Ballad of Davy Crockett

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 05 Sep 07 - 12:18 PM

I remember one of my cousins in Texas wearing a coonskin cap during the Davy Crockett mania spawned by the Disney series. I watched the mini-series and, several years later, saw some episodes of Daniel Boone, with Ed Ames playing his sidekick, Mingo. Flash forward to a Johnny Carson late night show, where Ed Ames, dressed as Mingo, demonstrates his prowess with the tomahawk. Showing Johnny the proper grip, he aimed at a full size male cutout several feet away on the stage. For those who never saw the clip, the axe cleaved the personal parts of the unfortunate dummy. The audience laughter which followed was the longest recorded in TV history to that time.

Years later, I found myself at a winery in the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara. There, I had a chance meeting with the owner, Fess Parker. He was a very astute businessman, with a degree from the University of Texas. No rube he, Fess owns hotels, ranch land and the winery, among other things. I marketed his brand for a couple of years afterward. He also likes to sing, by the way, which connects him in some minute way with this thread - should that matter.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Cool Beans
Date: 05 Sep 07 - 12:30 PM

My daughters were always impressed by young Davy Crockett's carpentry skills. He built him a bar when he was only three. That's the way they heard it, anyway.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: MystMoonstruck
Date: 05 Sep 07 - 06:02 PM

I just came back from reading about how to post lyrics, and I'm so confused. It might take several more readings before I understand. Perhaps it's the ADHD with a heavy dose of fibrofog, but I am very confused by some of the "computerese". I see HTML, for example, but have no idea what it means. I think I know how to make a link. If I place a link to the song above, would I just use the address at the top of my screen as the link? I hadn't seen any lyrics with the "Lyr Add:", so I wasn't aware I should use that.

I shall try very hard to follow rules. If I oops, it isn't from carelessness or that I don't care. I count myself fortunate to have found this site. I'm a newbie to the Net but not to the music. By the time I was in my early teens in the Sixties, I was gathering songbooks, making my own songbooks with the help of my keyboard organ (later double keyboard as I continued my studies), and buying albums (no cassettes yet). Work in a factory put an end to my organist skills when I developed severe Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands and arms (affects me up to the shoulders). Guitar was out and the pennywhistle, too. Then, about eight years ago at Bristol Renaissance Faire (near Kenosha, Wisconsin), I splurged and bought a bowed psaltery, inspiring me to learn many of the songs I had collected. It was while I was hunting for songbook contents that I found my way here. The "Mudcat" caught my attention then the thread for "Davy Crockett"--this one. My enthusiasm got the best of me. I apologize--which I expect to do a lot. Maybe this site will help me find where those other stanzas came from.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST,sharx35
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 06:20 AM

toadfrog, were you ever able to track down that Daniel Boone song from the 50's?

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: bobad
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 06:54 AM

A Jewish "Davy Crockett" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwczIc4FNV0

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 10:14 PM

"Bet-ty, Betty Crocker
Queen of the A&P"

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST,MtheGM
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 10:37 PM

Two points:

i. Many interesting children's parody versions of Disney ballad from time the movie first appeared can be found in Peter & Iona Opie's definitive work for Oxford UP, 'The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren' [1959].

ii. And, as matter of interest, the 'Yankee clipper ship' on which the narrator ships in The Leaving Of Liverpool — "Davy Crockett was her name".

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST,MtheGM
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 11:26 PM

Further to above: should stress that the parody versions in the Opie book are all British children's renderings.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST,Mister Reader
Date: 21 Jan 17 - 11:52 AM

Daniel Boone (The Daddy Of Them All)

Found by searches on Yahoo and Google

http://www.worldcat.org/title/song-of-daniel-boone-the-daddy-of-them-all/oclc/499148355
The song of Daniel Boone (the daddy of them all)
Author:         Enoch Light; Lewis Davies
Publisher:         New York : Record Songs, Inc., ©1955.

https://www.amazon.com/Song-Daniel-Boone-Daddy-Them/dp/B00C8A3N5Y
The Song of Daniel Boone, the Daddy of Them All Paperback – 1955
by Enoch; Davis, Lew Light (Author)
3090. SHEET MUSIC. 1955. 3 p. 12.00x9.00. SONG. Words and Music by ENOCH LIGHT and LEW DAVIS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9FrgpQVGq8
Ken Carson version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhZzZoG42ls
Dick Lee version

https://www.discogs.com/Loren-Becker-With-Enoch-Light-Orch-Chorus-Brigadiers-The-Song-Of-Daniel-Boone-The-Daddy-Of-Them-All/release/1872170
Loren Becker With Enoch Light Orch & Chorus* / The Brigadiers ‎– The Song Of Daniel Boone (The Daddy Of Them All)

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 21 Oct 18 - 02:49 PM

The Indiana State Sentinel (Indianapolis) (June 21, 1882), p. 2, tells this story:

"A conspicuous hero of the negro minstrelsy of those days [ca 1840] was Bill Crowder. We had an actual colored citizen of that name here at that time, and he was something of the bully that the legendary hero was at that time - he licked a half dozen of the chill-shaken crowd of 'Waterloo' five miles down the river, on this side, at once one Saturday - and I have often wondered if some gifted Indianapolitan had not suggested the character, or elaborated it from the half-blood original, who had a restaurant where Blackford's Block is, on Washington street, Be that as it may, the Bill Crowder of the song was brought into a fight with Davy Crockett, another actual character, but of historical interest, who, like Ben Harding and some other prominent western men, were made the subjects of humorous songs or allusions. The conflict is made to progress with Homeric force and fury, till it reaches a climax as follows:

" 'We fought for half a day, and then agreed to stop it,
    For I was badly licked, and so was Davy Crockett;
   When we both came to bind our heads, we found 'em both missin',
    For he'd bit off mine, and I'd bit off hissin'.' "

The writer of the article may have been right about Bill Crowder. His appears to the only version in which "Crowder" is Crockett's adversary.

Hermes Nye recorded an extended version (probably from Lomax & Lomax) on "Ballads of the Civil War" (1954). The Lomaxes may have found it in "Publications of the Texas Folklore Society" (1927),

When I was 16, I was impressed by the line, "The sun's a ball o' foxfire, as soon you may diskiver." By the song itself, not so much.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: John C. Bunnell
Date: 22 Oct 18 - 05:59 PM

The recent activity in this thread got me to poking around on YouTube, where I find two recordings of the 20-verse epic version posted by pdq back in 2007, one by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, the other by "Galloping Alligator". While there are some differences of diction between the two, they're clearly working from the same source text, which you'd think would be definitive.

And yet....

There's also a "custom Disney edit" of the ballad out there -- the uploader acknowledges that it's assembled from a number of different segments of the Disney film and television Crockett productions. And that one is different -- some verses from the longer iteration are omitted, some are rearranged considerably, and there are a number of verses wholly absent from the other two (many but not all evidently referring to specific plot elements of the screen stories).

If I can find some time this week, I'll see if I can manage a transcript.

Subject: Lyr Add: Ballad of Davy Crockett (TV Compilation)
From: John C. Bunnell
Date: 28 Jun 19 - 02:50 AM

Note: This version is transcribed from the YouTube compilation video linked above; insofar as the current collector is aware, verses 8-15 are not readily available from any other written or recorded source.

THE BALLAD OF DAVY CROCKETT
TV compilation version
words & music: George Bruns & Tom Blackburn

Born on a mountain top in Tennessee,
Greenest state in the land of the free;
Raised in the woods so’s he knew ev'ry tree;
Kilt him a b'ar when he was only three.
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

Fought single-handed through the Injun War
Till the Creeks was whipped an' peace was in store
And while he was handlin' this risky chore,
Made hisself a legend forevermore!
Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don’t know fear!

He went off to Congress and served a spell,
Fixin' up the Government an' laws as well;
Took over Washington so I heard tell,
An' patched up the crack in the Liberty Bell!
Davy, Davy Crockett, seein' his duty clear.

When he come home his politickin' was done,
While the western march had just begun,
So he packed his gear and his trusty gun,
An' lit out a-grinnin' to follow the sun.
Davy, Davy Crockett, the buckskin pioneer!

Home for the winter with his family,
Happy as squirrels in the ol' gum tree,
Bein' the father he wanted to be,
Close to his boys as the pod an' the pea.
Davy, Davy Crockett, holdin' his young'uns dear!

But the ice went out and the warm winds came,
And the meltin' snow showed tracks of game,
And the flowers of spring filled the woods with flame,
And all of a sudden, life got too tame.
Davy, Davy Crockett, the man who don’t know fear!

Lookin' for a place where the air smells clean,
Where the trees is tall and the grass is green,
Where the fish is fat in an untouched stream,
And the teemin' woods is a hunter's dream—
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

His fav’rite weapon’s the name of his gun,
And some of the deeds he really done,
But most of his chores, for freedom and fun,
Got turned into legends and this here is one.
Davy, Davy Crockett, helping his fame spread wide.

Had a lot of furs that he aimed to ship
And he set his mind on a river trip
When a bragging boatman gave him some lip,
A-claiming there was no man he couldn’t whip.
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

Kept his word about his victory
So it wasn’t set down in history
So Mike stayed king of the river, you see
And a real good friend he turned out to be.
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.

The country was big when it was new
The best men was big and their yarns was, too,
Their tallest tales folks believed was true
So the more they were told, the more they grew.
Davy, Davy Crockett, helping his fame spread wide.

The deadliest devils he ever met,
Catchin’ river travelers in their net,
Was some pirates so mean that brave men sweat
Whenever their names are remembered yet!
Davy, Davy Crockett, walking into their trap.

Little Hart was mad as a man can be;
Big Hart was worse in his piracy;
Bloody Sam Mason was worse than the three,
Blamin’ the Injuns for their deviltry.
Davy, Davy Crockett, caught up with them one day.
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier.

He heard of Houston and Austin and so
To the Texas plains he had to go,
Where land was free and there was room to grow
And freedom was fightin' another foe.
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

Storybooks tell they were all cut low,
But the truth of it is, this just ain’t so;
Their spirits’ll live and their legends grow
As long as we remember the Alamo.
Davy, Davy Crockett, and Crockett’s Company.
Davy, Davy Crockett, fightin’ for liberty!

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Snuffy
Date: 28 Jun 19 - 05:26 AM

Schoolyard song from East Cheshire, late 50s (Tune: Yellow Rose of Texas)

Oh the Yellow Rose of Texas and the Man from Laramie
They went to Davy Crockett's to have a cup of tea.
They said it was delicious, they had another cup
And left poor Davy Crockett to do the washing up

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 28 Jun 19 - 02:32 PM

Call me krazy, but the words I seem to recall clearly from 1955 were:

Some say he died, but it just ain't so;
Texas was freed as the hist'ry book show.
And his spirit will live and his legend will grow
As long as we remember the Alamo.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Bugsy
Date: 30 Jun 19 - 05:16 AM

I can't work out how he was at the Alamo when the song says he was "...killed in a bar, when he was only three"

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: cnd
Date: 27 May 20 - 02:12 PM

Here are the lyrics from the Hermes Nye version as printed in accompanying booklet. I added some line breaks not in the original to aid in readability, and some comments in brackets to explain myself when needed, with my annotations being represented with *[#] while original annotations have just a * to mark them.
You can listen to Nye's rendition here.

DAVY CROCKETT
(As sung by Hermes Nye)

Well, don't you want to know something concarnin
Where it was that I come from and where I got my larnin?
O, the world is made of mud out of the Mississippi River,
And the sun's of all the forest fires*[1] as you may soon disciver.

Now, out one day, I was a-goin a-spoonin,
and I met Davy Crockett and he was a-goin a-coonin.
Says I, "Where's your gun," - "Well, I ain't got none" -
"How you gain to catch a coon when you ain't got a gun?"

Says he, "Pomp Calph, just foller after Davy
and he'll soon show you how to grin a coon crazy."
Well, I follored on a piece and thar sat a squirrel,
he was a-settin on a log and eat'n sheep sorrel.*

When Davy did that see, he says to me:
"All that I want now is a brace against your knee."
And thar I braced him, the great big sinner,
He grinned six times - hard enough to get his dinner.

But the critter on the log hit didn't seem to mind him,
just kep a-settin thar and wouldn't look behind him.
Then it was Davy said, "Well, the critter must be dead
you can see the bark a-flyin all around the critter's head.

Well, I walked right up the truth to disciver;
drat, it was a pine-knot so hard it made me shiver."*[2]
Says he, "Pomp Calph don't you begin to laugh
or I'll pin back your ears and bite you half and half.

Well, at that, I throw'd down my gun and all my ammunition,
Says I, "Davy Crockett I can cool your ambition."
But he throw'd back his head and he blow'd like a steamer,
Says he, "Pomp Calph, I'm a Tennessee Screamer."*

[this section spoken freely, line breaks added for long pauses]
"Yup" says he, "Now ain't I a rip-tail snorter, the yeller flower of the forest,
half-horse and half-alligator, that's me, with just a little tech of the earthquake thrown in;
clear meataxe disposition through and through; whupped my way through wildcats*[3] every mornin before breakfast,
all brimstone but the head and ears and that's aquifortice.
I can ride bare-back neked on a streek of lightning through a crabapple orchard and never get scortched or scratched.
Yes siree, I live on a rough street in a rough town, the further down you go the rougher it gets and I live in the very last house.
I rekin I can swim further, dive deeper and come up dryer than any other man in the district.
And if'n I ain't got the fastest horse, the ugliest dog and the prettiest sister in all Kentucky I hopes to be teetotaciously expluncticated."
So saying, he riz up, flapped his ears, whinnied like a horse and crow'd like a Dominiker rooster.

Then we locked horns and we wallered in the thorns;
I never had such a fight since the hour that I was born.
We fought a day and night and then agreed to drop it.
I was pretty badly whupped and so was Davy Crockett.

Well, then I looked all around and I found my head was missin;
he'd bit off my head and I'd swallered his'n.
Then we did agree to let each other be,
'case it was too much for him and he was too much for me.

Take the ladies out at night,
They shine so bright;
They make the world light
When the moon is out of sight.

*sheep sorrel: a plant found in dry places (principally in the east) with pleasant acid-tasting leaves.
*Tennessee Screamer: a "stout fellow".

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Comments on these printed lyrics from me:
*[1]: It sounds much more like Nye sings "And the sun's a boll of foxfire" rather than the lyrics printed in the booklet
*[2]: It would make more sense to end the quotation after "critter's head" rather than where it ends in the text.
*[3]: It sounds to me more like Nye says "I whupped my weight in wildcats" rather than the provided lyrics

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: cnd
Date: 27 May 20 - 02:17 PM

Nye's version, except for the freely spoken section, appears to come from John Lomax's American Ballads and Folk Songs.

I couldn't find any text for the freely spoken section online, but I haven't searched thoroughly for it either.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jul 21 - 03:38 PM

Much of the spoken section was printed in Julia Cooley Altrocchi's "Uncle Sam's Folklore" printed in 1945

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 29 Jul 21 - 06:38 PM

The 1882 Indiana lines I posted in Oct 2018 appeared a little earlier in the Indianapolis Journal in 1880.

The title of the orginal is given as "Bill Crowder and Davy Crockett":

We fought half a day, and then agreed to stop it,
For I was badly licked, and so was Davy Crockett;
When we came to hunt our heads, we found 'em both missin',
For he'd bit off mine, and I'd swallowed his'n.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 29 Jul 21 - 06:39 PM

(To continue:)

So we both did agree, for to leave each other be,
For I was rather hard on him, and so was he for [sic] me.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: GUEST,#
Date: 30 Jul 21 - 04:04 PM

For: toadfrog 27 Jun 02 - 11:13 PM

Daniel Boone (The Daddy of Them All) sung by Ken Carson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9FrgpQVGq8

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Jul 21 - 06:14 PM

POMPEY SMASH.

As I sing to folk now dat I tink is disarning,
I'll tell you whar I come from, and whar I got my larnin,
I'm hot from ole Virginny, what you fine all great men,
An' I'm Pompey Smash, one de principal statesmen,
I'm secon bess to none, on dis side ob de sun,
And by do lord, I weigh without my head half a ton.

Dis warl's made ob mud and de Mississippi river,
De sun's a ball of fox fire, as you diskiver,
De moon's made ob cheese, and allus keeps a flyin,
De wurl stands still, while the sun keeps a guyin
And de stars are ladies' eyes dat round de wurl flies,
To gibus a little light when de moon don't rise.

And now I've splain'd dese tings in a logigraphic manner,
I gib you a little touch ob ole Virginny grammar,
Dey say fotch and toat instid ob bring an carry,
And dat what dey call grammer, by de lord Harry,
And de Yankees all guess; but de French speak de bess,
For dey say we mosheer, wen dey got say yes.

Dere's annudder
An if I eber catch him, I tend for to maul him,

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Jul 21 - 06:38 PM

OK, I was going to copy the whole thing from "Lloyd's Ethiopian Song Book" (1847), but it's so long and stupid, and racially disagreeable in places, that I've changed my mind.

The Davy Crockett episode by far the best part. It's pretty much as above.

The whole thing runs on for more one and a half single-spaced, double-column pages.

Subject: RE: Ballad of Davy Crockett
From: Lighter
Date: 08 Jun 23 - 09:53 AM

Rep. David Crockett's alleged introductory remarks to Congress, from "Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett of West Tennessee" (1833):

"I'm that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half horse, half alligator, — a little touched with the snapping turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey-locust; can whip my weight in wild cats,- and if any gentleman pleases, for a ten dollar bill, he may throw in a panther, hug a bear too close for comfort, and eat any man opposed to Jackson."

The Walt Disney version (1954):

"I'm Davy Crockett, fresh from the backwoods. I'm half horse, half alligator and a little touched with snappin' turtle. I got the fastest horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in Tennessee. My father can lick any man in Kentucky, and I can lick my father. I can hug a bear too close for comfort and lick any man alive opposed to Andy Jackson. Now some Congressmen take a lot of pride in sayin' a lot about nothin', like I'm doin' right now... Others don't do nothin' for their pay but just listen day in and day out. I wish I may be shot if I don't do more than listen."