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Coon Dog/Angeline The Baker
Old-Time; Breakdown- Virginia; Kentucky; West Virginia; North Carolina
ARTIST: Spangler & Wood on "Old Virginia Fiddlers" County 201
Listen to: Coon Dog
Related melody: Listen to: "Angeline The Baker" by Uncle Eck Dunford
Listen to: Angeline The Baker Norman Edmonds
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s early 1900s; 1915 DATE: Lyrics circa 1994
RECORDING INFO: Coon Dog
Rt - Seneca Square Dance
At - Raccoon's Tail ; Lynchburg Town
Uf - Angeline the Baker; Davie Dugger
Grant, Bill. Thede, Marion (ed.) / The Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p127 [1930s]
Lambrigger, Slim. National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Folk Music Festival. 1973, Century, LP (1973), trk# A.11
Titon: "Coon Dog" or "Old Coon Dog" (selected): Vincent Crawford, JH 017; Alfred Bailey, JH 003; Kelly Gilbert, JH 023; Bill Livers (African American fiddler) JH 043; Buddy Thomas, BG-051. Published recordings — Kentucky: WL Gregory,
RECORDING INFO: The Old Coon Dog [Me IV-E 9]
Rt - Old Tyler
Uf - Seneca Square Dance ; Turkey Buzzard
Cowin, Ellis. Comin' Round the Mountain, Voyager VLRP 302, LP (1968), trk# 8
Herd, Jim. Old Time Ozark Fiddling, Voyager VRCS 340, Cas (1991), trk# B.13
Ross County Farmers. Farmer's Frolic, Marimac 9013, Cas (1987), trk# 6 [1986/10/11]
Stover, Don. Things in Life, Rounder 0014, LP (1972), trk# 5
Williams, Vivian. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p136
OTHER NAMES: "Old Coon Dog" "Someone Stole My Old Coon Dog"
RELATED MELODY: "Angeline," "Angelina Baker," "Rocky Road" (N.C.), "Coon Dog" (Va.), "Georgia Row," "Walk up Georgia Row," “Julie Ann Flan” “Einstein the Genius” ”Julie Ann Johnson (Tune)” "Sailing On The Ocean;" "Little Nell;" "Seneca Square Dance" and "Engine on a Mogul"
SOURCES: Meade; Folk Index; Kuntz; Titon; Mt. Airy Old Time Fiddler's Convention
NOTES: I've heard this played at Mt. Airy Old Time Fiddler's Convention with the "Somebody stole my old coon dog" lyrics (see below) and I was told by the fiddler that's where the name came. The verse was sung to the A part. It's floating verse from the 1800s found in "Lynchburg Town" and other old songs (Woah Mule).
The 1915 publication- The Dry Goods Reporter: Volume 46, Issue 1 has the following excerpt on Page 39:
Thereupon Tom stuck one foot out about level with his chin and played Cackling Hen with the fiddle behind his back. Then Trick stepped forward and leaned over until his face was upside down and played Old Coon Dog with the fiddle behind head....
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Perhaps the earliest collected version is by EC Perrow in 1909:
15. MY COON DOG (From Mississippi; negroes; MS. of J. L. Byrd; 1909)
Rabbit in the log, and I got no dog,
Baby![1] Baby!
Chicken in the yard, and I got no lard,[2]
Baby! Baby!
Somebody stole my coon dog,
And I wish I had him back;
Chase them big ones over the fence,
And the little ones through the crack.
[1] A negro pet name for "sweetheart; " used also by the whites.
[2] That is, to fry it with.
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Dean Sturgill recorded the tune in 1992 as "Somebody Stole My Old Coon Dog." The recording Coon Dog was made by The old Virginia Fiddlers- John Watts “Babe” Spangler, his cousin Dudley Spangler from Meadows of Dan, Virginia and Maggie Woods. The Spanglers learned their fiddling style from John Watts’ father, Wallace Spangler, a reputed old-time fiddler from the region.
Titon reports this about "Davy Dugger" AKA "Coon Dog": This common tune is known in northeast Kentucky and central Appalachia as "Coon Dog" "Old Coon Dog" also "Davy Dugger" and "Old Davy Dugger.' Related to the tune commonly called "Seneca Square Dance" and to " Engine on a Mogul" Clyde Davenport learned it from his father. [Old-time Kentucky fiddle tunes By Jeff Todd Titon]
Notes Kuntz: COON DOG [1]. AKA and see "Raccoon's Tail," "Lynchburg Town." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, Oklahoma (Delaware County in version from Thede). G Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Bill Grant (Thede). Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 127.
COON DOG [2]. AKA and see "Angeline the Baker." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Virginia. A band tune and title characteristic of Patrick County, Va., quite similar to the better-known "Angeline the Baker." Dudley Spangler (Patrick County, Va.) is the primary source for the tune. County 201, J.W. Spangler (Patrick County, Va.) ‑ "The Old Virginia Fiddlers: Rare Recordings 1948‑49." Yodel-Ay-Hee 020, Rafe Stefanini & Bob Herring - "Old Paint."
Coon Dog- Mt. Airy Old Time Fiddler's Convention
Listen to: Coon Dog- instrumental
Once I had an old coon dog
As blind as he could be,
But ev'ry night at supper time
I believe that dog could see.
Somebody stole my old coon dog,
l wish they'd bring him back ;
He run the old ones over the fence
And the little ones through the crack.
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