|
T-U- Tucky/T-U-Turkey/
Old-Time African-American and Swing Fiddle Tune;
ARTIST: Lowes Stokes of Skillet Lickers
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s (1881 Uncle Remus)
RECORDING INFO: T-U-Turkey
Les (Carrot Top) Anderson "Tu-Turkey Ty" on Decca released June 30, 1951.
SOURCES: Talley; Brown; Mudcat
OTHER NAMES: T-U Tucky; T-u-Turkey Ty; T-u Turkey, Ty Tie, T-u Turkey Buzzard's Eye;
NOTES: This is an obscure African-American fiddle tune with game rhyme lyrics. The song was recorded in 1951 as "Tu-Turkey Ty" by swing recording artist Les (Carrot Top) Anderson on Decca released June 30, 1951. Anderson was born: February 20, 1921 and died: October 4, 2001 and is in the Western Swing Society Hall of Fame (1990).
The song was collected by Talley in 1925 and Brown (no date given). Here's the entry for Brown:
T-U TUCKEY from Brown Collection has this short fragment:
T-U turkey, T-Y tie
T-U turkey buzzard's eye.
Contributed by Sarah K. Watkins REported in both Anson and Stanly counties.
The song appears in Uncle Remus published in book form in 1881:
WHY THE BUZZARD'S HEAD IS BALD
T-u, Turkey, t-u, ti,
T-u, Turkey Buzzard's eye!
You kin see her a-sailin' way up in de sky!
Ef she wuz ter shet her wings an' fall
You'd see fer yo'se'f dat 'er head is bal';
P-o, Peter, P-o, pan!
Her head des ez bal' ez de pa'm er yo' han',
An' a mighty good reason but dat's a tale,
Ez de 'possum said ter de slippery rail.
It's found in Eldred Kurtz Means - Biography & Autobiography- 1919: He teached me a song 'bout de turkey-buzzard when I wus jes' a little shaver. It went like dis: "Tu tucky, tu ti, Tu tucky-...
Also the History of the University of North Carolina- Page 90 by Kemp Plummer Battle - Education - 1907:
A cotton picking, according to Kemp Plummer Battle is "analagous to quiltings, corn-shuckings, and log-rollings, providing toothsome refreshments. The cotton was placed in the middle of the room, parties would pick against each other, and amid good-humored rivalry and rustic merriment the work would soon be finished. Then the floor would be swept and the neighborhood fiddler, often as black as ebony, would strike up 'Molly put the Kettle on,' or 'T-u Turkey, Ty Tie, T-u Turkey Buzzard's Eye' or 'Crow He Peeped at the Weasel,' or 'Old Molly Hare', in such entrancing strains that every toe in the assembly became stark crazy as if smitten by St. Vitus."
Here are the lyrics from Talley:
T-U-TURKEY- Talley 1925
T-u, tucky, T-u, ti.
T-u, tucky, buzzard's eye.
T-u, tucky, T-u, ting.
T-u, tucky, buzzard's wing.
Oh, Mistah Washin'ton! Don't whoop me,
Whoop dat *feller back 'hind dat tree.
He stole tucky, I didn' steal none.
Go wuk him in de co'n field jes fer fun.
*edited
|