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Jaybird's Altar, The/Been to the East, Been to the West
Old-Time, Breakdown. Traditional music and words.
ARTIST: From Randolph 574, "The Jaybird's Altar";
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
DATE: 1911.
RECORDING INFO: Columbia 15318 (78 RPM), Leake County Revelers (1928). Varrick VR -038, Yankee Ingenuity - "Heatin' Up the Hall" (1989). Leake County Revelers. Traditional Fiddle Music of Mississippi, Vol. 2, County 529, LP (1975), cut# 12 .Winston, Dave. Southern Clawhammer, Kicking Mule KM 213, Cas (1978), cut#B.05. Yankee Ingenuity. Heatin' up the Hall, Varrick 038, LP (1989), cut# 4a . Bubba Hutch- Clawhammer Banjo.
OTHER NAMES: "Great Big Yam Potatoes" A similar tune is "Going to Chattanooga," in the 'A' part.
SOURCES: Randolph 574, "The Jaybird's Altar"; Liz Slade (Yorktown, New York) [Kuntz]; Mary Lea [Phillips]. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 29. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 26. Leake County Revelers Volume 1, 1927-1928 Document DOCD-8029; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc.
NOTES: G Major. Standard. AB (Phillips): AABB (Kuntz, Songer). Traditional Fiddle and clawhammer banjo tune. The song became a popular play-party song in the late 1800s and early 1900. The first published lyrics are from the 1846 minstrel song "Brack Eyed Susianna."
In 1846 (and 1848) a minstrel tune was published as "Brack Eyed Susianna," by A. Fiot, Philadelphia. Copies are in American Memory and the Levy collection. The blackface dialect is thick, but a little-less stylized version was published in a broadside by Pratt, Birmingham, England, about 1850; Bodleian Library, Ballads Catalogue, Harding B 11(360).
View page 1 Black-Eyed Susiannah!- View page 2 Black-Eyed Susiannah!-
Black-Eyed Susiannah!
I've been to the east, I've been to the west,
I've been to Indiana,
There is no one there, or anywhere,
Like my charming Susiannah.
As a play-party song it was first published by Ames in the 1911 JOAFL under the title "I've been to the East" (with music- see below). Ames said, "As this was sung, the real name of the father of some girl on the floor was substituted for "John Jones," and the young man without a partner chose her for his partner. Many of the plays included a method of changing partners."
I'VE BEEN TO THE EAST- 1911 with music; Ames- JOAFL
I've been to the East I've been to the West,
I've been to the jay-bird's altar,
And the prettiest girl I ever did see
Was old John Jones's daughter.
Randolph published a version in 1940 titled "Jaybird's Alter" with substantially the same lyrics as Ames (See Below). The only early recording I have is from fiddler Steve Meekin in 1941 (See Version 4).
Been to the East, Been to the West (Jaybird's Altar, The)- Randolph
I've been to the east, I've been to the west,
I've been to the jaybird's altar,
But the prettiest girl I ever seen
Was Temmie Slinkard's daughter.
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