Soldier's Joy

Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers.  Riley Puckett is on the lower left. 

   Soldier's Joy is considered to be a Civil War song.  In some circles, there is a kind of a tradition that a performing Old Time band is supposed to play at least one Civil War song, a murder song and a gospel song in each and every performance.  So Soldier's Joy is a song which meets the bill for the Civil War song, but in actuality the melody is known to have existed since the 18th century, in both America as well as Great Britain. 
     What is "soldier's joy?"  It's been the subject of more than its share of metaphysical  analysis.  But in actually it's very simple.  It was a painkilling concoction used by wounded soldiers (and later no doubt by soldiers who just wanted to get high).  It was a blend of morphine and beer, and this is likely what the boys were singing about by the time of the Civil War.  
    The tune predates the invention of morphine in 1804. The song was titled "Soldier's Joy" in the 1781 version of McGlashan's Scots Measures (in which case it might have referred to an extra ration of beer given to the soldiers from time to time), or whether the title was created later; i.e., after the invention of morphine. In any case, the lyrics and meaning evolved in the 19th century, as versions exist in both Britain as well as America  (durn those Brits!  How dare they steal our 100% American songs?!).   The same tune also been known as Logan Waters. By the time of the Civil War, very likely the soldiers were signing the praises of morphine (which was legal, by the way, as its addictive properties were not understood at that time). 

     The Morgantown version is sometimes played as a pure instrumental, or sometime sung using lyrics similar to those below.  Sometimes in the interest of politeness  over historical accuracy, people don't mention morphine, but we usually go with the historically accurate version in this case.  

     Below is a hilarious film clip (do you think it could be of the original Brew Pub?) paired with a very early version of Soldier's Joy by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers, circa 1929.  Gid Tanner was based in Georgia, teaming with another fiddle player (Clayton McMichen) and blind guitarist and vocalist Riley Puckett among others.   
    Back in the day, they didn't necessarily keep track of what pitch they were on, as long as it matched the other instruments, or the range of the singer.  Nowadays in the age of the electronic tuner everyone is pretty much tuned to the exact pitch.   Guitar players can play along with this video in the key of D (actual key E flat) with a capo on the first fret.  
    Likely the song itself dates back to the Civil War itself, as versions are known to have existed 

 

      Another more modern version that I like is a Dobro version by Martin Gross.  It's great to play with because the Dobro complements just about whatever instrument you happen to be playing.  Richard Pierce played Dobro at our jam for several years, but he recently took a job in another state, and we just haven't had a Dobro since then.  Good luck Richard, but please come back when you have the opportunity.  

Soldier's Joy

D   D   D     A

D   D   DA  D

D   G   D     A

D   G   DA  D

Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine

Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine

Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine

Along comes a chicken and says you're mine

I'm a gonna get a drink don't you want to go ?

I'm a gonna get a drink don't you want to go ?

I'm a gonna get a drink don't you want to go ?

All for soldier's joy

Twenty five cents for the Morphine, 

Fifteen cents for the beer right here
Twenty five cents for the Morphine, 
Gonna get me out a here


I am my momma's darling boy

I am my momma's darling boy

I am my momma's darling boy

Singing 'bout soldier's joy  

Fly Away My Blue Eyed Girl (Pretty Little Miss)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9yDTJEXIAk

    Here is another video from Clifftop, taken by Banjowim on Youtube.com.  This song is entitled Fly Away my Blue Eyed Girl and is another favorite of our Wednesday Night Jam at the Morgantown Brewing Company.  Keith McManus is playing lead fiddle and singing lead vocals, supported by a cast of thousands from Morgantown and around the world.
    Some things to listen for are the brass accompaniment from I. B. Browning and Robert Shank (which is a kind of unique Morgantown thing, which gives it some additional kick), and also the harmony from Rachel Herner.  Then too it is kind of cool to just sit back and listen to the sound of a few dozen fiddles playing together.  There is simply no way you can get that sound except in a festival jam.   
    Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers had a version of this song in the 1920's, and there was another version from Frank Blevins and His Tar Heel Rattlers from about the same time. 
     Some folks know this as "Fly Away My Pretty Little Miss" instead of my "Blue Eyed Girl."  This song is also kind of similar to Shady Grove, which was performed by Doc Watson and others. Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead) and Stephen Grissman also played a version of this song.  

    Another version that I love comes from Rising Appalachia, with Leah and Chloe Smith and has a totally different sound than the jam version.  These musicians break all "rules" (in reality there are none) of Old Time, including having two percussionists.  The mouse hat is also not standard attire.  But it all works beautifully, doesn't it? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L68UUv4Bw-M
Rising Appalachia version:

"Fly around my pretty little miss, fly around my daisy.
Fly around my pretty little miss, you almost drive me crazy.
Fly around my pretty little miss, fly around my honey.
Fly around my pretty little miss, I ain't got no money."


Once I had a fortune,
I laid it in a trunk,
Lost it all a-gamlin'
One night when I was drunk.

Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

If I had no horse at all
I'd be found a-crawlin'
Up and down this rocky road
A lookin' for my darlin'

Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

Every day and Sunday too
It seems so dark and hazy,
Thinkin' about my blue-eyed gal,
Almost drive me crazy

Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

If I were an apple, 
hanging on a tree
Everytime my Daisy'd pass
She'd take a bite of me

Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

Wish I had a needle and thread
Fine as I could sew
I'd sew that pretty girl to my side
And down the road I'd go

Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

Jaybird and the sparrow
They had a little fight together 
Fought around the bria patch
Never lost a feather.


Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

I wouldn't marry a banjo player
Tell you the reason why
His lips are full of tobacco juice
He never zips his fly.


Fly around my blue-eyed gal
Fly around my Daisy,
Fly around my blue-eyed gal
You almost drive me crazy.

I'd never marry a fiddler,
Tell you the reason why,
Her neck's so long and stringy, boys,
I'd fear she'd never die.

D   D   D   A
D   D   D AD

D  D   D   D
D  D   A   D

D  G  D   A
D  G  D AD

Down the Old Plank Road, Clifftop

Once a year the Morgantown Wednesday Night Jam moves from its normal location at the Morgantown Brewing Company to Clifftop West Virginia, as part of the annual Appalachian String Music Festival .

   Wednesday night at Clifftop is famous because that is the normal night for the string music jam in Morgantown. So naturally the jam just moves to Clifftop, since everyone who is someone is at Clifftop. People literally come from around the world to visit this humble gathering.  Since Kristian is from Sweden it is perhaps not surprising that there is a large connection with Sweden to group, but even before that people  from Europe seem to really love our music and there are always a number of groups that attend.

  Here is an awesome video (thanks to Banjowim, on youtube.com) of the Clifftop version of our jam.  Keith McManus, as usual, is the ringleader, with many other of the usual suspects from Morgantown WV present, plus the entire Swedish contingent, and a few other dozen stray musicians thrown in for good measure.  One of the interesting things about our jam is that we usually have a couple of really good horn players, which gives it a little bit of a ragtime sound. 

     Despite being filmed in the dark, the video does an excellent job of conveying the festival feeling, and you can get a sense of what it is liked to be surrounded by the almost deafening sound of fifty or a hundred instruments.  The jam, by its nature is completely unrehearsed, which results in a spontaneous kind of atmosphere.  Not everyone sings the same words to each verse, and it's impossible to know exactly what is going to be performed on each verse. Everyone has to develop a sort of extrasensory perception in order to make it all come together.  


  Think of Woodstock, West Virginia style.  Only we do it every year.  So y'all come and visit next year, okay?

  This song is entitled "Down the Old Plank Road." One version has been recorded by  Stewed Mulligan group on their album Liv and Howl. I'm not sure about the origins of the song, but one of the early recordings of this song was made by Uncle Dave Macon in the 1920's.  I would call this a "nonsense song," intended to make the audience laugh by telling jokes in verse.  For example one verse talks about a fellow whose wife passes away on Friday, and then remarries by the following Monday. Ostensibly, the song tells a story  about a person who  was in prison, with an iron ball and chain to make sure he would not run away.  The singer pledges that he "won't get drunk no more," down the old plank road.  Back in the old days, wooden planks were sometimes used to create makeshift roads, in place of bricks or asphalt.  We might question whether the promise to not "get drunk no more" will be kept.   
     Keith's version is similar to Uncle Dave Macon's version.  I know I haven't got the lyrics quite right, but I don't think it matters that much because next year they will probably be different.  Keith sings about a woman nicknamed "Blondie" while Uncle Dave sings about "Doney,"  which means sweetheart, or honey.  Since that word is never used anymore, let's go with Blondie, shall we?

Oh Blondie oh blondie, why did you treat me so, 

you caused me to wear a ball and chain around my ankle so. 

   Won't get drunk no more
   Won't get drunk no more
   Won't get drunk no more
   Way down the Old Plank Road 

I went down to Georgia, got on the gravel train,

Next thing that I heard about, I was wearing a ball and chain 

My wife died on Friday night, Saturday she was buried
Sunday was my courtin' day, on Monday I got married 

I went over the mountain, to build a scaffold high, 
So I can see all the pretty girls as they  go riding by 

Eighteen pounds of meat a week, whiskey here to sell
How can a young man stay at home, pretty girls look so well

Big Scioty, (Big Scioto or Big Sciota)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QXsQZWsQu4

   So what is a Big Scioty, anyway?  
   Well this is a question I can easily answer.  As an Ohio carpetbagger, I can tell you that the Scioto River runs through central Ohio.  "Scioty" is just a variant spelling, and since it is an old Native American name, nobody can be too certain what the original pronunciation really was. 

The general sense of the song is that a young couple is forced to temporarily separate in order that one or the other can find work.  Ultimately one partner agrees to go far away, while the other will stay with the baby-oh.   However, some versions are more sinister, and imply that hubby is going to do away with wifey.  
   
Many versions start off "Born and raised in Ohio, where I'm bound I don't know."  The Morgantown version, however, cites (where else) Morgantown as the home.

There is also a version that is popular in the British Isles, with the same tune and different lyrics, Can't Go Home Again. 

Well I was born in Morgantown
To West Virginia I am bound,
Who will stay with the baby-oh?
Who will stay with the baby-oh?

Who will stay with the baby-oh?
Who will stay with the baby-oh?

Oh when I go far away
Then you will know where I will stay
I will stay with the baby-oh
I will stay with the baby-oh

I will stay with the baby-oh
I will stay with the baby-oh

And now for you I'll sing this song
Sing this song all night long
All about my baby-oh
All about my baby-oh

All about my baby-oh
All about my baby-oh

Born and raised in Morgantown
To West Virginia I am bound,
Who will stay with the baby-oh?
Who will stay with the baby-oh?

Who will stay with the baby-oh?
Who will stay with the baby-oh?

I will stay with baby-oh
while you are so far away
I will stay with baby-oh
I will stay with baby-oh

I will stay with baby-oh
Then I will go so faraway

I will stay with baby-oh
I will stay with baby-oh

G   G   G    G
G   C  GD  G

G   D   D  Em
Em C GD G

I've lived by the river all my life
And I don't know nothing but the lord is christ
Can't go home again I can't go home again

(Chorus)
East and west that highway roam
Lord have mercy on my poor soul
Bring my blue-eyed baby home,
My Pretty little blue eyed baby.

The rivers deep the rivers wide
Devil stands on the other side. 
Can't go home again I can't go home again
(Chorus)

That pretty little girl I love so well
She goes to heaven lord I go to hell
Can't go home again I can't go home again

(Chorus)

Ebeneezer

     Ebeneezer is a really cool song with a mysterious origin.   According to the Fiddler's songbook, it was played only in western Virginia and West Virginia.  Weirdly, I can find no mention of why the song is called Ebeneezer.  Two famous Ebeneezers are the one from the Bible as well as Ebeneezer Scrooge, but there is no clear connection between the song and either of these two figures, as far as I can tell .  The tune was first recorded in the 1920's by  Kahle Brewer of Galax.  The same tune is known by other names as well, including West Virginia Highway (Earnest Stoneman), West Virginia Farewell (Charlie Higgins of Galax), Alabama Gals Give the Fiddler a Dream (Henry Reed of Virginia) , and  Professor Wise (Bob Hill). 

      The names of the song are totally unrelated, and moreover I'm not aware of any lyrics for any version of the song, either!  This song has no relationship to a hymn with the same name,  however.

     The lack of lyrics probably rules out an Irish or Scottish origin for the song, since almost all songs from the British Isles have lyrics.  The ragtimey sound also argues for an American origin. The regional popularity of the song leads me to think that the song must have originated in West Virginia or Virginia.

       I found a version from a jam at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown in 2009 (thanks to MandoGreg for filming it and sharing it).  It's kind of hard to see owing to the darkness, but I believe that I can see Richard Eddy, Rachel Eddy and Scott Radabaugh on fiddle, Bob Shank on banjo, Richard Pierce on dobro, and Ray Hicks on guitar, among a cast of thousands.  Please let me know if you can identify any of the others who were there. 

   

  Another nice version features a dulcimer lead from 13 year old Bonnie Russell and the Russell family from Galax...

Part A

G    G     G     D     

D    D      D     G

Part B

G    G     G     G     

D     D     D     G

   www.traditionalmusic.co.uk has a version that is a little more complex.

Hold the Woodpile Down

       Recently, in Morgantown we've been doing a version of an old song called "Hold the Woodpile Down."  This song is one of several I first heard from Doc Watson on Stage, a collection of live performances of the great Doc Watson.  When I first heard it, it was really mind blowing.  I had never heard anyone play guitar like Doc.  Maybe up until that time, I listened to stuff like the Beatles and Chicago.  But by the time I was in high school, I was kind of looking for a different sound.  And though I certainly didn't like everything my Dad liked (I wonder what Slim Whitman is up to these days?), Doc was just something else.  He inspired countless musicians, including yours truly, to learn to play guitar.  Not that I'm any good, but I did try to learn  a few of his songs (hint:  never try to imitate Doc Watson.  It just don't happen!).   

       One of the songs that Doc played on that live album was "Hold the Woodpile Down."

       This is another song that doesn't seem to make much sense, at least on the surface.  As Lyle Lofgren points out in his analysis of the song 

( http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-HoldWoodpile.html ), 

"gravity already does a fine job of holding woodpiles down," so why does anybody have to hold them down?  

        Well, it turns out that this song was originally called "Haul the Woodpile Down."  It is a work song dating from the 19th century, sung by young African Americans who worked on the river steamboats.  Down south, where coal was unavailable, they had to feed wood to fire the boilers. The work song has a characteristic pattern, where the songleader would sing a one or two line verse, and the workers would sing back the chorus, "Haul the woodpile down!"  And in fact they would throw the firewod into the burner in time to the music. 

        Lyle suggests that Uncle Dave Macon, the patron saint of clawhammer banjo players, might have been the one that garbled up the words for us.  Uncle Dave was a colorful vaudeville performer, famous for singing, playing banjo and comedy.  A huge number of Old Time songs come to us via Uncle Dave.  Dave in turn grew up in a family that owned a  hotel that used to host traveling entertainers.  As such, Dave's songs and playing style is a fusion of Scotch Irish and African American styles. 

    Also, Uncle Dave's version says that "The Black girls shine on the Georgia line,"  while Doc's version goes "The pretty gals shine on the Georgia line." Uncle Dave's lyrics might be considered to be offensive today, since it might be construed as making fun of skin tone.  

     But, I guess you could imagine that pretty young women seem to radiate loveliness, so maybe Doc's lyrics work as well.   

    Keith McManus and Bob Shank offer a different interpretation in our Facebook forum for the Morgantown Brew Pub Wednesday Night Jam.  "Hold the woodpile down" could refer to the fact that a large woodpile could be a tip to a federal revenue agent (revenoor) that moonshine whiskey is being distilled.  So you have to "hold it down" to avoid being too obvious.  Then the last line in chorus goes "backyard shine to the Georgia line" means that an escape route exists to a neighboring state.  This seems plausible, especially given the moonshine reference in the second verse (Uncle Dave calls it "white lightning" by the way).    Anyway, my feeling is that Lofgren's interpretation has better and earlier attestations, but this may be an example of how the words of a folk song are allowed to mutate to fit or different circumstances.

     In any case, here's a set of lyrics that are close to Doc's, with the exception that the Morgantown version has "Backyard shine to the Georgia line" replacing "Pretty gals shine on the Georgia line."  If you like, you can just sing back the refrain, "Hold the woodpile down,"  after each line, and let the lead singer worry about the rest of the lyrics. 
    Doc plays this in the key of G.  I've inserted my best guess at where the chord changes come, as best as my tin ear can decipher them.  However, you might also want to consult some other versions on the web.  Lyle Lofgren's version is based on Uncle Dave's version, and the other version comes from the British Isles.

http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/HoldWoodpile.pdf

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/old-time-music/012509.HTM

HOLD THE WOODPILE DOWN (Morgantown Version)

(G)  I went to see my love the other night - (C) hold the woodpile (G) down,
(G) Everything went wrong and nothing was right -  (D7) hold the woodpile (G) down,
(G) She hit me love like it made me glad - (C) hold the woodpile (G) down,
I kissed her once, she said "(C)Here comes my  dad." - (G)  hold the (D7) woodpile (G) down,

*Lord I was a travelin' , (C) travelin'
As long as the world rolls (D7) round
(G) The backyard (D7) shine on the (G) Georgia (C) line
(G) Hold the (D7)  woodpile (G) down

When I went to town the other night - hold the woodpile down,
I heard a Iittle noise and seen a big fight - hold the woodpile down,
There was a lot of policemen runnin' around - hold the woodpile down,
Said a big load of moonshine come to town - hold the woodpile down,
*Refrain

I went to the packin' house and stoled a ham - hold the woodpile down,
Nobody don' t know how mean I am - hold the woodpile down,
I took it right home and laid it on a shelf - hold the woodpile down,
I'm so mean I'm afraid of myself - hold the woodpile down,
*Refrain

A bookkeeper swallowed a nickel one day - hold the woodpile down,
It like to drove him crazy, so they say - hold the woodpile down,
Just listen and I'Il tell you what it's all about - hold the woodpile down,
' Twas a nickel in and a nickel out - hold the woodpile down,
*Refrain