘ave been sleeping on a feather bed, ‘Cause all of my sins are taken away. 6. Come on mama and a-go my bail, Come on mama and a-go my bail, Oh, come on mama and go my bail, And get me out of this buggy jail, ‘Cause all of my sins are taken away. |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: GUEST,LynnH Date: 04 Feb 19 - 01:39 PM @ Jim Dixon: Cleoma Falcon sang the last verse as: If I die in this old jail If I die in this old jail If I die in this old jail Send my my body back COD And all of my sins are taken away, taken away. It's suspected that, for some reason or other, she got the penultimate line wrong which should really be: Send my body back through the mail |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Mrrzy Date: 04 Feb 19 - 01:41 PM We gad that line as If I die in Tennessee... Ed McCurdy, I believe. |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Steve Gardham Date: 04 Feb 19 - 03:26 PM The line 'Hand me down my walking/riding cane' occurs in the chanty 'The Hog-Eye Man'. As most chanties derive from Southern slave songs in some form or other this is hardly surprising. In Whall, 1910, states this chanty dates from 1849-50, presumably the gold strike as it mentions San Francisco. His first verse runs. Oh, go fetch me down my riding cane, For I'm off to see my darlin' Jane, And a hog eye, railroad n----- with his hog eye Row de boat ashore, and a hog-eye o She wants the hog-eye man. (3 more verses, but Whall says there are many others too crude to print) A hog eye was type of barge. I'll see if I can find any earlier usage in chanties. |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Steve Gardham Date: 04 Feb 19 - 03:32 PM A similar verse to Whall's was printed in Yachting Monthly, October 1906. Carl Sandburg heard a version in 1922 which has the 4th verse Go bring me down my riding cane For I'm going to see my darling Jane. |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Joe_F Date: 04 Feb 19 - 06:37 PM The New Song Fest (1958) has the following verses that I do not see above: Come on, Mamma, and go my bail, And get me outta this gol dern jail. Oh, if I die in New York State, Ship my body back by freight. Oh, if I die in Pinkham Notch, Pack my body home in Scotch. Oh, if I die on McIntyre, Just throw my bones into the fire. Oh, if I die in Colden One, Put me in the oven till I'm done. Oh, if I die in Colden Two, Throw me into that mulligan stew. Oh, if I die on Beaver Point, Throw me into the fire until I'm boint. The devil, he chase me round a stump, Thought he was gonna catch me at every jump. Probably added by hikers in the northeast US, tho I recognize only Pinkham Notch (White Mtns, NH). |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: GUEST,Bari Ramsey Date: 12 May 23 - 10:17 AM I've been trying to hunt down the origin (and oldest lyrics) of this song. Bland may have written it, but I can't find anything about that prior to the late 20th century. Interestingly, the LOC website which shows copyright records doesn't reference his name at all for anything. The first publication of the song that I can find is/are the 2 recordings from 1926 (Tanner, and Harrell - both are on YoutTube). Kelly Harrell sings a variant pretty close to the verses we all know. But his tune is slightly different and he doesn't repeat the "taken away" tag. Also, he has an additional ending verse: "Come on, mama, and a-go my bail. (x3) And it gets me outta this buggy jail. All my sins are taken away." Interestingly, the lyrics sung by Riley Puckett with Tanner's Skillet Lickers veer into some very different territory, like so: "Hand me down my walkin cane. (3x) I'm-a goin way on the mornin train. All my sins been taken away, taken away. Hand me down my quart of corn. (3x) I'll get drunk as sure as you're born. All my sins been taken away, taken away. Far thee well, since Tuesday morn. (3x) Sister got choked on a chicken horn. All my sins... Yonder come the mail across the field, (3x) kickin up dust like a automobile. All my sins... Marcy wore three lengths of chain, (3x) glory, glory to her name. All my sins..." |
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Subject: RE: Origin: Hand Me Down My Walking Cane From: Lighter Date: 12 May 23 - 11:04 AM Bari, Kelly Harrell's recording of "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" (Victor 20103), was advertised in the Evansville [Indiana] Press, August 26, 1926, where it's described as "Mountaineer's Song with Violin and Guitar." The flip side is "My Horses Ain't Hungry," similarly described. The Skillet Lickers' version (Columbia 15091-D) is advertised in the Greensboro [N.C.] Daily Record, October 1, 1926. The flip side is "Watermelon on the Vine," written by Thomas P. Westendorf in 1882. (Westendorf had written the celebrated "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" seven years earlier.) I haven't found any earlier references to "Hand Me Down" in this form either. Nor do I see evidence that Bland wrote the song. |
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