Lyr Req/Add: Been All Around This World

Subject: Lyr Add: I'VE BEEN ALL AROUND THIS WORLD (Fife)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 Aug 07 - 11:58 PM

From the Fife American Collection, 42 volumes.

Lyr. Add: I'VE BEEN ALL AROUND THIS WORLD (FAC Coll.)
Coll. Bob Duncan

Way up on the Osage mountain where the wind blows chilly and cold,
Way up on the Osage mountain where the wind blows chilly and cold,
Where I hid out last winter, starved and very nearly froze;
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

Way up on the Osage mountains, It's there I made my stand,
Way up on the Osage mountains, it's there I made my stand,
With a Winchester on my saddle, and a six-shooter in each hand.
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

They arrested me on Broadway Street and there they made me stand,
They arrested me on Broadway Street and there they made me stand,
With a six-shooter in my face and shackles on my hands.
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

Well, I took off my overcoat and I hung it on my wall,
Well, I took off my overcoat and I hung it on my wall,
Whipped out two six-shooters, God knows I made them bawl.
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

Oh hang me, oh hang me, oh hang me good and high,
Oh hang me, oh hang me, oh hang me good and high,
And telegraph to mother to come and see me die.
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

There's mother and father, little sister she counts three,
There's mother and father, little sister she counts three,
To follow down to the gallows and see the last of me.
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

The railroad is finished, the cars is on the track,
The railroad is finished and the cars is on the track,
Just telegraph to mother, her money will bring me back.
Lord knows, I've been all around this world.

With music score, pp. 251-252, No. 92.
Austin E. and Alta S. Fife, 1969 (1982 ed. by Bramhall House, NY), "Cowboy and Western Songs, A Comprehensive Anthology."

The Fife American Collection is housed at Utah State University.

Subject: RE: Been All Around This World
From: Goose Gander
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 01:12 AM

Thanks for posting that Fife text, Q.

Does anyone have any ideas regarding an origin for this one?

Subject: RE: Been All Around This World
From: Janie
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 01:27 AM

Referring back to the "Hang Me" thread (now cross referenced, thankee Joe) with a post from Q cut and pasted below for reference, it seems to me very likely the origins of the song are African American, call and response.   

Lyr Add: THE GAMBLER
From: Q - PM
Date: 13 Apr 06 - 12:35 AM

This song may have its origin in the songs of African-Americans.
Orlando Kay Armstrong, 1931, "Old Massa's People," has one of the slaves, awaiting sale in Savannah, singing (quoted from Belden):

I don' mind dyin', but I got to go by myself (2x),
Oh, I don' mind dyin', if dyin' was all.
Lawd, I don' mind dyin', if dyin' was all!

The song in Belden, collected by Miss Frances Barbour, 1917, from Minnie Doyal of Arlington, Missouri:

Lyr. Add: THE GAMBLER

My father was a gambler, he learnt me how to play,
My father was a gambler, he learlt me how to play,
Saying, 'Son, don't go a-begging when you hold the ace and trey,
When you hold the ace and trey.'

Chorus:
Hang me, O hang me, and I'll be dead and gone,
Hang me, O hang me, and I'll be dead and gone;
I wouldn't mind the hangin', it's been gone so long,
It's layin' in the grave so long.

They took me down to old Fort Smith as sick as I could be,
They took me down to old Fort Smith as sick as I could be,
They handed me a letter saying, 'Son, come home to me,'
Saying, 'Son, come home to me.'

My father and my mother and my little sister makes three,
My father and my mother and my little sister makes three,
They all came up to the gallows to see the last of me,
To see the last of me.

They put the rope around my neck and drew me very high,
They put the rope around my neck and drew me very high,
And the words I heard 'em sayin' was 'It won't be long till he'll die,
It won't be long till he'll die.'

Belden, H. M., ed., 1940, "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society, Univ. Missouri Studies, No. 15, no. 1,
pp. 472-473, no music.

Belden also quotes from N. I. White, 1928, "American Negro Folk Songs," , p. 78, in part. Here is White's complete entry from his section on religious songs:
"Reported from Durham, NC, 1925, MS of N. I. White. Sung by Ed Lloyd, Creedmoor, NC.

You can play the ace and trey,
But it sho' will lead you astray.
It's awful sad when the Holy Ghost is gone.

You can weep and you can moan,
But hell goin' be yo' home.
It's awful sad when the Holy Ghost is gone.

You can play the ace and deuce,
But God'll ketch you with no excuse.
It's awful sad when the Holy Ghost is gone.

You can pass the whiskey round,
But you must lay yo' body down.
It's awful sad when the Holy Ghost is gone.

Also reported from Durham, 1919, "Sung by a cripple Negro on the street," W. B. Jeffrey.

The song itself may have not been all around this world, but it certainly has been all around the American South, from the NOrth Carolna Piedmont, to the Mississippi to the Blue Ridge to the Ozarks.

I have trouble tracking the dates, but it looks to me from what I have read so far, the Durham, NC date is the earliest.

Janie

Subject: RE: Been All Around This World
From: Goose Gander
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 11:26 AM

"The song itself may have not been all around this world, but it certainly has been all around the American South, from the North Carolna Piedmont, to the Mississippi to the Blue Ridge to the Ozarks."

And out to California with the 'Dust Bowl' recording! But then I suppose the Dead actually did bring the song all around the world. I'm not aware of any commercial recordings from the 1920s and 1930s, which surprises me a little. Interesting to think what Jimmy Rodgers might have done with it.

Subject: RE: Been All Around This World
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 04:21 PM

African-American, Southern White- More than one song blended in some versions?

It do get complicated sometimes.

Subject: RE: Been All Around This World
From: Goose Gander
Date: 02 Aug 07 - 04:25 PM

It sho 'nuff do.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: Goose Gander
Date: 25 May 08 - 03:49 AM

Blue Ridge Mountain as sung by Virgil Lance, Mountain Home, Arkansas on April 15, 1969.

On Blue Ridge Mountain as sung by Walter Vaughn, Springfield, Missouri on April 7, 1958.

The Blue Ridge Mountains as sung by Fran Majors, Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 23, 1959.

Blue Ridge Mountain as sung by Lucy Bird, Mountain Home, Arkansas on December 31, 1971.

All from the Max Hunter collection.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: Art Thieme
Date: 10 Aug 10 - 05:36 PM

refish

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: Goose Gander
Date: 19 Aug 12 - 03:44 AM

re-fish?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Aug 12 - 05:39 PM

THe "New Railroad" version (also called "Big John Henry") was collected by Margo Mayo from Rufus Crisp in the late 30s or early 1940s, and was popularized by Joe Hickerson some 20 years latter. Available on a Folways custom CD (drom Smithsonian Folkways, or, for a couple of bucks less, from CAMSCO Music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: MissouriMud
Date: 20 Aug 12 - 02:47 PM

I think the earliest recording of the song in its current format was by Grandpa Jones in 1946.   Where he got it I am not sure - it is a typical synthesis older several songs. I havent heard Grandpas version - just seen references to it, such as on Bluegrass Messenger site.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Aug 12 - 05:29 PM

Really love this song.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Been All Around This World (Grateful Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Aug 12 - 11:04 PM

Ozark Folksongs: Vol 2 Songs of the South and West
variant B of #146 My Father Was a Gambler

Blue Stone Mountain

I'll go on Bue-Stone Mountain
And there I'll take my stand
My rifle on my shoulder
Revolvers in my hand
    Oh hang me, oh hang me,
    And I'll be dead and gone,
    I would not mind that hangin'
    But layin' in the grave so long

I have one little brother
And two little sisters makes three
To follow me down to the gallows tree
and see the last of me
    Oh hang me...

I've been all around this world
But never was in jail before
Oh send for my two babies to come and see me cry
Oh send for my two babies to wring their hands and cry
    Oh hang me....