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Carve That Possum/Carve Dat Possum
Old-Time Breakdown and Minstrel Song- Oklahoma, Tennessee, Southeast; Words and Music by Sam Lucas Pub in Boston: John F. Perry & Co, 1875.
ARTIST: Uncle Dave Macon Vo 5151; 1927.
View Original Sheet Music: Page 1; Page 2 Sam Lucas 1875
Listen: Uncle Dave Macon- Carve That Possum
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
DATE: Minstrel piece from 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;
NOTES: One part- Key G; Similar melody and form to Macon's "Sail Away Ladies." Macon sticks close to the original lyrics (See version 1). For a more bluegrass style cover of Macon's version Listen: J.E. Mainer- Carve That Possum Children.
The song was "composed" in 1875 by 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 1880s 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 THAT POSSUM- Uncle Dave Macon
Listen: Uncle Dave Macon- Carve That Possum
[banjo w/ fiddle]
My dog treed, I went to see, (Carve him to his heart)
There was a possum up that tree, (Carve him to his heart).
And that possum began to grin, (Carve him to his heart)
I reached up and took him in, (Carve him to his heart).
CHORUS: Oh, carve that possum
Carve that possum, children
Carve that possum children
Oh, carve him to his heart.
Carried him home and dressed him on, (Carve him to his heart)
Hung him out that night to frost, (Carve him to his heart).
One way to cook the possum down, (Carve him to his heart)
First parboil then bake him brown (Carve him to his heart).
CHORUS:
Possum meat am good to eat, (Carve him to his heart)
Always fat and good and sweet (Carve him to his heart).
Grease potatoes in the pan, (Carve him to his heart)
Greatest eatin’ in the land. (Carve him to his heart)
CHORUS:
Some eat early and some eat soon, (Carve him to his heart)
Some like a possum and some like coon (Carve him to his heart).
That possum's just the thing for me, (Carve him to his heart)
Old Rattler's got another'un up a tree (Carve him to his heart).
CHORUS:
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