|
Big Bend Gal/ Big Ben Gal
Old-Time, Song & Breakdown
ARTIST: Shelor Family (lyrics courtesy Carl Baron) from Kuntz.
Listen: Shelor Family's Big Bend Gal
Listen: Foothill Hoedowner's Big Ben Gal- live 1988
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1927
RECORDING INFO: Arm and Hammer String Band. Stay on the Farm, Grooveless, Cas (1983/1978), trk# B.06; 2. Shelor Family. Early Rural String Bands, RCA (Victor) LPV-552, LP (1968), trk# 7 [1927/08/02]; Blue Ridge Institute BRI 005, The Shelor Family – “Virginia Traditions: Blue Ridge Piano Syles.” RCA – LPV 552, “Early Rural String Bands.”
RELATED TO: Eight More Miles To Louisville (tune)
OTHER NAMES: Big Ben Gals
SOURCES: Ceolas; Folk Index; Field Recorder's Collective
NOTES: From Virginia’s Shelor Family (lyrics courtesy Carl Baron). The song was written/arranged by Sammy Shelor. A version may be heard on-line at the Digital Library of Appalachia: Clarice Shelor plays piano with Jesse Shelor playing rhythm on the low keys. She learned this song from her father. They live in Meadows of Dan, Virginia.
Here's a post online; Nancy Mamlin talking:
For years and years, and as long as Ron Cole can remember, the song
"Big Bend Gal" has been in his repertoire. From the source (the Shelor
Family) to the Canote Brothers, it has always been assumed that the
song "Big Bend Gal", is about the Big Bend Gal! Mr. Bill Dillof has
shed some new light on this subject, which has us very perplexed. The
opening verse is:
Ain't no use talkin' ‘bout the Big Bend gal
Who lives on the county line.
For Betsy came from the prairie plain
Just to leave them way behind.
Now then, if there's no use talking about her, could it be that the
song is not about the Big Bend gal at all? Some folks believe that the
Big Bend gal and Betsy are one and the same. But if you examine the
lyrics here, they could live in different places, depending on where
the county line is. Which leads us to: Is the prairie plain at the
county line? If not, then Betsy is not the Big Bend gal. Also, since
the song opens with "ain't use talkin' ‘bout" her, then why is there
an entire song to follow if it's about her? So, therefore, we have
strife in our family as we struggle with this all-important issue.
There is disagreement at the house and the cats have refused to vote.
So we ask you to help us if you know this song:
1. Is Betsy the Big Bend Gal?
2. Why are we talkin' ‘bout her if she isn't?
3. Where is the county line?
4. Is this driving you as crazy as it is us?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Actually the song begins:
There’s no use in talking ‘bout the Big Bend Gal,
According the Field Recorder's Collective in their article about the Shelor Family- the title was supposed to be: Big Ben Gal and was so titled in the Foothill Hoedowner's version (above).
Article from Field Recorder's Collective: The music would have stayed only in the home, except for a talent search by Victor Records. The owner of a victrola record store in Hillsville, Mr. Walter Howlette, held auditions for local bands and Joe Blackard brought his group. The Victor Record representative liked them and gave them a recording date in Bristol, located in the southwest corner of Virginia, 125 miles away.
Joe, Clarice, Jesse, Pyrhus, and seven year old Joseph arrived in Bristol on August 2, 1927. The recording session took place in a dusty millinery shop. They were asked to sing some of their more unusual songs although they hadn't practiced for them. Joe had to write the words out for Clarice and placed them on the piano. Pyrhus patted his foot so loudly that they finally had to put a pillow under his foot. Little Joseph was crying and getting dirt from the shelves on his face. Even with these less than ideal recording conditions, the group cut "Sandy River Belle", "Big Ben Gal" (incorrectly labeled Big Bend Gal), "Billy Grimes the Rover", and "Suzanna Gal", producing four sides on two seventy-eight rpm records.
BIG BEND GAL Sammy Shelor Shelor Family. Early Rural String Bands, RCA (Victor) LPV-552, LP (1968), trk# 7 [1927] Listen: Shelor Family's Big Bend Gal
[Fiddle and all]
There’s no use in talking ‘bout the Big Bend Gal,
That lives on the county line;
For Betsy Jane from the prairie plain
Just leaves them way behind.
You never would see such a likely woman,
If you searched out all creation;
She beats the gals from the flat creek bottom,
She’s the queen of the whole plantation.
[Fiddle]
She totes herself like a *flying squirrel
And the men folk all come around;
And Lord how the dewdrops get off the grass
When she puts her feet upon the ground.
She’s just as ripe as an apple on a tree,
And she looks so pretty and snug;
And her mouth’s just as sweet as a corncob stopper
That comes out of a molasses jug.
[Fiddle]
The calf comes a-loping when the old cow calls,
And the possum dog comes to the horn;
And the grape vine climbs up the tall oak tree,
And the morning glory wraps around the corn.
And a fellow will turn around and come pretty quick,
When he hears that pretty gal laugh;
She hangs on his arm like a bird on a tree
As they both go walking up the path.
[Fiddle]
Her eyes give light like a foxfire chunk,
And her teeth are white as snow;
And the fellers in the cotton patch keep looking back
When they see her come chopping down the row.
She’s gone crowd the hands where the crabgrass grows,
And kill the weeds as she goes;
She skippers up the furrow in a cloud of dust,
As she busts them clods with a hoe.
[Fiddle]
*[Carl Baron– “probably a reference to a motorcycle”]
|