Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain

Subject: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: graywolf1980
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 08:48 PM

Would like the lyrics to "Way Up on Clinch Mountain" as sang by J.W. Day on the new 7 CD set "Kentucky Mountain Music" of the 1920's and 1930's. This song is also called Hiccup Oh Lordy, Drunken Hiccups, and Rye Whiskey.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 09:02 PM

Tex Ridder (sp) had a semi-hit with the song but his words were all pulled from other tunes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 09:43 PM

"The Drunkard's Hiccups" by Fiddlin' John Carson [recording] is HERE (at Honkingduck).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Apr 03 - 09:49 PM

Result of search for "way up on clinch mountain" from The Fiddler's Companion, with info, lyrics & tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Apr 03 - 01:30 AM

Ran across this while searching for Tex Ritter's lyrics. Thought y'all might like it. Copied from the Google cache of http://www.cybergeezer.com/ritter.html

'Rye Whiskey' in Contrapositive

Here are the statements in the first verse of the classic Tex Ritter song "Rye Whiskey," written in their contrapositive form in such a way that the song can still be sung. For you Young Whippersnappers out there, Tex Ritter was a western singer and cowboy movie star: comedy star John Ritter's father.

Reference for the article is: American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 76, No. 9, November, 1969, p. 1051. It was reprinted in Volume I of the Raymond W. Brink Selected Mathematical Papers: Selected Papers on Precalculus, The Mathematical Association of America, 1977, p. 67, and was later reprinted again in a collection of mathematical humor: Mathematical Maxims & Minims, Rome Press, Inc., 1988, p. 67.

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Logic Lesson for the Casual Reader

The contrapositive of the statement "If A, then B" is the statement "If not B, then not A," which says the same thing. The negation of the statement "A and B" is the statement "not A or not B."

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Statements

If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck,
I'd swim to the bottom and never come up.
But the ocean ain't whiskey and I ain't no duck,
So I'll play Jack-O-Diamonds and trust to my luck.
For it's whiskey, Rye whiskey, Rye whiskey I cry.
If I don't get Rye whiskey I surely will die.

Contrapositives

If I never reach bottom or sometimes come up,
Then the ocean's not whiskey or I'm not a duck.
But my luck can't be trusted or the cards I'll not buck,
So the ocean is whiskey or I am a duck.
For it's whiskey, Rye whiskey, Rye whiskey I cry.
If my death is uncertain then I get whiskey (Rye).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Apr 03 - 05:25 PM

Pity these sites don't mention Tony Kraber's fine album from the early 1940's entitled The Old Chisholm Trail; he did a fine rendition of "Rye Whiskey", hiccups and all. Maybe he's omitted because he was blacklisted in the 1950's.

Charley Noble

Subject: ADD: Way Up on Clinch Mountain (Sandburg #A)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 08:33 PM

Here's version "A" from Sandburg's American Songbag

Way Up On Clinch Mountain

Way up on Clinch Mountain, I wander alone;
I'm as drunk as the devil, Oh, let me alone!

I'll eat when I'm hungry, En drink when I'm dry'
If whisky don't kill me, I'll live till I die.

Rye whisky, rye whisky, I know you of old,
You rob my poor pockets Of silver and gold.

Rye whisky, rye whisky, You're no friend to me.
You killed my old daddy, God damn you, try me.

Jack o' diamonds, Jack o' diamonds, I know you of old,
You rob my poor pockets Of silver and gold.

Source: American Songbag, Carl Sandburg, 1927.

Sandburg says, This song has a thousand verses, perhaps going back to the Scotch of the 17th century, we are told."

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Sandburg's "B" text is here (click) - it's not related to the "Rye Whiskey" chain of songs.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: ADD: Drunken Hiccups
From: Joe Offer
Date: 03 Aug 04 - 09:26 PM

Dang! I had a transcription worked up for J.W. Day's "Way Up on Clinch Mountain" recording, and I hit "submit" and the message didn't post because I was disconnected. I'll ait a while and try again. In the meantime, here's an entry from the Fiddler's Companion.

DRUNKEN HICCUPS [1]. AKA‑ "Drunkard's Hiccups," "Drunken Hiccoughs." AKA and see "Rye Whiskey [1]," "Jack of Diamonds [3]," "Way Up on Clinch Mountain," "Clinch Mountain," "The Mocking Bird" (Pa.), "My Name is Dick Kelly" (Ire.), "The Lame Beggar" (Ire.), "The Cuckoo [5]" (Ford). Old‑Time, Texas Style; Air, Waltz, Jig, and Song Tune (3/4 time). USA; Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona. A Major. AEac# (Brody, Jarrell, Reiner & Anick, Shumway): AEae (Ford). AABCC (Brody, Ford, Thede): AA'BB'CC'DD' (Reiner & Anick, Shumway). Paul Clayton identifies the tune as "old and of English origin." Arizona fiddler Kartchner called it a "favorite from the South." The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph. It was listed by the Tuscaloosa News of March 28, 1971, as one of the specialty tunes of Tuscalosa, Alabama, fiddler "Monkey Brown," who frequently competed in fiddlers' contests in the 1920's and 30's (Cauthen, 1990), and it was recorded by Herbert Halpert for the Library of Congress in 1939 on two separate occasions by Mississippi fiddlers Charles Long and W.E. Claunch. Mt. Airy, North Carlolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell knew the melody as a show piece in a repertoire heavy with dance tunes, having learned it from his father, Ben Jarrell (who recorded it with Frank Jenkins in 1927). Ben Jarrell, according to Tommy, had the tune from "old man" Houston Galyen at Low Gap, North Carolina. Bayard (1981) states it was a vocal piece before it was an instrumental one, and identifies the following songs from the British Isles and America as using the tune: "Johnnie Armstrong," "Tod(d)lin' Hame," "Bacach," "Robie Donua Gorach," "The Wagoner's Lad," "Clinch Mountain," "The Cuckoo [5]," "Rye Whiskey [1]," "Jack of Diamonds [3]," "Saints Bound for Heaven," "Separation," "John Adkins' Farewell." Instrumental variations from the British Isles he has identified include "Drunk at Night and Dry i' the Morning [1]" (noted variously in 3/4 and 6/8 time) and "Lude's Lament." Two and a half pages of the song can be found in "The Oxford Book of Light Verse." In Pennsylvania, reported Bayard, it was customary for fiddlers to sing the repeated line:

***
Oh, I will never get drunk anymore!
***

to the first (or sometimes second) strain. Most American versions include a part that is supposed to suggest hiccups.

***
I'm a rambler and a gambler a long ways from home,
And them that don't like me can leave me alone.
***
I'll take up my fiddle and rosin my bow,
I'll make myself welcome wherever I go.
***
I'll eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry,
If a tree don't fall on me I'll live till I die.
***
Its beefsteak when I'm hungry and whiskey when I'm dry,
Money when I'm hard up, sweet heaven when I die.
***
I'll cross the wide ocean my fortune to try,
And when I get over I'll sit down and cry.
***
It isn't the long journey that troubles me so,
Its leavin' the darlin' I've courted so long.
***
Hic‑cough, O Lawdy, how bad do I feel,
Hic‑cough, O Lawdy, how bad do I feel.
***
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, you're no friend to me,
You killed my poor daddy, goddam you try me.
***
Raw whiskey, raw whiskey, raw whiskey, I cry,
Sweet heaven, sweet heaven, whenever I die.      (Thede)
***
Rye Whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I crave,
If I don't get rye whiskey I'll go to my grave.
***
I eat when I'm hungry, and drink when I'm dry,
And if whiskey don't kill me I'll live till I die.      (Ford)
***
Way out on Clinch Mountain I wander alone,
Drunk as the devil and can't find my home.
***
Oh Lordy, how drunk I do feel {Hic}
Oh Lordy how sleepy I feel.                (Clayton)
***
Played cards in England, I've gambled in Spain,
Goin' back to Rhode Island, Gonna' play my last game.
***
I'll tune up my fiddle, and rosin the bow,
Make myself welcome, wherever I go.
***
Jack o' diamonds, jack o' diamonds, I know you from old,
Robbed by poor pockets of silver and gold.
***
Corn whiskey and pretty women, they've been my downfall,
Beat me and they bang me, but I love them for all.
***
My shoes is all tore up, my toes're stickin out,
Don't get some corn whiskey, I'm agoin' up the spout.
***
Gonna' beat on the counter, or I'll make the glass ring,
More brandy, more brandy, more brandy to bring.
***
Gonna' drink I'm gonna' gamble, my money is my own,
Them that don't like me can leave me alone.               (T. Jarrell)
***
Sources for notated versions: Benny Thomasson (Texas) [Brody]; 'old man' Houston Galyen (Low Gap, N.C.) via Ben Jarrell via his son Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) [Reiner & Anick]; Louise and W.S. Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Kenner C. Kartchner (Arizona) [Shumway]; Emery Martin (Dunbar, Pa., 1946) [Bayard]; John Wolford (elderly fiddler from Fayette County, Pa., 1944) [Bayard]; Mary Ann Rogers (elderly fiddler from Greene County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 646, pgs. 566‑567. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 92. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 126. Reiner & Anick (Old Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; pg. 93. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 17, pg. 8. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 54‑55. County 519, Reaves White County Ramblers ‑ "Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. 2." County 723, Tommy Jarrell ‑ "Down at the Cider Mill" (appears as "Jack of Diamonds"). County 756, Tommy Jarrell (N.C.) ‑ "Sail Away Ladies" (1976). Rounder 0421, Bruce Molsky - "Big Hoedown" (1997. Appears as "Clyde's Hiccups" as version was from Clyde Davenport). Voyager 304, Ora Spiva‑ "More Fiddle Jam Sessions" (appears as "Rye Whiskey"). County 724, Benny Thomasson (Texas) ‑ "Country Fiddling." Rounder Records, Hobart Smith – "Southern Journey, Vol. 6: Sheep, Sheep, Don't You Know the Road" (a reissue of Alan Lomax recordings). Rounder 0361, Bruce Molsky – "Lost Boy" (1996. Learned from Tommy Jarrell). Tradition Records TLP1007, Hobart Smith ‑ "Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians" (1956). Recorded for Victor in 1928 by Jilson Setters (as Blind Bill Day) {b. 1860, Rowan County, Ky.} under the title "Way Up on Cinch Mountain."

X:1
T:Drunkard's Hiccoughs
T:Rye Whiskey
M:3/4
L:1/8
S:Viola "Mom" Ruth – Pioneer Western Folk Tunes (1948).
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:G
(GA)|:B2G2 (GE)|D2B,2D2|E2G2G2|B4(GA)|B2G2 (GE)|D2B,2D2|
E2G2A2|G4 (GA):|
|:G2A2 (Bc)|d2G2A2|B2c2B2|A4 (GA):|
B2G2(GE)|D2B,2D2|E2G2A2|G4 B,2||
|:C[CE] [CE][CE][CE][CE]|B,[B,D] [B,D][B,D][B,D][B,D]|
E[B,G [B,2G2] [B,2G2]|[G4B4] B,2|C[CE] [CE][CE][CE][CE]|
B,[B,D] [B,D][B,D][B,D][B,D]|E2G2A2|[B,4G4]:|

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To play or display ABC tunes, try concertina.net

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You may be able to download J.W. Day's 1928 recording of "Way Up On Clinch Mountain" here (click).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 04 Aug 04 - 01:09 AM

There are a few verseions (and lotss of verses) in DigiTrad-search for Rye Whiskey

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 04 Aug 04 - 12:08 PM

Sandburg got that 'Clinch Mountain' verse somewhere and used it as a title, unnecessarily. "Rye Whiskey" or one of the other names such as Jack o'Diamonds is preferable.
Clinch Mountain sounds mountainy and folksy, and may help sell cds.

Subject: Lyr Add: JACK OF DIAMONDS (from Ben Jarrell)
From: Roberto
Date: 06 Apr 08 - 07:31 AM

Please, help with this recording of Rye Whiskey / Drunken Hiccups / Jack of Diamonds: I miss a couple of words in the last stanza...

Jack of Diamonds
Ben Jarrell
(from the Yazoo CD series Times Ain't Like They Used To Be)

Jack of diamonds, jack of diamonds
I've known you of old
You've robbed my poor pockets
Of silver and gold

I've played cards in England
I've gambled in Spain
Goin back to Rhode Island
Gonna play my last game

I'll beat on the counter
I'll make the glass ring
More brandy, more brandy
More brandy to bring

Corn whiskey and hard cider
They've been my dowfall
They beat me, they banged me
But I love them for all

I'll drink and I'll gamble
My money is my own
And them that don't like me
Can let me alone

I'll get up in the morning
All … and reel
God bless them pretty women
How happy I feel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: 12-stringer
Date: 06 Apr 08 - 02:57 PM

Though I haven't heard the Jarrell recording, that line is usually

I'll stagger and reel.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: Roberto
Date: 06 Apr 08 - 03:11 PM

Yes, it is! Thank you, 12-stringer. R

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Way Up on Clinch Mountain
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Apr 08 - 05:26 PM

Thought this thread might turn out to be be about a folksong version of Brokeback Mountain.