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Charlotte Town
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song- USA;
ARTIST: Perrow: From Mississippi; country whites; recitation of Mrs. Brown; 1909
Listen: Bob Wills; Goodbye Liza Jane; Western swing
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1800s
OTHER NAMES: Charlottestown is Burning Down; Goodbye Liza Jane; It's Good-By Liza Jane; Goodbye Miss Liza Jane; Liza Jane (Song); Goin' Down to Cairo
RELATED TO: “Limber Jim,” “Jim Along Josie,” “Seven Up,” "Shiloh,” “Black Them Boots”
SOURCES: Bobby Hicks (Brody, Phillips): Plank Road String Band via Delaware Gap String Band (Kuntz). Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 124. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 339-340. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 21. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 100. Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p293 (Goodbye Liza Jane); Hicks, Bobby. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 13/3, p63(Goodbye Liza Jane); (White)"Jim Aong Josey," p. 286 of "Negro Singers Own Book," ca. 1846 (Ref. in White, p. 242);
HISTORY: In 1731 a fire consumed most of Charleston, South Carolina. Just nine years later, the most serious fire yet experienced in the colonies devastated Charleston again, burning more than three hundred dwellings and numerous shops and warehouses. During the two year Civil War "Siege of Charleston" there was an expolsion and fire at Ft. Sumter in 1865.
RECORDING INFO: Recorded by The New Christy Minstrels on The New Christy Minstrels “Today” LP (Charleston Town) Columbia Records CL-2150/CS-8959 ; Henske, Judy. High Flying Bird, Elektra EKS 7241, LP (1963), cut#B.07 (Charlotte Town Mountain Melodies. Tunes of the Appalachians, Oak Leaf OL 3-7-2, LP (197?), cut# 2 (Middle of the Afternoon); Gaster, Marvin. Uncle Henry's Favorites, Rounder 0382, CD (1996), cut# 6 (Goodbye Liza Jane); Lundy, Ted; and the Southern Mountain Boys. Ted Lundy and the Southern Mountain Boys, Rounder 0020, LP (1973), cut# 2(Goodbye Liza Jane); Seeger, Pete;, Mike Seeger, and Larry Eisenberg. American Playparties/Play Parties, Folkways FC 7604, LP (1959), cut#A.07(Goodbye Liza Jane); Simmons, Jean. Potpourri, Dancing Doll DLP 612, LP (1985), cut#B.10 (Black Them Boots); Simmons, Woody (West Va.). All Smiles Tonight, Elderberry ER 002, LP (1979), cut# 15 (Liza Jane (tune)); Smith, Glen; & the Mountain State Pickers. Glen Smith and the Mountain State Pickers, Kanawha 322, LP (197?), cut#A.06; Stoneking, Fred. Saddle Old Spike. Fiddle Music From Missouri, Rounder 0381, CD (1996), cut#25; County 772, Bobby Hicks- "Texas Crapshooter." King 787, Reno and Smiley- "Banjo Special." Mountain 301, Kyle Creed- "Blue Ridge Style Dance Time." Kicking Mule 205, Delaware Water Gap- "From the Rivers of Babylon to the Land of Jazz" (1979. Appears as "Liza Jane"). Kapp KS 3639, Bob Wills and Mel Tillis- "Mel Tillis and Bob Wills in Person." Victor 21141 (78 RPM), The Tenneva Ramblers (1927, as "Miss Liza, Poor Gal"). Vocalation 5115 (78 RPM), The Hill Billies (1926, as "Mountaineers Love Song").
NOTES: “Charleston Town/Charlottetown Is Burning Down” are versions of the Goodbye Liza Jane/Black Them Boots family of songs that date back to the mid- 1800s (see notes for Black Them Boots with recordings).
The melody of Black Them Boots (Goin' Down to Cairo) is also associated with the tune for Eight Miles To Louisville. I only have one recording in my collection (Listen: Home Brew- Goin Down To Cairo)
Goin Down To Cairo- Home Brew
[Fiddle]
Black them boots and make 'em shine
Goodbye, goodbye
Black them boots and make 'em shine
Goodbye, Liza Jane.
CHORUS: Cause I'm Goin' down to Cairo
Goodbye, goodbye
Yes I'm goin' down to Cairo
Goodbye, Liza Jane.
The song, Charlotte Town, with the same melody and chords as "Going Down To Cairo" and "Goodbye Liza Jane," has been attached to two different cities (most likely Charleston, SC and possibly Charlottetown, Price Edwards Island, Ontario- there's also a Charlotte, NC). Charlottetown, Price Edwards Island, Ontario has had a terrible fire but this seems to be a Civil War reference to the torching of the south (ie Sherman’s March) and the siege of Charleston for over two years by northern troops (Sherman eventually broke through causing an evacuation of Charleston in 1865). The explosion and fire at Ft. Sumter during the siege could be the association with “Charleston Town Is Burning Down”.
Included (See: Charleston/Charlottetown Is Burning Down-History) are some references to the Charleston fires and the Charlottetown fires plus Charlottetown’s mysterious burning ship seen as an apparition in the harbor.
Both Charleston and Charlottetown are linked to the “Goodbye Liza Jane/ Liza Jane” family of tunes. Two influential recordings were made of the tune, “Goodbye Liza Jane” in the 1920's which helped spread its popularity among early country musicians, remarks Charles Wolfe (1991). The first was by the east Tennessee string band The Hill Billies, who released it under the title “Mountaineers Love Song," and the second was by another band from the same area, the Tenneva Ramblers, as "Miss Liza, Poor Gal." A version of Liza Jane was collected and published in the JOAFL in 1893.
CHARLOTTE TOWN
III. GAME SONGS AND NURSERY RHYMES; SONGS AND RHYMES FROM THE SOUTH BY E. C. PERROW (From Mississippi; country whites; recitation of Mrs. Brown; 1909)
Charlotte Town is burnin' down,
Good-by! good-by!
Burning down to the groun',
Good-by! good-by!
Oh, ain't yuh mighty sorry?
Good-by! good-by!
Oh, ain't yuh might sorry?
Good-by! good-by.
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