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Country Ham and Red Gravy
Adapted by Uncle Dave Macon From “Ham Beats All Meat”.
ARTIST: Grand Old Opry pioneer Uncle Dave Macon; Recorded 24 January 1938. Reissued on Uncle Dave Macon 'Travelin' Down the Road' County CCS-CD-115.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Late 1800’s (Meade-1879) from minstrel stage;
RECORDING INFO: Bluebird 7951, Uncle Dave Macon (1938). County 531, Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters - "Old Time String Band Classics, 1927-1933" (1975)cut# 3 . Vocalion 5238 (78 RPM), Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters (1928). Whitewater String Band (1991). Harry van Lunenburg-Old Five String (Heritage Records, Route 3, Box 278, Galax, Virginia, U.S.A. 24333). Possum Hunters- Death on Lee Highway, Takoma A-1010, LP (196?), cut# 10; Hotmud Family. Live, As We Know It, Flying Fish FF-087, LP (1979), cut#A.04; Macon, Uncle Dave. Dixie Dewdrop (Vol. 1), Vetco LP 101, LP (197?), cut# 5; Flesher, Bob. Old Five String, Heritage (Galax) 039, LP, cut# 4
OTHER NAMES: Ham Beats All Meat; Country Ham and Gravy
SOURCES: American and Country Tune Book- Mel Bay; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: Uncle Dave Macon used the low part of the fiddle tune, Robinson County, for his song "Country Ham." The Robinson County melody is similar to "New Five Cents," Finger Ring" and "Ruffled Drawers." Macon probably used Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters 1928 version of “Ham Beats All Meat” for his rendition. The melody is also a popular clawhammer banjo solo.
The following verse appears in the 1879 Minstrel song, "High Born Liver Daniel:"
Talk about good eating
Your oysters and your clams
If you want something good to eat
Just get hold of a sweet ham.
The chorus is found on a parody of the Shakers at Pleasant Hill, Ky., bulit around their 750 pound dinner bell:
Oh How the Shakers yell
When they hear the dinner bell.
Oh how them taters smell
Three times a day.
ROBINSON CO. SOURCES & RECORDINGS: Ted Sharp- Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 200. County 531, Ted Sharp - "Old Time String Band Classics" (1975). Heritage 060, Major Contay & the Canebreak Rattlers - "Music of the Ozarks" (Brandywine 1984). Marimac 9017, Vesta Johnson (Mo.) - "Down Home Rag." Yodel-ay-hee Records #108327, Critton Hollow Stringband - "Poor Boy" (1979).
LYRICS:
*Talk about your old cow meat, your mutton and your lamb,
You ought for to see those people down South, sure make good sweet ham.
Oh, how them people yell, when they heard the dinner bell,
Oh, how that ham meat smells, three miles away.
Rich folks go to the market house, buy that mutton and lamb,
I'm going back to the butcher shop, to get that good sweet ham.
Oh, how them people yell, when they heard the dinner bell,
Oh, how them onions smell, three miles away.
Take about your fried chicken, It's nothing but a sham,
If you want a real meal, call for county ham.
Oh, how them poor folks yell, when they heard the dinner bell,
Oh, how them onions smell, three miles away.
Talk about your red snapper fish, hot cakes from the pan,
I'm going back to farm smoke house, get that good sweet ham.
Oh, how them boarders yell, when they heard the dinner bell,
Oh, how that ham meat smells, three miles away.
Talk about your fried chicken, you think you're living easy,
That ain't nothing to compare with the country ham and gravy.
Oh, how them people yell, when they heard the dinner bell,
Oh, how them onions smell, three miles away.
All the meat I ever eat, ain't going to tell you no sham,
Bake it high, stew or fry, still be country ham.
Oh, how them boarders yell, when they heard that dinner bell,
Oh, how them onions smell, three miles away.
*Edited for racial content
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