Origin: Down To Tampa

Subject: Down To Tampa
From:
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 11:36 AM

I'd like to know the origin of the old-time country song "Down to Tampa"

The chorus is: "Settle down, settle down, settle down, I've got my ticket and I'll tell you what I think I'll do, I'm going down to Tampa, settle down."

-Adam Miller Woodside, CA [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: lamarca
Date: 28 Sep 01 - 03:08 PM

Don't know the origins, but there are several good recordings by modern folk artists:

Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis recorded it as a medley with "How Can You Keep on Moving (Unless you migrate, too)" on their 1987 Flying Fish album, Wilder Joy. I think they learned it from Paul Brown, a North Carolina string band musician and folklorist, who had the song from his family.

Roy BookBinder, blues guitarist, calls it "Goin' Back to Tampa" on his 1979 album of the same name on Flying Fish

Cindy Mangsen titled it "Settle Down" on her 1988 album of the same name on Front Hall

The two Flying Fish albums are still available as cassettes from Rounder Records. Hope this helps!

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 Sep 01 - 07:38 AM

I asked Jeff Warner last night at The Press Room session -- he's a bit busy with the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival in progress to post this himself.

He said he got the song from Paul Brown, whom I believe is with NPR in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Paul Brown learned it from his mother.

I'll post more when I get it.

Bat Goddess

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 05:00 PM

As sung by Jeff Warner & Jeff Davis, who got it from Paul Brown:

GOING DOWN TO TAMPA

My mama, she told me, when I was five years old,
"You're bound to be a rounder, son, gosh darn your hard-luck soul!"
I've got my ticket, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do:
I'm going down to Tampa, settle down.

Cho:
Settle down, settle down, settle down!
Settle down, settle down, settle down!
I've got my ticket, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do:
I'm going down to Tampa, settle down.

Conductor, conductor, won't you please let me ride your line?
You've got to have a ticket, boy, you know this train ain't mine!
I've got my ticket...

Well, yonder stands my gal with a red rag in her hand.
I believe unto my soul she's found herself another man.
I've got my ticket...

My mama, she told me, my papa he told me too,
"Don't let no New York woman make a gosh darn fool outa you!"
I've got my ticket...

I'm leaving, I'm leaving, your crying won't make me stay.
Well, the more that you holler gal, the more I'm going away!
I've got my ticket...

(Repeat first verse.)



I think that's all of it...

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 06:37 PM

When I first heard Paul Brown do this it sounded so familiar but I couldn't place it until I was listening to a vinyl album from the 1970's on the scarce Post War Blues label. It was a re-issue of a 78 blues recording by "Skoodle-um-doo & Sheffield" who was I believe an east coast bluesman. It's a bit late now and I'm falling asleep at the key board otherwise I would go and dig it out and see if there is more info.It's almost cetainly available on CD now, so you could try a search.

Hoot

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST,Wesley S
Date: 29 Apr 06 - 06:51 PM

I grew up just west of Tampa - I'll be on the lookout for this song as well.

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 07:08 AM

This was played last night on David Holt's State of Music on PBS.

Living just west of Tampa too, this tune sure caught my ear.

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 09:24 AM

Agnes 'Sis' Cunningham;

How can you keep on moving unless you migrate too?
They tell you to keep on moving but migrate, you must not do
I'll tell you why I'm moving‚ the reason why I roam
Is to go to a new location and find myself a home

[POSTLUDE: SPOKEN]
In case the meaning of that song isn't quite clear, the word "migrate" there is used in the sense of moving to find a new home. And its about the Okies that were on their way to California and when they got to the border, they found the signs up there saying "No more migration". And the border guards were there, and they said "Turn around and keep on moving". So that's what the "How can you keep on movin' unless you migrate too?" means.

Subject: RE: Help: Down To Tampa
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 02:13 PM

Where is the Sis Cunningham quote from, Henry?

Subject: RE: Origin: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 05:17 PM

https://genius.com/Sis-cunningham-how-can-you-keep-on-movin-lyrics

Sundown; Agnes 'Sis' Cunningham Sings Her Own Songs and A Few Old Favorites

Sis Cunningham

You're welcome, Joe.

Subject: RE: Origin: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jun 22 - 07:14 PM

Ry Cooder? Robbie Fulks ?

Subject: RE: Origin: Down To Tampa
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 15 Jun 22 - 12:46 AM

Sis Cunningham (1909-2004) and her husband Gordon Friesen were born in rural Oklahoma, Gordon in Weatherford and Sis in Watonga. Her father was an avowed socialist and follower of Socialist Party of America founder Eugene Debs.

Woodrow Wilson Guthrie July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967 Guthrie was brought up by middle-class parents in Okemah, Oklahoma.

Peter Seeger May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014 Seeger was born at the French Hospital, Midtown Manhattan.

Sis Cunningham and Gordon Friesen wed in 1941. Soon after they relocated to New York City on the encouragement of their friends Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, moving into their communal Greenwich Village home dubbed Almanac House. The couple also joined Guthrie and Seeger in the Almanac Singers, widely considered the first urban folksinging group. In 1942, the Almanac Singers - whose roster also included Cisco Houston, Bess Lomax, Lee Hays, Millard Lampell, Arthur Stern, and Baldwin and Peter Hawes (and sometimes Josh White and Burl Ives) - recorded the album Dear Mr. President, with Cunningham contributing the standout "Belt Line Girls."