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Candy Gal/Candy Girl
Old-Time; Breakdown- Virginia; Kentucky; West Virginia; North Carolina
ARTIST: Vera Hall; Recorded by Alan Lomax 1939
Listen to: Vera Hall- Candy Gal
Listen to: Uncle Bunt Stephens 1926 Candy Girl (Fiddle Instrumental)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s early 1900s; DATE: Lyrics 1939
RECORDING INFO: Candy Gal
Us - Candy Girl
Candy Girl [Me IV-E 74] - Stephens, John L. (Bunt)
Ford, Ira W. / Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1965/1940), p118a
Haas, Brittany. Brittany Haas, Ook CD 001, CD (2004), trk# 9
Hall, Kenny. Gray, Vykki M,; and Kenny Hall / Kenny Hall's Music Book, Mel Bay, Sof (1999), p 52 (Candy Gal)
Monroe, Bill. Uncle Pen, Decca DL 75348, LP (1972), trk# 7 (Candy Gal)
Rocky Toppers. Gettin' Up the Stairs: Traditional Music from the Cumbe... Vol.1, County 786, LP (1986), trk# 5 (Candy Gal)
Seeger, Mike. Old Time Music on the Air, Vol. 1, Rounder 0331, Cas (1994), trk# 18
Stephens, Uncle Bunt. Nashville Early String Bands, Vol. 1, County 541, LP (1976), trk# A.05 [1926/03/29]
OTHER NAMES: "Candy Girl" "Rock Candy Gal"
RELATED MELODY: "Candy Gal (fiddle)" "Turn 'er high, turn lady"
SOURCES: Meade; Folk Index; Kuntz;
NOTES: Vera Hall's "Candy Gal" was recorded by Alan Lomax on his Southern Journey trip in 1939. Lomax had high priase for Hall's singing and recorded her serveral times in subsequent years.
Hall's "Candy Gal" is a dance song or play-party song. I'm not sure of the relationship between Hall's song and the fiddle versions first recorded by Uncle Bunt Stevens in 1926. A similar version was learned by Bill Monroe from his Uncle Pendaver Vandiver as a young man in the 1920’s in Ohio County, western Kentucky. Another version of the fiddle tune is performed by the Carolina Chocolate Drops who surely got theirs from African-American fiddler Joe Thompson.
Other versions include Mike Seeger's "Candy Girl," is based on a solo fiddle piece recorded by Uncle Bunt Stephens for Columbia records in the late 1920s and performed on mandola and harmonica.
There may be a relationship with "Rock Candy/Rock Andy" by Owen Chapmon and others. These instrumentals and songs (Rock Candy Gal/ Candy Gal) are propbably connected through an old African-American fiddle tune and song. Some texts and info from the 1800s follow:
Evidence of this dance is found in "The Southern Workman and Hampton School Record," Volume 28 By Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute 1899:
"Rock Candy Joe" was a play in which the old-fashioned "break down" was danced, and "Husko Ladies Turn," a play almost identical, with the old Virginia Reel.
The Current: Volume 1 - Page 248- 1883: They had all "jined hands," and were dancing around in a circle and singing to a not unpleasing air the following:
"Rock candy, candy gal —
Rock candy, candy gal —
Rock candy, candy gal —
See lady, rock candy !
Wan' some candy een dat ring —
Wan' some candy een dat ring —
Wan' some candy een dat ring —
See lady, rock candy! ....
After the completion of this song, the crowd paused only to catch breath, then joined hands, and, dancing around in a circle, sang to a pleasing air the following:
Rock candy, candy gal—rock candy, candy gal—
Rock candy, candy gal—see lady rock candy!
When the above had been repeated several times, the girl Dilsey and a great, strapping young negro called Josh were chosen and took their position within the circle. This done, all dropped hands and began to "pat" and sing:
Face dat lady fum Baltimo'—
Face dat lady fum Baltimo'—
Face dat lady fum Baltimo'—
See lady rock candy!
The Century illustrated monthly magazine, Volume 35 1888: The tune changed. Old Morris, the fiddler, began a quaint march, and two by two the dancers promenaded around, the clear voices of the women leading the song:
"Turn 'er high, turn lady,
Turn 'er high, turn lady,
Turn lor', Turn lor'.
Turn dat lady Cymlin;
Turn dat lady 'roun'."
The men turned their partners with one hand held overhead, and "the lady" spun until her dress swelled out like a balloon. Then she bowed and the men patted quick time, all singing, while their partners sprang to the center and danced:
"Knock candy, Candy gal;
Knock candy, Candy gal;
No harm to knock candy;
Littl' in de wais' an' pretty in de face;
No harm to knock candy;
Two ways to knock Candy gal;
No harm to knock candy."
The connection between these songs and the fiddle tune "Candy Gal" is uncertain. Vera Hall's "Candy Gal" is a fiddle/dance tune that she sang. Here are some notes on "Candy Gal" from Andrew Kuntz:
Notes Kuntz: CANDY GAL. Old-time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. Learned by Bill Monroe from his Uncle Pendaver Vandiver as a young man in the 1920’s in Ohio County, western Kentucky. Similar to “Candy Girl [1].” Bill Monroe – “Uncle Pen.”
CANDY GIRL [1]. AKA ‑ "Candy Gal." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Cumberland Plateau (Ky./Tenn. border area), Tenn. A Major. Standard or AEae tunings. AAB (Ford): ABAB' (Phillips). Uncle Bunt Stevens, a some‑time WSM radio performer, recorded the tune for Columbia in 1926, the same year he defeated the famous Uncle Jimmy Thompson in a regional fiddling contest. He later was crowned national champion by automotive king and fiddle buff Henry Ford (Charles Wolfe). Source for notated version: Bunt Stephens and Bruce Molsky [Phillips]. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 118. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 28. Columbia 15085‑D (78 RPM), Uncle Bunt Stevens (Lynchburg, Tenn.), 1926. County 541, Uncle Bunt Stevens ‑ "Nashville ‑ The Early String Bands, vol. 1." County 786, "Gettin Upstairs: Traditional Music From the Cumberland Plateau, vol. 1." Rounder Cd0278, Mike Seegar – “Solo—Old Time Country Music” (1991).
CANDY GIRL [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. A Major. Standard tuning. AABB. A more melodic variant of version #1. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 28.
Candy Gal- Vera Hall 1939 [partial transcription]
And I want some good dancing,
O yes, O yes;
And I want some good singing,
O yes, O yes;
CHORUS: O Candy, Candy Gal,
O Candy, Candy Gal.
Bring 'em in a hurry Candy Gal,
Bring 'em in a hurry Candy Gal,
I'll follow Candy Gal,
I'll follow Candy Gal,
O Candy, Candy Gal,
O Candy, Candy Gal.
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