Charley He's a Good Ol' Man 
Kelly Harrell- 1928 

DATE: transcription of Kelley Harrell 'Charley He's a Good Ol' Man' recorded on 12 August 1927 in Charlotte NC and issued in January 1928 as Victor 21069. Reissued on Kelly Harrell 'Complete Recorded Works Vol 2 1926-1929' Document DOCD-8027.

RECORDING INFO: Samantha Bumgarner, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 146, 1924); Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15709-D, c. 1931) Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927); Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1); Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (on CrowTold01); New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1); Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702); Blackard, Dad;'s Moonshiners. It'll Never Happen Again. Old Time String Bands, Vol. 1, Marimac 9110, Cas (198?), cut# 6 (Susannah Gal); Blevins, Frank; and His Tarheel Rattlers. Ballads and Breakdowns of the Golden Era, Columbia CS 9660, LP (196?), cut#B.06 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Bogtrotters (Bog Trotters). Original Bogtrotters, Biograph RC 6003, LP (196?), cut# 11; Camp Creek Boys. Camp Creek Boys, County 709, LP (1967), cut# 6 (Susannah Gal); Cedar Point String Band. Cedar Point String Band, Roane, Cas (1993), cut# 11 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Cockram, Grover. Old Five String, Vol 2, Heritage (Galax) 052, Cas (1991), cut# 6 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins. Down to the Cider Mill, County 713, LP (1968), cut# 5 (Susannah Gal); Crisp, Rufus. Rufus Crisp, Folkways FA 2342, LP (1972), cut#A.02 (Blue Eyed Gal); Douglas, Wilson. Boatin' Up the Sandy, Marimac AHS 1, Cas (1989), cut# 3 (Blue Eyed Miss); East, Earnest; & the Pine Ridge Boys. Old Time Mountain Music, County 718, LP (1969), cut# 7 (Susannah Gal); Feldmann, Peter. How to Play Clawhammer Banjo, Sonyatone STI-104, LP (1975), cut# 10 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Gaskin, Phyllis. Mountain Dulcimer - Galax Style, Heritage (Galax) 094C, Cas (1991), cut# 8 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Hall, Kenny; and the Sweets Mill String Band. Kenny Hall and the Sweets Mill String Band, Vol.II, Bay 103, LP (197?), cut# 3 (Susannah Gal); Herald Angels. You've Been a Friend to Me, Herald Angels HA1001, Cas (1994), cut# 18 (Fly Around); Hicks, Buna. Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol II, Folk Legacy FSA-023, LP (1965), cut# 18 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Hillbillies. Fiddlers Convention in Mountain City, Tennessee, County 525, LP (1972), cut# 8 (Blue Eyed Gal) ; Honig, Peter. Young Fogies, Heritage (Galax) 056, LP (198?), cut# 36 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Howard, Clint; and Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's. Part 1, Folkways FA 2355, LP (1961), cut# 17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Iron Mountain String Band (Galax). Music from the Mountain, Heritage (Galax) 101C, Cas (1992), cut# 5 (Old Time Flyin' Around); Jarrell, Tommy; and Kyle Creed. June Apple, Mountain 302, LP (1972), cut# 9 (Susannah Gal) ; Kazee, Buell. Buell Kazee, June Appal JA 0009, LP, cut# 6a (Blue Eyed Gal); Kazee, Buell. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald OTH, Ser (1987-), 3/3, p34 (Pretty Little Miss); Kimble Family. Pine Knots School Rowdies, Marimac 9037, Cas (1992), cut# 14 (Susannah Gal); Kincaid, Bradley. Bradley Kincaid. Volume 2, Old Homestead OHCS 155, LP (1984), cut#A.06 (Pretty Little Pink); Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), cut#A.01 (Fly Away My Pretty Little Miss); Lundy, Emmett. Fiddle Tunes from Grayson County, String 802, LP (1977), cut# 17 (Susannah Gal); Lunsford, Bascam Lamar. Appalachian Minstrel, Washington VM 736, LP (1956), cut#B.02 (Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal); Mabus, Joel. Clawhammer, Fossil, Cas (198?), cut# 6 (Pretty Little Pink); Michael, McCreesh & Campbell. Host of the Air, Front Hall FHR-023, LP (1980), cut# 3 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Mill Run Dulcimer Band. Sunday at the Mill, Lark LRLP 3094, LP (1980), cut#A.01; Moore, Charlie. Charlie Moore Sings Good Bluegrass, Vetco LP 3011, LP (196?), B.01 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 3, Folkways FA 2398, LP (1961), cut# 17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p 66 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Old Reliable String Band. Old Reliable String Band, Folkways FA 2475, LP (1963), cut#A.01 (Fly Around); Old Virginia Fiddlers. Old Time Fiddle, Patrick County, VA, County 201, LP (1977), cut# 9 (Susannah Gal) ; Pegram, George; and Parham, Red (Walter). Pickin' and Blowin', Riverside RLP 12-60, LP (195?), cut# 9 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Piney Creek Weasels. Squirrel Heads and Gravy, Hay Holler HHH-1101, CD (1996), cut# 4 (Fly Around My Blue Eyed Gal); Powell, Dirk. Hand Me Down, Rounder 0444, CD (1999), cut# 5; Price, Truman; and Jane Keefer. Songs and Tunes of the Oregon Trail, True West TW C-21, Cas (1991), cut# 13; Ramsey, Obray. Obray Ramsey Sings Folksongs from the Three Laurels, Prestige International INT 13020, LP (195?), cut#B.03 (Shady Grove); Reed, Ola Belle. Ola Belle Reed, Rounder 0021, LP (1973), cut# 4 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) ; Russell Family. Old Time Dulcimer Sounds from the Mountains, County 734, LP (1972), cut# 8 (Old Susannah); Sexton, Lee "Boy". Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#2.62 (Fly Around); Shelor Family. Eight Miles Apart, Heritage (Galax) 022, LP (1979), cut# 7 (Susannah Gal); Slaughter, Matokie; and the Back Creek Buddies. Saro, Marimac 9028, Cas (1990), cut# 11 (Jaybird Died with the Whooping Cough); Smith, Hobart. Banjo Songs, Ballads and Reels from the Southern Mountains, Prestige International INT 25004, LP (196?), cut# 15 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) ; Smith, Hobart. Southern Journey. Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns, Rounder 1702, CD (1997), cut#17 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink); Stoneman, Ernest; and the Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers. Day in the Mountains, County 512, LP (196?), cut# 7e (Possum Trot School Exhibition) ; Ward, Wade. Uncle Wade. A Memorial to Wade Ward, Old Time Virginia Banjo ..., Folkways FA 2380, LP (1973), cut# 2; Whitetop Mountain Band. Seedtime on the Cumberland. Sampler 1990-91, June Appal JA 0067C, Cas (1992), cut# 1 (Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss/Pink) Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1); Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (on CrowTold01); New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1); Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702)

OTHER NAMES: "Charlie's Neat and Charlie's Sweet" ‘Wheevily Wheat” “Blue-Eyed Girl,” “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss;” “Blue-Eyed Girl,” "Susannah Gal," "Blue Eyed Miss." “Fly Around My Pretty Little Pink”

SOURCES: Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 66, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; Darling-NAS, p. 254, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss"; Silber-FSWB, p. 39, "Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal"; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;

NOTES: This is part of the large Western Country family of songs that includes “Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss and “Wheevily Wheat.” The Charley lyric places it more in the “Wheevily Wheat" lyric branch. The reference to Charley is to "Bonnie Sweet Prince Charlie" who is Prince Charles Edward Stewart 1720-1788 of England: 

"Prince Charles Edward Stewart, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' 1720-1788

Charles Edward Stewart, the true heir to the throne of Great Britain to his supporters and the "Young Pretender" to his enemies, was born in Rome in December 1720.
His grandfather, the Catholic James VII of Scotland and II of England had been ousted in favour of the Protestant William of Orange in the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688, and had fled to France. After his death, Jacobites (as followers of the Stewart dynasty were called) recognised his son James Francis Edward as James VIII and III, and attempts were made to recover his throne in 1715 and 1719. Both were unsuccessful despite some assistance from France and Spain, whose own interests on a wider European stage favoured the return of the Stewart monarchy."

'Charley He's a Good Ol' Man', was recorded by Kelly Harrell in the 1928. Harrell adopts a female persona [he learned a woman's lyrics] which seems appropriate given the associations with the 'single life' stanza. The NLCR songbook gives Harrell as its source but adopts a male persona and omits the 'Over the river' stanza. It is a widely known play-party song that originally expressed Jacobite sentiments, but that context is long gone.” (From Stewie Mudcat)

CHARLEY HE'S A GOOD OL' MAN
Listen: Kelly Harrell; Charley Is A Good Old Man


CHORUS: Charley he's a good ol' man
Charley he's a dandy
Charley he's a good ol' man
He feeds them girls on candy

Single life is a happy life
Single life is lovely
I am single and no man's wife
And no man control me

Over the river to feed your sheep
Over the river, Charley
Over the river to feed your sheep
On buckwheat cake and barley

Chorus

Don't wan' no more of your weevily wheat
Don't wan' no more of your barley
But I wan' some more of the best ol' flour
To bake a cake for Charley

Chorus

Charley he's a nice ol' man
Takes me out a-fishing
I put the bait on Charley's hook
It's nice to see him catch them

Chorus

Some folks marry for good looks
Some of them for money
But I'm gonna marry a country boy
Kiss him and call him honey

Chorus