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04 Aug 25 - 01:12 PM (#4226735) Subject: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: Lighter I've been searching various databases for a while looking for early mentions of American fiddle tunes. To judge from books and newspapers, one of the more popular 19th century tunes was called "Rack Back Davy." It may have been played in Missouri as early as the 1820s. It is definitely mentioned in neighboring Arkansas in 1837. Uncle Remus mentioned it. By 1900, "Rack Back Davy" was known in at least 15 states, from Pennsylvania to California and Louisiana to Idaho. Confederate veteran Val C. Giles recollected that it was one of the tunes he heard played most often during the Civil War. A few lyrics even found their way into print: Rack back, Davy. Daddy shot a bear, Shot him in the tail [or "eye" or "eyeball": draw your own conclusions] and never touched a hair. Rack back, Davy, jigger [or "rarin'" up behind; You show me your foot [sic: draw your own conlcusions] and I'll show you mine. Rack back, Davy. Don't care a damn [or "Stand up, Dan"]. I'd rather be a n----r than a mean white man. Rack back, Davy, cuttin’ up a shine; Gal with the red ha’r setttin’ up behine. Rack back, Davy; cuttin’ up a shine; High Betty Injin, tiptoe fine. Oh! rack back Davy, cuttin’ up a shine; Devil’s in the cane-brake, chasin’ up behine. Two or three of the phrases are familiar from elsewhere. Now here's the punchline: I've been unable, on line and elsewhere, to find an actual printed *tune* (or tunes) to go with the title! This is amazing, given the widespread playing of it (or them). Incredibly too, "Rack Back Davy" doesn't appear in Vance Randolph's 1954 list of some hundreds of fiddle tunes played in the Ozarks: practically where the title was first mentioned! Nor is it in Ira W. Ford's "Traditional Music in America," whose editor was born in Missouri in 1878. The Traditional Tune Index has no entry for it. Surely such a popular tune couldn't have just disappeared. Presumably it (or they) still exists under different names. But what names? And why did the "Rack Back Davy" title vanish? Was "Davy" Davy Crockett (176-1836), noted as a bear hunter? Is there some connection with "Black Jack Davy"? "Rack back" seems to mean "come back in a hurry," but not even that is certain. Comments on any of this? |
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04 Aug 25 - 01:47 PM (#4226736) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: GUEST,gillymor Have you checked The Fiddle Companion site. |
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04 Aug 25 - 02:13 PM (#4226739) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: cnd Not authoritative by any means, but I can't help but notice the similarities between the thematic ideas of the song, as well as the scansion of the lines, to Old Dan Tucker. (Though the Owensboro [Ky.] Inquirer of February 14th, 1909 [link]lists the tunes separately so perhaps that line of thought is moot) I wondered also if you'd caught the reference to the song in Lomax's report of The Banks of the Arkansaw link. |
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04 Aug 25 - 03:10 PM (#4226742) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: meself Not in The Fiddler's Companion, under that name, anyway. |
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04 Aug 25 - 03:14 PM (#4226743) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: Lighter No, I missed that, Carter. Thanks for the link. The song has "Rear back, Davy." The newspapers have a small handful. The earliest is from the Woodville (Miss.) Republican (March 25, 1851): "Rear back Davy -- Stand back, Dan; I'd rather be a n----r than a poor whit man." Charlotte Observer in 1873: "Provided we can get Avery to stand on one side and pat and sing 'rare back Davy, &c." The patting suggests an African-American tradition. The Memphis Avalanche in 1886 criticizes somebody who called "Rack Back, Davy" "Rare back Davy." Interestingly it notes "No Democrat can afford not to know the air and the song of 'Rack-back Davy,' whose daddy shot a bear." "Rare Back Davy" was played at an old-time fiddlers' contest in Austin in 1900. Evidently "Rack [or Rare] back, Davy!" was a proverbial phrase. It seems to have meant something like "lay back and do nothing." I see only three examples. Greensboro [N.C.] Patriot (Jan. 7, 1835): "We surely had a right to expect that the new Administration spokesman in North Carolina would lead off for the party in this perplexing difficulty:but it appears that with him too its 'rack back Davy and come up behind!'" Weekly Messenger (Mayfield, Ky.) (Jan. 3, 1915): "These 'rear back Davys' always find excuses not to come." Windsor [Mo.] Review (Sept 12, 1918): "I have a motorcycle and a sidecar. The motorcycle has a driver, so I sit in the sidecar and 'rare back Davy!'" Gillymor, The Fiddlers' Companion is now much expanded as The Traditional Tune Index. (No Davys.) |
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04 Aug 25 - 03:28 PM (#4226745) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: Lighter BTW, dictionaries are silent on any likely meaning of "jigger up behind." "Jig 'er" would be nearly as opaque. If I had to guess, my weakly informed guess would be that "Rack Back Davy" was an alternate name for "Cumberland Gap." The couplets scan well to a simple version of the tune, which is first mentioned in 1879 in Tennessee (which proves nothing except that it already existed). Words to a song called "Cumberland Gap" seem to have been set to that tune in 1862 or '63; perhaps that was the impetus for the name change. Or not. All speculation, of course. |
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04 Aug 25 - 03:49 PM (#4226747) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: GUEST Good to know. |
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04 Aug 25 - 04:14 PM (#4226749) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: Lighter "Rare Back Davy" is given as the nickname of a student at a school in Maryland in 1852-53. https://beta.fromthepage.com/ssm-archives/2023-back-to-school-transcribe-a-thon/notebook-roger-b-farquhar-1852-1853-313bdba6-31d |
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07 Aug 25 - 10:52 AM (#4226839) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: meself I put a reference to this discussion on Fiddle Hangout, which seems to be composed largely of American 'Old Time' fiddlers - but no one there is familiar with a tune of that name. Some tangential stuff related to (possible) meanings and uses of "black rack". Here's a couple of comments that may cover material you are already familiar with: - In the context of Brer Rabbit stories, "rack-back-Davy" refers to a specific dance, or jig. In one story, Miss Meadows is holding a dance and is counting on Brer Coon to perform the "rack-back-Davy" while Brer Bear demonstrates the "roasting-ear shuffle". - The book...The Refugees: A Sequel to "Uncle Tom's Cabin." Annie Jefferson Holland · 1892 references Rack Back Davy as with other fiddle tunes... "Rack back Davy , " " Fisher's Hornpipe , " and the " Devil's Dream . " The Colonel grew jolly , and declared he would set up all night to listen to such music . The young folks formed a set , and dancing was kept up till the " wee sma ..." https://www.fiddlehangout.com/topic/60244/#608771 |
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07 Aug 25 - 02:08 PM (#4226851) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: Lighter Thanks for your efforts, meself! Am surprised - or not - that today's old-time fiddlers are equally in the dark. I wouldn't take the Harris "jig" too literally. The word was often used for any kind of one-person dance, especially on the minstrel stage. What's also wild is that not even the *phrase* "Rack back, Davy!" has survived anywhere. Another very well-known tune that sort of fits the words is "Black-Eyed Susie." Earliest known mention: 1872, in Indiana. |
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07 Aug 25 - 03:29 PM (#4226858) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: meself Just noticed that in the first paragraph of my previous comment, I put "black rack" instead of "rack back". Mudelf invited to make correction .... |
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25 Aug 25 - 11:15 AM (#4227640) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: Lighter A list of tunes played in Indiana in 1895 includes "Rockback [sic] Davy." "Rock Back Davy" is mentioned in Kentucky in 1883. Other examples: The Detroit Free Press in 1884: "Rock back Davy, Daddy shot a bar, Shot him in the eye-ball, Never touch a har." New York Saturday Journal (July 1, 1871): "Rock back Davy cuttin' up a shine, Gal with the red ha'r kicikin' up ahind!" The latest mentions of the tune I've seen are from Texas in 1907 ("the familiar tune 'Rock Back Davy'") and from California in 1934, where it's paired with the long-familiar "Money Musk." |
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25 Aug 25 - 11:39 AM (#4227641) Subject: RE: Tune Req: Lost Fiddle Tune From: meself Curiouser and curiouser! |