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Black-Eyed Susie
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown- southwestern Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Nebraska, Kentucky.
ARTIST: Skillet Lickers- 1928
Listen: Skillet Lickers- 1928 Black Eyed Susie
Listen: Luther Strong (fiddle solo) Black Eyed Susie 1937 Perry Co. KY (Lomax)
Listen: Roscoe Holcomb (banjo solo) Black Eyed Susie 1971 Perry Co. KY
Listen: Norm Edmonds (fiddle solo) Black Eyed Susie from Train on the Island (Lacks intensity of 1927 recording with J.P. Nestor)
Listen: John W. Summers (Indiana fiddler) (fiddle solo) Black Eyed Susan
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1850's Roaring River- See lyrics below
RECORDING INFO: Roscoe Holcomb, "Blackeyed Susie", New Lost City Ramblers, "Blackeyed Susie". Anachronistic 001, John Hilt - "Swope's Knobs." County 405, "The Hill-Billies." County 713, Cockerham, Jarrell, and Jenkins - "Down to the Cider Mill." County CO-CD-2711, Kirk Sutphin - "Old Roots and New Branches" (1994). Davis Unlimited 33015, Doc Roberts - "Classic Fiddle Tunes." Folkways FA 2492, New Lost City Ramblers - "String Band Instrumentals" (1964. Learned from J.P. Nestor & Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners). Gennett 6257 (78 RPM), Doc Roberts (Ky.), c. 1928. Marimac 9009, Rafe Stefanini - "Old Time Friends" (1987). Marimac 9060, Jim Bowles - "Railroading Through the Rocky Mountains" (1992). Okeh 40320 (78 RPM), Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners (Henry Whitter, John Rector, James Sutphin). Rounder 0032, Buddy Thomas (northest Ky.) - "Kitty Puss: Old Time Fiddle Music From Kentucky." Victor 21070 (78 RPM), J.P. Nestor and Edmonds (Galax, Va.) {1927}. Victor 40127 (78 RPM), Jilson Setters (as Blind Bill Day; b. 1860, Rowan County, Ky.) {1928}. MacArthur, Margaret. Them Stars, Whetstone WS 04, CD (1996), cut# 3; Gellert, Dan. Tribute to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival, Chubby Dragon CS 1001, Cas (199?), cut#A.04; Summers, John W. (Dick). Indiana Fiddler, Rounder 0194, LP (1984), cut# 15; Addiss and Crofut. 400 Years of Folk Music, Folkways FA 2404, LP (1962), cut#B.02d; Alden, Ray. Old Time Friends, Marimac 9009, Cas (1987), cut# 19; Bird, Elmer. Home Sweet Home, Windy Ridge WR-10002, LP (1982), cut#A.02; Boone, Woodrow; and Roger Howell. Music in the Air, BearWallow 210, Cas (1993), cut#A.02; Burris, Otis; and Fortune. Otis Burris and Fortune, Heritage (Galax) 073C, Cas (1989), cut# 5; Christian, John. Old-Time Banjo Anthology, Vol. 1, Marimac AHS 4, Cas (1991), cut# 24 ; Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins. Down to the Cider Mill, County 713, LP (1968), cut# 2; Darling, Erik. True Religion, Vanguard VRS 9099, LP (196?), cut# 6; Davenport, Clyde. Puncheon Camps, Appalachian Center Ser. AC002, Cas (1992), cut# 26; Dillards. Live Almost, Elektra EKS-7265, LP (196?), cut# 1; Edmonds, Norman. Train on the Island, Davis Unlimited DU 33002, LP (197?), cut# 11 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); George, Franklin/Frank. Swope's Knobs, Anachronistic 001, LP (1977), cut#1.03 ; Hellman, Neal. Life Is Like a Mountain Dulcimer, TRO, sof (1974), p 4 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); Highwaymen. Standing Room Only!, United Artists UAL 3158, LP (196?), cut#A.02; Hillbillies. Hillbillies, County 405, LP (197?), cut#A.06 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); Holcomb, Roscoe. Mountain Music of Kentucky, Folkways FA 2317, LP (1960), cut# 20 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); Holcomb, Roscoe. Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#2.35; Holy Modal Rounders. Take a Trip with me, Prestige PR 7539, LP (197?), cut# 4 ; Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Fantasy 24711, LP (1972), cut#1.02; Iron Mountain String Band (Galax). Music from the Mountain, Heritage (Galax) 101C, Cas (1992), cut# 7 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); McCurdy, Ed. Folk Singer, Dawn DLP 1127, LP (1956c), cut#A.02 (Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie); McKinney, Bonnie. Folksongs and Ballads, Vol 4, Augusta Heritage AHR 010, Cas (1992), cut#A.05; Nestor, J. P.. Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol 3., County 535, LP (1980), cut# 8; Nestor, J. P.. Early Rural String Bands, RCA (Victor) LPV-552, LP (1968), cut# 3; Nestor, J. P.. Bristol Sessions. Vol 2, Country Music Foundation CMF 011C2, Cas (1987), cut# 5; New Lost City Ramblers. String Band Instrumentals, Folkways FA 2492, LP (1964), cut#A.05; Roberts, Fiddlin' Doc. Classic Fiddle Tunes, Davis Unlimited DU 33015, LP (197?), cut# 7; Rosenbaum, Art (Arthur). Art of the Mountain Banjo, Kicking Mule KM 203, LP (1975), cut#1.09; Sexton, Morgan. Best of Seedtime on the Cumberland, June Appal JA 0059C, Cas (198?), cut#8; Skillet Lickers. Corn Licker Still in Georgia, Voyager VRLP 303, LP (197?), cut#A.04 ; Slaughter, Matokie; and the Back Creek Buddies. Saro, Marimac 9028, Cas (1990), cut# 14 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); Stripling, Lee. Hogs Picking Up Acorns, Voyager VRCD 349, CD (2000), cut# 9; Sykes, Robert. Appalachia, The Old Traditions, Vol. 2, Home Made Music LP-002, LP (1982), cut# 14; Warner, Frank. Come All You Good People, Minstrel JD-204, LP (1976), cut#A.08; Warren, Paul. America's Greatest Breakdown Fiddle Player, CMH 6237, LP (1979), cut# 20; Wild Rose String Band. Wild Rose String Band, Wild Rose --, Cas (1981), cut# 12a; Young, Jesse Colin. Soul of a City Boy, Capitol ST-11267, LP (1974), cut#B.01;
OTHER NAMES: “Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie,” “Black-Eyed Susan,” "A Day at The County Fair Pt. 2 (Lowe Stokes); "Alabama Square Dance part 1" (Chumbler, Coker Rice); Kitty Puss (Land Norris)
RELATED TO: “Green Corn;” “(Hop Up) Kitty Puss" (northeast Ky.); "Possum Sop and Polecat Jelly" (Randolph); "Hot Corn, Cold Corn;" "Paddy Won't You Drink/Sip Some (Good Old) Cider;"
SOURCES: Lomax-FSUSA p. 29, "Blackeyed Susie" Silber-FSWB, p. 38, "Green Corn". John Hilt (Tazewell County, Virginia) [Krassen, 1983]; Bob Walters (Lincoln, Nebraska) [Christeson]; New Lost City Ramblers [Brody, Kuntz]; John Tustin & S. Clark (southwestern Pa., mid-1900's) [Bayard]; Uncle Tom West (Boyd County, Ky., 1911) [Thomas & Leeder]; Doc Roberts (Ky.) [Phillips]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 185A-B, pg. 142. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 47. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol.1) , 1973; No. 71, pg. 54 (appears as "Black Eyed Susan"). Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddle), 1983; pg. 110. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 51 (appears as "Blackeyed Susan"). Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1986; pg. 327. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 28. Thomas & Leeder (The Singin' Gathering), 1939; pg. 61.Randolph 568, "Black-Eyed Susan"); also perhaps 415, "Possum Sop and Polecat Jelly"; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc; American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Society, Bk (1957), p239; West, Tom. Singin' Gatherin', Silver Burdette, Bk (1939), p46; Hellman, Neal. Life Is Like a Mountain Dulcimer, TRO, sof (1974), p 4 (Blackeyed Susie/Susan); Bruce, Dix. Mandolin Magazine, Mandolin Magazine MM, Ser (1999-), 2/2, p52; Maloy, Frank. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 30/1, p 9 (Black Eyed Susan Brown); Herren, Ruth Burton. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 98 ; Leftwich, Brad. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald OTH, Ser (1987-), 5/1, p41
NOTES: Black-Eyed Susie is a fiddle and banjo tune with floater verses such as found in the 1850s African-American song with Juba patting- Roaring River (see complete lyrics below:
ROARING RIVER (Red River Plantation, c. 1850's)
All I want in dis creation,
Is pretty little wife and big plantation.
Whether this is an early version of Black-Eyed Susie we'll never know since there is no music. It is however, an early version of a song that scans to Black-Eyed Susie and uses one verse of the standard lyrics.
If you look above you'll see four different instrumental versions of the song. The earliest version was recored by Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett in 1924 and later in 1928 they recorded the song again with the Skillet Lickers.
Black-Eyed Susie was one of two songs banjoist JP Nestor recorded (the other is the famous version of Train on the Island) at the Bristol Sessions in 1927.
More recent versions included versions by Lester Flatt and Earl Scrugs and a great version by Ricky Skaggs.
Notes from Ballad Index: Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn)
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses about courting and marriage: "All I want in this creation / Pretty little wife and a big plantation.... Two little boys to call me pappy, One named sup and the other named gravy. Hey, black-eyed Susie" (or "Green corn," or other chorus)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage children nonballad playparty
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 568, "Black-Eyed Susan" (1 short text plus a fragment, 1 tune); also perhaps 415, "Possum Sop and Polecat Jelly" (1 text, 1 tune -- a playparty that shares some lyrics and is too short to classify on its own)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 410-411, "Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 568A)
BrownIII 311, "Black-Eyes Susie" (2 fragments, presumably of this piece)
Cambiaire, p. 86, "Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 184, "Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susan" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 29, "Black-eyed Susie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 286-288, "Black-eyed Susie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 38, "Green Corn"; p. 39, "Black-Eyed Susie" (2 texts)
DT, BLKEYESZ
Roud #4954 and 3426
RECORDINGS:
Roscoe Holcomb, "Blackeyed Susie" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Black Eyed Susie" (Brunswick 175/Vocalion 5179 [as the Hill Billies], 1927)
J. P Nestor, "Black-Eyed Susie" (Victor 21070, 1927; on TimesAint05)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Blackeyed Susie" (on NLCR07)
Land Norris, "Kitty Puss" (OKeh 40212, 1924)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "Black-Eyed Susie" (Gennett 6257, 1927)
Pete Seeger, "Black-Eyed Suzie" (on LonesomeValley);"Green Corn" (on BroonzySeeger2)
Jilson Setters [pseud. for James W. "Blind Bill" Day], "Black Eyed Susie" (Victor V-40127, 1929)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Black-Eyed Susie" (Columbia 119-D, 1924)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Black-Eyed Susie" (Columbia 15283-D, 1928)
Henry Whitter [Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners], "Black-Eyed Susie" (OKeh 40320, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shady Grove" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Hot Corn, Cold Corn (I'll Meet You in the Evening)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Davy" (meter)
NOTES: It is possible that this song and "Hot Corn, Cold Corn (I'll Meet You in the Evening)" spring from the same sources, since they share lyrics and themes. However, they have evolved far enough apart that I feel I have to split them.
Roud seems to split the group even more, with "Black Eyed Susie" being his #3426 and "Green Corn" his #4954. The versions I've seen, though, are so mixed up that I decided to lump them because almost any split would be somewhat arbitrary. Nor are the titles any help; Cambiaire's "Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susie." for instance, never mentions Susie; the girl in the song is Sally. - RBW
Notes from Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion: http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc "D Major. Standard. AB (Christeson, Krassen/1983): AABB (Brody, Krassen /1973): AA'BB' (Phillips).
"One of the most popular breakdown tunes," note the New Lost City Ramblers (1964).""Bayard (1981) traces the history of the tune, beginning in the British Isles with a melody called "Rosasolis," set by Giles Farnaby (c. 1560- c.1600), which appears in the the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Another version of the melody is called "Morris Off" and appears in Jehan Tabourot's Orchesographie (1588); it is still used for English morris dances and has been called the earliest recorded morris tune. Still another version appears as a Welsh harp tune, "Alawon Fy Ngwlad." Later developments of the tune were popular in England and Scotland from the early 17th century through the 18th, under the title "Three (Jolly) Sheep Skins;" while in Ireland a variation became known as "Aillilliu mo Mhailin" (Alas My Little Bag) {a humorous lament for a stolen bag of sundries}.
Transported to the United States from these various sources the melody developed into an old-time standard, "Black Eyed Susie," well-known throughout the South and Midwest. It was mentioned in reports from 1926-31 of the De Kalb County, northeast Alabama, Annual (Fiddler's) Convention, and at a 1929 Grove Hill, southwest Alabama, contest (Cauthen, 1990). Musicologist Vance Randolph collected and recorded the breakdown in the early 1940's for the Library of Congress from Ozark Mountains fiddlers, and it was similarly waxed in 1939 from the playing of Tishomingo County, Mississippi, fiddler John Hatcher for the same institution.
More Notes: Black -Eyed Susie originated from minstrel era fiddle tunes such as Roaring River which has the standard lyrics:
ROARING RIVER (Red River Plantation, c. 1850's)
Harper's creek and roarin' ribber,
Thar, my dear, we'll live forebber;
Den we'll go to de Ingin nation,
All I want in dis creation,
Is pretty little wife and big plantation.
Chorus
Up dat oak and down dat ribber,
Two overseers and one little *n....r.
With score. Fiddle tune described as being sung accompanied by patting. Solomon Northrup, 1853, "Twelve Years a Slave,: The Narrative of Solomon Northrup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841 and Rescued in 1853, from a Cotton Plantation near the Red River in Louisiana," Derby and Miller, Auburn, NY.
This song could have been posted with the other variants, but the mention of 'patting' is the reason I have placed it here. Reproduced with score in Dena J. Epstein, 1977, "Sinful Tunes and Spirituals, Black Folk Music to the Civil War," p. 151.
BLACK EYED SUSIE- Skillet Lickers
Listen: Skillet Lickers- 1928 Black Eyed Susie; Vocal Riley Puckett with Gid Tanner ad lib falsetto on chorus. Chorus is sung a little different every time; sometimes filled in by Tanner singing flasetto.
[fiddle]
VERSE: Love my liquor, love my party
Love my sweetheart at the end of the party.
CHORUS: Oh oh, little black-eyed Susie
Oh liitle black-eyed Susie.
[fiddle]
Verse: Gals and the boys went berry pickin'
All got drunk and Susie got a lickin'.
CHORUS: Oh oh, black-eyed Susie
Oh (little) black-eyed Susie
[fiddle]
VERSE: Some got drunk and some got woozy
I went home with little black-eyed Susie
CHORUS: Oh (black-eyed Susie)
(Oh black-eyed Susie)
[fiddle]
VERSE: Love my wife and love my baby,
Love my biscuits sopped in gravy.
CHORUS: Oh oh, black-eyed Susie
Oh little black-eyed Susie.
[fiddle]
VERSE: All I want in this creation
A pretty little gal and a big plantation
CHORUS: Oh oh, black-eyed Susie
Oh black-eyed Susie
[fiddle]
VERSE: All I need to make me happy
Is two little boys to call me pappy.
One named Paul and the other one Davy
One likes ham and the other one gravy.
CHORUS: Oh oh, black-eyed Susie
Oh little black-eyed Susie
[fiddle]
VERSE: Some got drunk and some got woozy
I went home with little black-eyed Susie
CHORUS: Oh oh, (black-eyed Susie)
Oh little black-eyed Susie
[fiddle- vocal ad libs by Tanner]
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