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What'll We Do with the Baby-O/ Baby-O
Old-Time Song and Breakdown, Widely known.
ARTIST: Baby-O from Frank Proffitt; Frank Proffitt Sings Folk Songs; Folkways Records FA 2360
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1843 as “Dandy Jim from Caroline.” First recording as Sugar in My Coffee-O by Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Sugar in my Coffee" (Crown 3075, c. 1930); First recording as What are You Going To Do With the Baby 1928 by the Hodge Brothers; then Grayson & Whittier in 1929; First recording as Prettiest Little Gal in the County by Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett in 1924
RECORDING INFO: Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in My Coffee-O Macon, Uncle Dave. Wait Till the Clouds Roll By, Historical HLP-8006, LP (1975), trk# 9 [1926/09/08] (She Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in my Coffee)
RECORDING INFO: I'll Take Sugar in My Coffee-O Jester Hairston: DePaul Chorus. Bicentennial Celebration, Columbia M 33838, LP (1975), trk# B.05
RECORDING INFO: Sugar in My Coffee-O (Fiddle version related to Cotton-Eyed Joe) Davenport, Clyde. Puncheon Camps, Appalachian Center Ser. AC 002, Cas (1992), trk# 2; Davenport, Clyde. Puncheon Camps, Appalachian Center Ser. AC 002, Cas (1992), trk# 3; Durham, Mel. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not.., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p189; Johnson, Vesta Wilson. Blue Flame, Marimac 9057, Cas (1994/1991), trk# B.08; Enloe, Lyman. Fiddle Tunes I Recall, County 762, LP (1977/1973), trk# 4; Holt, Bob. Got a Little Home to Go To, Rounder 0432, CD (1999), trk# 9b; Reed, Frank. Christeson, R. P. / Old Time Fiddlers Reportory, Vol. 2, University of Missouri, Bk (1984), #129 [1970s]; Stecher, Jody; and Kate Brislin. Our Town, Rounder 0304C, Cas (1993), trk# 3c 05; Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Sugar in my Coffee" (Crown 3075, c. 1930)
RECORDING INFO: Prettiest Little Girl/Gal in the County-O/Country/World Blake, Norman and Nancy. Blind Dog, Rounder 0254-C, Cas (1988), trk# 3; Davenport, Clyde. Puncheon Camps, Appalachian Center Ser. AC 002, Cas (1992), trk# 11; Griffin, Mrs. G. A.. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Bk (1950), p226/#136 [1934-39]; Phelps, Jake; and Street Butler. Titon, Jeff Todd / Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes, Kentucky, Bk/ (2001), p156/#129 [1965/08/10] 14. Tanner, Gordon. Rosenbaum, Art (ed.) / Folk Visions & Voices. Traditional Music & So...., University of Georgia, Bk (1983), p111 [1981/12/19]; What'll I Do With the/this Baby-O [Sh 228/Me II-A30] Gordon Tanner (Dacula, Gwinnett County, Georgia) [Rosenbaum]; Jake Phelps and Street Butler (Pea Ridge, Todd County, Ky., 1965) [Titon]. Rosenbaum (Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in North Georgia), 1989; pg. 111. Titon (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 129, pg. 156. Berea College Appalachian Center AC002, Clyde Davenport – “Puncheon Camps” (1992). Columbia 15315 (78 RPM), Clayton McMichen (1928). Davis Unlimited DU 32028, W.L. Gregory – “Homemade Stuff” (1978). Folkways FTS 31062, "Ship in the Clouds: Old Time Instrumental Music" (1978. Learned from the Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett recording). Rounder 1023, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (North Ga.), "The Kickapoo Medecine Show" (1980, originally recorded 1924). Rounder CD-0388, Gene Goforth – “Emminence Breakdown” (1997). Voyager VRLP 328-S, "Kenny Hall and the Long Haul String Band" (learned from the 1924 Skillet Lickers recording). Recorded for the Library of Congress by W.A. Bledsoe (Meridian, Mississippi), 1939.
RECORDING INFO: What'll We Do With the Baby-O Seeger, Ruth Crawford / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p.146 Winds of the People, Sing Out, Sof (1982), p 84; Blood, Peter; and Annie Patterson (eds.) / Rise Up Singing, Sing Out, Sof (1992/1989), p113; Barnes, Peter (ed.) / English Country Dance Tunes, Barnes, Fol (1986), -- (What Shall We Do with the Baby-O?); Bingham, Estill. Titon, Jeff Todd / Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes, Kentucky, Bk/ (2001), p192/#166 [1986-87] (What Shall We Do with the Baby-O?); Boosinger, Laura. My Carolina Home, Upstream UP 888, CD (1990), trk# 6 (What'll We Do With the Baby-O); Chapman, Owen "Snake". Devil's Box, Devil's Box, Ser, 30/1, p30b(1996) [1991] (What You Gonna Do With the Baby); Collins, Mitzie. Sampler of Folk Music, Sampler aafm 7601, LP (1976), trk# B.03 (What'll We Do With the Baby-O); Crooked Road. Generations, Spencer, CD (2004), trk# 30 (Baby-O); Gaponoff, Mark. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not.., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p209 (What'cha Goin' to Do with the Baby); Glazer, Tom. Glazer, Tom / Eye Winker, Tom Tinker, Chin Chopper. Fifty Musical Fin..., Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Bk (1973), p86 (What Will We Do With the Baby-O); Grayson, G. B.. Phillips, Stacy; & Kenny Kosak / Bluegrass Fiddle Styles, Oak, fol (1978), p 7 [1929] (What You Gonna Do With the Baby); Grayson and Whitter. Recordings of Grayson and Whitter, County 513, LP (196?), trk# 10 [1929/10/01] (Whatcha Gonna Do with the Baby); Hall, Kenny; & the Long Haul String Band. Kenny Hall and the Long Haul String band, Voyager VRLP 328-S, LP (198?), trk# 5 (What You Gonna Do With the Baby); Ives, Burl. Lollipop Tree, Harmony HS 14551, LP (197?), trk# B.07; Jarrell, Tommy. Pickin' on Tommy's Porch, County 778, LP (1984), trk# 12 (What You Gonna Do With the Baby); Kazee, Buell. Buell Kazee, June Appal JA 0009, LP (1977), trk# 6c; Kincaid, Bradley. Mountain Ballads and Old Time Solos. Album Number Six, Bluebonnet BL 123, LP (1963), trk# A.04 [1963/07ca]; Kossoy Sisters. Bowling Green and Other Folksongs from the Southern Mountains, Tradition TLP 1018, LP (1956), trk# 10 (What You Gonna Do With the Baby); Kossoy Sisters. Banjo Music of the Southern Appalachians, Olympic OL-6173, LP (196?), trk# B.05 (What Will We Do With the Baby-O); Langstaff, John. Langstaff, John / Lark in the Morning, Revels CD 2004, CD (2004), trk# 24 [1949-56] (What'll We Do With the Baby-O); Mainer, J. E. (Joseph Emmet). Legendary J. E. Mainer. Vol 4, Rural Rhythm RRJE 208, LP (196?), trk# B.03; Mainer's Mountaineers (J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers). Good Ole Mountain Music, King 666, LP (196?/1946), trk# 1 [1946/06]; New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p162; Philo Glee & Mandolin Society. Philo Glee & Mandolin Society, Campus Folksong Club CFC 101, LP (1962?), trk# B.09; Proffitt, Frank. Rosenbaum, Art / Old-Time Mountain Banjo, Oak, sof (1968), p61 (Baby-O); Ritchie, Jean. Folk Festival at Newport. Vol. 3, Vanguard VRS 9064, LP (1960?), trk# A.02 (What'll We Do With the Baby-O) ; Ritchie, Jean. Saturday Night and Sunday Too, Riverside RLP 12-620, LP (1956), trk# A.03 (Baby-O) ; Ritchie, Jean. Ritchie, Jean / Dulcimer Book, Oak, sof (1963), p33 ; Ritchie, Jean. Ritchie, Jean / Dulcimer People, Oak, sof (1975), p104; Ritchie, Jean. Sing Out! Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (196?), 5, p 7 (Prettiest Little Baby in the County-O); Ritchie, Jean; and Doc Watson. Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson At Folk City, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40005, LP (1990), trk# 13; Seeger, Mike; and Paul Brown. Way Down in North Carolina, Rounder 0383, CD (1996), trk# 10; Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-21 (What'll We Do With the Baby-O); Singh, Dev. Co-op Hootenanny, CCB, LP (1965), trk# B.08 (What'll We Do With the Baby-O); Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy. Songs of the Soil, Old Homestead OHCS 153, LP (1984), trk# 2.2e; Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy. Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy / Old Fashioned Hynns and Mountain .., Sizemore, Sof (1933), p18; Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy. Sizemore, Asher; and Little Jimmy / Favorite Mountain Ballads & Old T..., Sizemore, fol (1932), p 1; Smith, Winifred. Simple Gifts, Tennessee Squire Assoc TFA 64440, LP (196?), trk# 7; Wilson, Alice. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians II, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p336/# 228 [1917/08/27] (What'll We Do With the Baby-O); Baby-O [Sh 228/Me II-A30] - Driftwood, Jimmie; Jones, Grandpa. What's for Supper?, Monument KZ 32939, LP (1973), trk# 7 (What'll I Do With the/this Baby-O) [G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "What You Gonna Do with the Baby?" (Victor V-40268, 1930); Happy-Go-Lucky Boys, "Whatcha Gonna Do With the Baby?" (Bluebird B-8391, 1940); J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "What You Gonna Do With the Baby-O?" (King 538, 1946); Frank Proffitt, "Baby-O" (Proffitt03); Jean Ritchie & Roger Sprung, "What'll I Do With the Baby-O?" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
RELATED TO: Cornstalk Fiddle and a Shoestring Bow; Prettiest Little Girl/Gal in the County-O/Country/World; What'cha Goin' to Do with the Baby; Baby-O; Hell Up Hickory Holler; Who’s Been Here Since I’ve Been Gone?
OTHER NAMES: Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in My Coffee-O; She Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in my Coffee; Old Aunt Jenny; Turkey Buzzard; Prosperity Breakdown; Goin' Down to Georgie-O ; What'll I Do With the/this Baby-O
SOURCES: Sugar in my Coffee Meade; Folk Index; Kuntz; Mudcat Forum; Randolph 565, "Sugar in my Coffee" (1 fragment, 1 tune); BrownIII 92, "I Do Love Sugar in My Coffee O" (2 short texts); Roud #7659; Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 77, pg. 28. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 106. Global Village C-302, Midnight Cowtippers - "New York City's Annual String Band Contest - November 1984."
SOURCES: What'll I Do with the Baby-O Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 162, "What'll I Do with the Baby-O" (1 text, 1 tune); Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 234, "Charlie, Won't You Rock the Cradle" (1 text); Silber-FSWB, p. 407, "Prettiest Little Baby In The County-O"; 408, "What'll We Do With The Baby-O?" Roud #826
NOTES: Typical lyrics describe in dark humor various things to do with baby including: wrap him up in calico, put him in his cradle, wrap him in the table cloth, throw him in the hayloft, hang him in the tree top, give him moonshine, etc. Also lines from Sugar in my Coffee: "How in the world do the old folks know I like sugar in my coffee-O?" “What'll You Do with the Baby-O” is one of a large group of songs that originated from the chorus of Dandy Jim from Caroline:
DANDY JIM FROM CAROLINE- 1843
For my ole massa tole me so,
I was de best lookin *feller in de County-O,
I look in de glass an I found it so,
Jus what massa told me-O.
*edited for racial content
Dandy Jim from Caroline was published in 1844 by at least six publishers, and in New York and Boston as well as in Baltimore. By different publishers it was attributed it to Chas. Reps, Dan Emmet, Geo. F. Bristow and J. T. Norton. The lyrics differ somewhat from publisher to publisher. Parodies of the popular song appeared in several broadside editions:
THE GAL IN THE CABBAGE LINE
A Parody on "Dandy Jim from Caroline."
My darling Jane, I'd have you know,
Is the beauty of the city-o,
She doesn't dress so very fine,
But she's the darling of the cabbage line.
For my old Mommy told me-o,
I was the best looking gal in the city-o
I looked in her face, I found it so,
Just as my Mommy told me-o
There are three distinct branches of songs that have evolved from Dandy Jim from Caroline. Because they are from the same family the titles and lyrics are interrelated. There are different versions from both black and white sources:
1) The Prettiest Little Girl in the County-O: Includes the titles “Prettiest
Little Gal in the Country-O” and “Prettiest Gal in the County-O.” Recorded by
Skillet Lickers in 1924.
2) Sugar in my Coffee-O: Includes the titles Sugar in my Coffee/Sugar in my
Coffee-O/Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in My Coffee/I Like Sugar in my Coffee-O;
3) What’ll We Do With The Baby-O: Titles include “Baby-O.” There are more
recordings in this branch.
From Kuntz: Bayard (1981) thinks there is a relationship between Sugar in my Coffee-O and his Pennsylvania-collected sets of "Up Jumped Jinny With Her Shirt Tail Torn" and this tune. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954.
African-American collector Thomas Talley, in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (reprinted 1991, edited by Charles Wolfe), prints a song called "Sugar in Coffee" that is related to this song, and predates white recorded versions such as Tennessee's Uncle Dave Macon's ("She Wouldn't Give Me Sugar in My Coffee") and Georgia's Fiddlin' John Carson's ("Little More Sugar in My Coffee").
The “Prettiest Girl in the County-O” tune is similar in its melodic contour to "What're We Gonna Do with the Baby-O" and to “Turkey Buzzard.” R.P. Christeson notes similarity to his “Sugar in the Coffee” (Old Time Fiddler’s Repertory, vol. II, No. 129). "A popular 19th century fiddle and play party tune well remembered by older informants across the South" (Charles Wolfe). Jeff Titon says the tune is generally well known in the South, but not frequently found in the repertoires of Kentucky fiddlers. Alan and Elizabeth Lomax recorded the tune for the Library of Congress from the playing of fiddler George C. Nicholson. See also Thomas Tally’s No. 41. [Kuntz]
Meade shows a relationship with Cornstalk Fiddle and a Shoestring Bow/Who’s Been Here Since I’ve Been Gone?/Pretty Little Girl with the Blue Dress On songs to the "Sugar in Coffee" family of songs. Meade also references “Prettiest Little Girl in the County-O” songs to "Dandy Jim from Caroline."
Since the Skillet Lickers recorded “Prettiest Little Gal in the County-O” in 1924, with the “I like sugar in the coffee-o” lyrics, it seem likely that most of the “Sugar in the Coffee” titles and songs came from that recording. Many of the early country groups would play the same song under a different title to avoid copyright problems. They would also change some of the lyrics.
The first recordings of “What are You Going To Do With the Baby?” were made in 1928 by the Hodge Brothers and then by Grayson & Whittier in 1929. Cecil Sharp collected a version in 1917. Most of the lyrics today use dark humor regarding the fate of the poor baby- even Jean Ritchie gave the baby "moonshine" in her song lyrics.
Here are the lyrics to “Baby-O” from Frank Proffitt:
BABY-O/WHAT'LL WE DO WITH THE BABY-O?
Baby-O from Frank Proffitt
Frank Proffitt Sings Folk Songs
Folkways Records FA 2360
What you goin’ to do with the baby-o?
What you goin’ to do with the baby-o?
Wrap him up in calico, and send him to his mammy-o.
That's what I'll do with the baby-o.
What you goin’ to do with the mammy-o?
What you goin’ to do with the mammy-o?
Give her a needle and thread to sew,
That's what I'll do with the mammy-o.
What you goin’ to do with the lassie-o?
What you goin’ to do with the lassie-o?
Marry her off to a handsome beau,
That's what I'll do with the lassie-o.
What you goin’ to do with the laddie-o?
What you goin’ to do with the laddie-o?
Put him on a horse and watch him go,
That's what I'll do with the laddie-o.
What you goin’ to do with the daddy-o?
What you goin’ to do with the daddy-o?
Kick him out in the rain and snow,
That's what I'll do with the daddy-o.
Notes from Jean Ritchie 2007: The "Baby-O" tune, as it's often called, is a traditional tune with some trad and many borrowed verses. In our Kentucky mountain community, the fiddle often played the tune for running sets (now usually known as 'square dancing'). Whole families went to these weekend parties at each other's houses- from grandmas down to babies-in-arms. Babies as they fell asleep would be put on a big bed in a back room, and the womenfolk took time-about watching them. To amuse them the minder would bounce the bedsprings up and down with her hands, in time to the fiddle tune in the next room, and sing the verses she knew to the old tune. Many new verses got made up that way. My mother made up the one about, "give Old Blue your chickenbone" (at dinner, sometimes the baby would be playing underneath the table, and his Mom would hand him a drumstick bone to chew on to keep him-or her- quiet). I made up the verse "Dance him north, dance him south, Pour a little moonshine in his mouth," one time while I was taking my turn being a minder at a dance. Other verses I sing,in our family version, are mine, and I also added the line to the chorus, "He/she won't go to sleepy-O." This explains the copyright notice- it's only for the Ritchie Family version, the one I do on my recordings.
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