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Benny Eat a Woodchuck/Indian Ate A Woodchuck
Old-Time, Breakdown- Oklahoma.
ARTIST: Henry Lovell (Potawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede].
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Early 1990’s
RECORDING INFO: None available;
OTHER NAMES: Benny Eat a Woodcock; Related to “Pruitt”
SOURCES: Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 138; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). Lovell, Henry. Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p138 Ware, John. Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p 89a (Pruitt).
NOTES: This tune is from Thede. G Major; Standard; AABB form. However the lyrics can be applied to the instrumental tune "Indian Ate a Woodchuck" as a set of traditional lyrics. I do have recordings of this tune. Here's some info from Kuntz:
Kuntz: INDIAN ATE/EAT THE WOODCHUCK. Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee. C Major. Standard tuning. AAAA'BB (Phillips): AABCC (Titon). Jeff Titon (2001) gives its provenance as eastern Kentucky and explains the confusion of titles between the substitution of ‘eat’ and ‘ate’ and ‘woodchuck’, ‘woodpecker’, ‘woodcock’ and ‘woodhen’. The melody was in the repertoire of Kentucky fiddlers John Salyer (1882-1952), Estill Bingham (1899-1990), Owen “Snake” Chapman, and bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker (who called it “Indian Killed a Woodcock”). Baker’s tune is similar to the tune J.P. Fraley of Rush, Kentucky, plays idiosyncratically called, “Sail Away Ladies [2]” (not the tune usually known by that title, and one he obtained from Ed Haley (1883-1951), who did call it by the “Indian” title). Titon seems to think that the Baker/Fraley tune is distanced from the Haley and Salyer versions, however, and he points out that “Indian Ate the Woodchuck” (and variants) is something of a floating title, noting the similarity, for example to the unrelated “Indian and the Woodhen.” Salyer’s version is a two-part one that is not as “busy” or ‘notey’ as Haley’s tune. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. African-American fiddler Frank Patterson recorded the tune under the title “Indian and the Woodchuck” for the Library of Congress around 1942. Sources for notated versions: John Salyer (Salyersville, Magoffin County, Ky.) [Phillips]; Ed Haley (Ashland, Boyd County, Ky.) [Titon]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 69. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 68, pg. 97. Berea College Appalachian Center AC003, “John M. Salyer: Home Recordings 1941-1942, vol. 2” (1993). Rounder 1131/1132, Ed Haley – “Forked Deer” (1997).
Lyrics:
Benny Eat a Woodchuck, eat it in a minute,
All but the gizzard, and that wasn't in it.
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