Lyr Req: Davy, Davy / Goin' up the River

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Lyr Req: Davy, Davy / Goin' up the River

10 Feb 02 - 01:16 PM (#646588)
Subject: 'Davy, Davy' or 'Goin' Up The River'
From: GUEST,Win Grace

Hello from Missouri!

I'm looking for some more words to a fiddle-tune-type "song" called "Davy, Davy" or "Goin' Up The River." I found two "verses" under the title "Davy" as recorded by the New Lost City Ramblers.

I have several other very short verses:

The boat began to rock and I began to shiver,
Oh my little girl I'm goin' up the river.

Night so dark, road so muddy
I'm so drunk I can't stand steady

All I need to make me happy
is two little guys to call me pappy.

One named Sam, the other Davy
One likes ham, the other likes gravy

When you're playing this at fiddle-tune speed, it's over before you know it, so I'd like more if anyone out there has any... The chicken house ones from the New Lost City Ramblers are pretty short, too.

Sincerely, Win Grace
pgrace@coin.org

10 Feb 02 - 03:56 PM (#646695)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Davy, Davy' or 'Goin' Up The River'
From: Ned Ludd

The last two lines are the same as in a song we used to sing in the Jug band I was in. It was called Green corn, but it doesn't seem to be in DigiTrad.

All I want from this creation's
A li'l biddy wife with a big plantation
Two li'l boys to call me Papa,
One named Charley one named Davy
One likes peas and the other likes gravy,
One in the army one in the navy
Green corn! (Come along Charley)
Green corn! (Wadn' tell Polly)

The rest was mostly instrumental.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 11-Feb-02.

10 Feb 02 - 05:25 PM (#646765)
Subject: Lyr Add: GREEN CORN (COME ALONG CHARLIE)
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

GREEN CORN (Come Along Charlie)

All I need in this creation
Little bit o' wife an' a big plantation

All I need to make me happy
Two little kids to make me happy

One named Sop and the other named Gravy
One gonna sop it, the other gonna save it

Wake, snake, day's a-breakin'
Peas in the pot and hoe cake's a-bakin'

Lead Belly (one of his versions)
from: Green Corn

10 Feb 02 - 05:45 PM (#646776)
Subject: Lyr Add: GOING DOWN THE RIVER
From: Stewie

The ones you quote are mostly 'floaters'. Here is a version from a recording by an Arkansas string band, Dr Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers'. Like H.M. Barnes, mentioned in another recent thread, Dr Henry Harlin was a non-playing member of the band. This transcription is by a mate of mine, Stan Gottschalk, who used it as the title song for a workshop on Mississippi River songs - it accords with a transcription by Dr Bill McNeil in the booklet accompanying the beaut 3CD set from the Center for Arkansas and Regional Studies 'Somewhere in Arkansas: Early Commercial Country Music Recordings from Arkansas 1928-1932'.

GOING DOWN THE RIVER
(Traditional)

I had a wife, she was a weaver
She wouldn't work none and I wouldn't neither

I had a wife and she was a quaker
She wouldn't work and the devil couldn't make her

Oh, little girl, if you don't do me better
I'll build me a boat and I'll sail it down the river

Boat begin to rock, I begin to quiver
Oh, little girl, I'm a-going down the river

Goodbye wife and goodbye baby
Goodbye biscuits sopped in gravy

When I get away, I'll write no letter
But I'll come back when I get a little better

Coon Creek's wide and Coon Creek's muddy
I'm so drunk that I can't stand steady

Source: Dr Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers on Victor, recorded 12 September 1928 in Memphis. Reissued on Various Artists 'Echoes of the Ozarks Vol 2' County CD-3507.

--Stewie.

10 Feb 02 - 05:50 PM (#646781)
Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN IN DOOLEY BEND
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)

DOWN IN DOOLEY BEND

Green corn, green corn
Growin' in the garden
Green corn, green corn
growin' in the garden
green corn, green corn
growin' in the garden
Down in Dooley Bend

Ole man Tatum
Buried the geese alive
Ole man tatum
Buried the geese alive
Ole man Tatum
Buried the geese alive
Down in Dooley Bend

Ole man Tatum
Sewed up the hog's eyes
etc.
Sung by Carl Withers, 1960. Audio on Here

10 Feb 02 - 08:29 PM (#646918)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: 'Davy, Davy' or 'Goin' Up The River'
From: masato sakurai

From The Fiddler's Companion:

~Masato