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Carve Dat Possum/Carve That Possum (Sam Lucas)
Old-Time Breakdown and Minstrel Song- Oklahoma, Tennessee, Southeast; Words and Music by Sam Lucas Pub in Boston: John F. Perry & Co, 1875.
ARTIST: Sam Lucas;
View Original Sheet Music: Page 1; Page 2
Listen: Uncle Dave Macon- Carve That Possum
Listen: J.E. Mainer- Carve That Possum Children
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
DATE: Minstrel piece from late 1800’s; published in 1875.
RECORDING INFO: Macon, Uncle Dave. Go 'Long Mule, County 545, LP (1981), cut# 5 . Macon, Uncle Dave; & the/his Fruit Jar Drinkers. Going Down The Valley; Vocal & Instrumental Music from the South, New1 World1 NW 236, LP (1977), cut# 9.
OTHER NAMES: “Possum Meat;” “Carve Dat Possum (Lucas),” "Possum Pie"
SOURCES: Thede’s Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p 69 (Possum Pie) Randolph 276, "The Possum Song" (3 texts, 2 tunes); Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
RELATED: Similar melody and form to Macon's "Sail Away Ladies." Related "Bile dem Cabbage Down"
NOTES: Key of G- One Part; Similar melody and form to Macon's "Sail Away Ladies."
Macon's version is done in call and response style. For a more bluegrass style cover of Macon's version Listen: J.E. Mainer- Carve That Possum Children.
Sam Lucas was one of the leading African-American minstrel composers and performers in the late 1800’s. His “Shivering and Shaking Out in the Cold" shows Lucas in the role portrayed by the song, and the song was sung in the pioneering African-American drama Out of Bondage, but the song itself contains neither dialect nor racial references. In the 1880's Lucas would be joined by Gussie L. Davis as an African-American writer of popular songs that were not racially specific; by the turn of the century such songs would be fairly common (Chris Smith would write "The Irish Were Egyptians Long Ago"), but Sam Lucas was the pioneer.
CARVE DAT POSSUM- Sam Lucas 1875
Listen: Uncle Dave Macon- Carve That Possum
View Original Sheet Music: Page 1; Page 2
De possum meat am good to eat,
Carve him to de heart.
You'll always find him good and sweet;
Carve him to de heart.
My dog did bark, and I went to see
Carve him to de heart,
And dar was a possum up dat tree
Carve him to de heart;
CHORUS: Oh, carve dat possum,
Carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum,
Oh carve him to de heart.
I reached up for to pull him in
Carve him to de heart.
De possum he begin to grin,
Carve him to de heart.
I carried him home and dressed him off
Carve him to de heart.
Hung him dat night in de frost;
Carve him to de heart.
CHORUS: Oh, carve dat possum,
Carve dat possum, children,
Carve dat possum,
Oh carve him to de heart.
De way to cook de possum sound,
Carve him to de heart.
Fust parbile him, den bake him brown,
Carve him to de heart.
Lay sweet potatoes in de pan,
Carve him to de heart.
De sweetest eatin' in the lan',
Carve him to de heart.
REPEAT CHORUS
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