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MUSICS OF ALABAMA:
A COMPILATION

EXAMPLES OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM HISTORIC ALABAMA COLLECTIONS

Historical pieces are included in this compilation and following volumes to display the diversity of traditional music styles that were, at one time, common in Alabama. Little specific documentation is available on the people featured other than what could be culled from the accompanying notes from collections of the Library of Congress, the Byron Arnold Collection at the University of Alabama Hoole Special Collections Library, and the Ray Browne Collection held at the Sound Archive for the Center for Popular Culture, Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio

"WALKING ON THE GREEN GRASS"

An unknown woman explains how this child's game is played and how the song is sung. A traditional song from the Byron Arnold Collection, Hoole Special Collections Library at the University of Alabama (Tape 3 disk 11B).

"HEY HEY LOGAN" CHILD GAME SONG

Traditional song recorded by John Lomax for the Library of Congress (LC 4029 b2) Led by Maddie Mae Cole of Mt. Pile school near York AL 10-30-40

References. Step It down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes, U of GA Press:Athens, GA 1972

"COME BUTTER COME"

Traditional song performed by Harriet McClintock near Sumterville, Alabama. Recorded by John A and Ruby T Lomax 1940 for the Library of Congress in Washington. 4034 A1

"Come Butter Come" is a type of work song that one would use to ease the monotony of churning butter. Note the song goes a bit faster and faster after each verse, the churner urges the cream to become butter by pressing the dasher faster and faster down into the churn filled with cream. One can picture the aspiration of the churning action. The dasher would be down in on the word 'come' and pulled up on the word 'butter'.

"RA-TA-TUM-DE-DUM"

Sung by Corly Pennington from Fernbank, AL Recorded by Ray Browne 8-14-52. Dr. Browne recounts that Pennington was from Fernbank, just west of Millport in North Alabama. She lived in Alabama almost all of her life. She was about forty years old at the time of the recording. She learned all of her songs from her father. Her vocal style is unique with the upturned pitch ornamentations she delivers at the end of certain phrases. This short piece is a fragmented rendition of a well known ballad "Black Jack Davey". Nonsense words are used between the verses. The melody is basically the same as other renditions of "Black Jack Davey," or American variant, "Gypsy Davey."

"A gypsy chieftain bearing the common Romany name of Johnny Faa was executed by Scottish officials in 1624, but no connection between this unfortunate, or any other gypsy, and a wife of the Earl of Cassilis has ever been established. The numerous American variants of "The Gypsy Laddie" (e.g., "Black Jack David," "Gypsum Davey'), unlike the Scottish versions, leave the principals unnamed. A comparison of our text A (Scots Magazine, 80:309) with text B, from North Carolina (Brown, II, 165) points up other differences as well. The American text, for example, incorporates a snatch of a folk song, "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday." Scottish "lord" becomes "landlord," the only lord the mountain folk know. In Scotland the husband recovers his wife and hangs the abductor and his accomplices. No American ballad has this ending. Rather, the lady scoffs at her husband and refuses to return, though upon reflection she comes to feel none too happy with her new lot." (The Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-Speaking World editor Albert B. Friedman Penguin pub NY:NY 1982)

BLACKJACK DAVEY

Black Jack David come ridin' through the woods,
Singin' so loud and merry
That the green hills all around him ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.

"How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my lady?"
She answered him with a "Tee, bee, hee,
I'll be sixteen next summer."

"Come, go with me, my pretty little miss,
Come, go with me, my lady;
I'll take you across the deep blue sea
Where you never shall want for money.

"Won't you pull off those high heeled shoes
All made of Spanish leather;
Won't you put on some low heeled shoes?
And we'll ride off together."

She soon pulled off those high heeled shoes
All made of Spanish leather;
She put on those low heeled shoes
And they rode off together.

'Twas late at night when the land-lord come
Inquirin' for his lady.
He was posted by a fair young maid:
"She's gone with Black Jack David."

"Go saddle me my noble steed,
Go bridle me my derby;
I'll ride to the east, I'll ride to the west,
Or overtake my lady."

He rode till he came to the deep below;
The stream was deep and muddy.
Tears came tricklin' down his cheeks,
For there he spied his lady.

"How can you leave your house and land,
How can you leave your baby,
How can you leave your husband dear
To go with Black Jack David?"

"Very well can I leave my house and land,
Very well can I leave my baby,
Much better can I leave my husband dear
To go with Black Jack David.

"I won't t come back to you, my love,
Nor I won't come back, my husband;
I wouldn't give a kiss from David's lips
For all your land and money.

"Last night I lay on a feather bed
Beside my husband and baby;
Tonight I lay on the cold damp ground
Beside the Black Jack David."

She soon run through her gay clothing,
Her velvet shoes and stockings;
Her gold ring off her finger was gone,
And the gold plate off her bosom.

"Oh, once I had a house and land,
A feather bed and money,
But now I've come to an old straw pad,
With nothing but Black Jack David."

"CARRIE, CARRIE"

"Carrie, Carrie" is a work song that denotes a specific task of lifting bales of cotton while working on a loading dock. It is interesting to note the full harmonies used by the men singing this simple song phrase. Since the men do not give the whole impression of actually lifting the bales it is harder to determine the where the aspiration of the work would take place. However it seems that right after each phrase is sung a bale would be lifted and placed before the beginning a following phrase. One can hear John Lomax in the background urging on the singers along between each verse. The invectives of the "boss man" can be heard slightly as well.

"CARRIE, CARRIE" Sung by Thomas Langston, Judge Broadus, Albert Nicholson and Joe Milhouse. State docks, Mobile, AL. Traditional tune recorded by John A. Lomax 1937 for the Library of Congress (LC1335 A2)

"CROSS-E SHIMMY DANCE TUNE"

A traditional tune recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax in Livingston, Alabama November 3, 1940 for the Library of Congress (LC ref 4069-A-1.) Vocal and guitar by Tom Bell.

This is a song that Tom Bell would play at a juke joint, dance party or festive gathering for people to dance or "shimmy" to.

"The Shimmy, was probably derived from a Nigerian dance, the "Shika", brought to America by the African slaves. It was mentioned in the song "The Bullfrog Hop" in 1909 by Perry Bradford. It became very popular in the USA 1910 to 1920, and became a national craze after Gilda Gray introduced it in the Zeigfeld Follies in 1922, and claims the name comes from "chemise", having been asked by a reporter what she shook in the dance. However, Mae West claims to have done it in the show "Sometime" in 1919. It was described by the singer Ethel Waters, saying she put her hands on her hips and worked her body fast without moving the feet." (Groves Music and Musicians editor Stanley Sadie, 1980, 17/257)

"Cross E Shimmy Dance Tune"

Tom Bell recorded a few tunes for the Lomax's at that time. They all have been released on a commercial recording Travelin' Man. Recorded by John S. and Ruby T. Lomax in Livingston, Alabama 11-3-1940 (LC 4069 A1)