Sail Away Ladies is an incredible song, but one which for some reason few people have ever heard of. Vinnie Farsetta performs this as a banjo solo and it is also a mainstay for the Morgantown Brewing Company Wednesday Night Jam.
Sail Away Ladies has a leader/response format, in which the leader (Vinnie) sings a line, and the group sings back a response ("Sail away ladies, sail away."). In the recording from the Gardner festival below, Vinnie sings both parts.
In Morgantown, every time Vinnie does this song it about brings the house down. Some people might assume that it is a modern composition, but in fact it has a distinguished history. Uncle Dave Macon recorded a great version of the song back in 1927. I don't know where Dave picked it up; however, his family operated the old Broadway Hotel in Nashville, which housed many travelling entertainers including Vaudeville performers and minstrel show performers. No doubt this was a perfect place to pick up banjo songs, and perhaps this is where he might have heard Sail Away Ladies. According to the Fiddler's Companion (Andrew Kuntz) Uncle Bunt Stevens won the title of World Champion Fiddler in 1926 playing this tune beating 1,876 other fiddlers in auto magnate Henry Ford’s series of contests, held at dealerships through the East and Midwest.
Paul Wells of Middle Tennessee State University believes that the song dates from at least the turn of the 20th century and seems to have been common to both black and white traditions.
Nobody is really sure what is meant by the refrain "Don't you rock him Daddio" and there are many variants. Some early versions were known as "Dineo" or "Dideo" in the Sesotho language, which kind of makes sense since one of the primary verses is about gifting a house to the singer's son. The call/response structure to the song also suggests African structure.
Sail Away Ladies has a leader/response format, in which the leader (Vinnie) sings a line, and the group sings back a response ("Sail away ladies, sail away."). In the recording from the Gardner festival below, Vinnie sings both parts.
Vinnie Farsetta at the Gardner Worley Music Festival. Thank you Kathryn Madison for the shoot.
In Morgantown, every time Vinnie does this song it about brings the house down. Some people might assume that it is a modern composition, but in fact it has a distinguished history. Uncle Dave Macon recorded a great version of the song back in 1927. I don't know where Dave picked it up; however, his family operated the old Broadway Hotel in Nashville, which housed many travelling entertainers including Vaudeville performers and minstrel show performers. No doubt this was a perfect place to pick up banjo songs, and perhaps this is where he might have heard Sail Away Ladies. According to the Fiddler's Companion (Andrew Kuntz) Uncle Bunt Stevens won the title of World Champion Fiddler in 1926 playing this tune beating 1,876 other fiddlers in auto magnate Henry Ford’s series of contests, held at dealerships through the East and Midwest.
Paul Wells of Middle Tennessee State University believes that the song dates from at least the turn of the 20th century and seems to have been common to both black and white traditions.
Nobody is really sure what is meant by the refrain "Don't you rock him Daddio" and there are many variants. Some early versions were known as "Dineo" or "Dideo" in the Sesotho language, which kind of makes sense since one of the primary verses is about gifting a house to the singer's son. The call/response structure to the song also suggests African structure.
Uncle Dave Macon produced an inspired version of Sail Away back in 1927.
The lyrics from the Vinnie version are transcribed below. Note that Vinnie often skips singing the first "Don't you rock my Daddy-o" but plays it on the banjo. You need to have all four lines for it to come out right :).
***Postscript*** I originally wrote this blog circa 2014, but more recently (2019) I found another version that I really like, from Nobody's Darlin, an all-female band that unfortunately is inactive these days as far as I know. At first I couldn't figure out why it sounded different, but then I realized, this is syncopated!
This video won't play in my blog but you can boot it up on youtube via this link:
Nobody's Darlin' Sail Away Ladies
That is, it is just four chords, four beats each,
G C G D
but you start the sequence on beat 3, not on 1.
So the rhythm is
boom chick a diddle boom chick boom,
but each chord is played
boom chick boom, boom chick a diddle.
The lyrics from the Vinnie version are transcribed below. Note that Vinnie often skips singing the first "Don't you rock my Daddy-o" but plays it on the banjo. You need to have all four lines for it to come out right :).
***Postscript*** I originally wrote this blog circa 2014, but more recently (2019) I found another version that I really like, from Nobody's Darlin, an all-female band that unfortunately is inactive these days as far as I know. At first I couldn't figure out why it sounded different, but then I realized, this is syncopated!
This video won't play in my blog but you can boot it up on youtube via this link:
Nobody's Darlin' Sail Away Ladies
That is, it is just four chords, four beats each,
G C G D
but you start the sequence on beat 3, not on 1.
So the rhythm is
boom chick a diddle boom chick boom,
but each chord is played
boom chick boom, boom chick a diddle.
Vinnie's version:
Sail Away Ladies
G C G
If ever I get my new house done,
G D G
(Sail away ladies, sail away)
G C G
I'll give the old one to my son,
G D G
(Sail away ladies, sail away)
G C
Don't you rock my dad-dy-0,
G
Don't you rock my dad-dy-0
D
Don't you rock my dad-dy-0
G
Sail away ladies sail away.
I’ll chew my tobacco and spit that juice(Sail away ladies, sail away)I love my woman, but it aint no use(Sail away ladies, sail away).
Don't you rock him dad-dy-0, Don't you rock him dad-dy-0Sail away ladies sail away.
If ever I get my new house done, (Sail away ladies, sail away)I'll give the old one to my son,(Sail away ladies, sail away)
Don't you rock him dad-dy-0, Don't you rock him dad-dy-0Sail away ladies sail away.Don't you rock him dad-dy-0, Don't you rock him dad-dy-0Sail away ladies sail away.
*1000 extra verses optional*
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