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Old Mister Rabbit/Crawdad see also Baby Mine songs
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song. USA; Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana.
ARTIST: Old Mister Rabbit- Sung and played on the banjo by Dan Tate at his home in Fancy Gap, Carroll County, Va.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: 1800s; 1909 Perrow; 1928 recording
RECORDING INFO: Pete Seeger 13, AmHist1; Pete Seeger 39; Cannon, Gus. Walk Right In, Stax SCD-8603-2, CD (1999), cut#13 (Crawdad Hole); Daniels, Charlotte; and Pat Webb. Charlotte Daniels and Pat Webb, Prestige International INT 13037, LP (196?), cut#B.06 (Crawdad Hole); Forbes, Walter. Folk Song Festival, RCA (Victor) LSP-2670, LP (1963), cut#A.06; Girls of the Golden West. Songs of the West, Old Homestead OHS 143, LP (1981), cut# 11 (You Get a Line and I'll Get A Pole); Hinton, Sam. Folk Go-Go, Verve/Folkways FV 9011, LP (197?), cut# 3; Hinton, Sam. Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts, Scholastic SC 7530, LP (1964), cut#A.04; Howard, Clint;, Doc Watson & Fred Price. Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Part 2, Folkways FA 2359, LP (1963), cut# 10; Hutchinson Brothers. Hutchison Brothers, Vetco LP 505, LP (1975), cut# 3; Kweskin, Jim. Swing on a Star, Mountain Railroad MR 52793, LP (1979), cut# 3 (Crawdad Hole); Lone Star Cowboys. Are You From Dixie? Great Country Brother Teams of the 1930's, RCA (Victor) 8417-4-R, Cas (1988), cut# 5; Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), cut#A.07 (Crawdad Hole); Poplin Family. Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina, Folkways FA 2306, LP (1963), cut#A.09 (Crawdad Hole); Rascoe, Moses. Blues, Flying Fish FF-454, LP (1987), cut# 12 ; Seeger, Pete. Folksingers Guitar Guide, Folkways FI 8354, LP, cut#A.01; Smith, Raymond; & Bob Cowan. In the Hills of Home, Marimac 9010, Cas, cut# 5; Stracke, Win. Folk Songs for the Young, Golden Records, LP (1962), cut#B.03; Tarriers. Gather Round, Decca DL-74538, LP (196?), cut# 2; Thomas, W. H.. Kirkland Recordings, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS-106, LP (1984), cut# 8; Wakefield, Frank. Blues Stay Away From Me, Takoma TAK 7082, LP (1980), cut# 4; Watson, Doc; Clint Howard and Fred Price. Old Timey Concert, Vanguard 107/8, Cas (1987), cut#A.13
OTHER NAMES: “You Get A Line and I’ll Get a Pole;” “What Kin' O Pants Does the Gambler Wear;” “The Crow-Fish Man;” “Sweet Thing;” "Honey;" “Honey Babe;” "The Crawdad Song;" Alice Brown; I'm Going Back To Jenco (Mexico); How Many Biscuits Can You Eat; Gambler's Song; Governor Al Smith; Sweet Child; What You Gonna Do?
SOURCES: Lomax-FSUSA 34, "Sweet Thing/Crawdad Song/Sugar Babe". Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 72-73. Randolph 443, "Sweet Thing;" Sharp/Karpeles-80E 62, "The Crow-Fish Man;" Sandburg, p. 240, "What Kin' o Pants Does the Gambler Wear;" Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 896, "Crawdad;" PSeeger-AFB, p. 86, "Crawdad;" Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 271, "Crawdad;" Silber-FSWB, p. 23, "Crawdad" p. 235, "Sweet Thing;" Mellin, Norman. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 24/4, p46b; Wilson, Mrs.. Eighty English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 83 (Crow-Fish Man); Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
SAME MELODY: Back to Mexico ; I Wish I Was
RELATES TO: “Back to Jericho”; "New River Train""Going Around the World (Banjo Pickin' Girl, Baby Mine)" "This Mornin', This Evenin', Right Now;" "Otho's Song;" "Wagon;"
NOTES: "A Major. AEAE. One part tune." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). “Crawdad” or the “Crawdad Song” is a “white blues” with three repeating lines and one answering line with the tag “honey babe/sweet child of mine”. This 16 measure “blues” form is widely known and used in many variants.
LYRICS:
Old Mister Rabbit- Dan Tate (Roud 8081)
(Sung and played on the banjo by Dan Tate at his home in Fancy Gap,
Carroll County, Va. 4.8.79)
"Old Mister Rabbit is in the repertoire of a number of Virginian singers.
It is set to a tune that has carried several different songs, the best
known being The Crawdad Song, and many singers follow the set recorded
by Lulabelle and Scotty (reissued on Rounder CD 0439)." Mike Yeats
Oh, what you gonna do when your meat gives out, baby?
What you gonna do when your meat gives out?
Sit in the corner with your mouth stuck out, babe.
What you gonna do when it comes a-snow, baby?
What you gonna do when it comes a-snow?
Catch them rabbits as they go, babe.
Catching rabbits ain't no sin, baby.
Catching rabbits ain't no sin.
Turn them loose and catch 'em again, babe.
Old Mister Rabbit's a-sitting by a log, baby.
Old Mister Rabbit's a-sitting by a log.
Yes, by jove, I'm a-watching for a dog, babe.
Old Mister Rabbit your hair is mighty thin, baby
Old Mister Rabbit your hair is mighty thin.
Yes, by jove, I split the wind, babe.
Old Mister Rabbit your tail is mighty white, baby.
Old Mister Rabbit your tail is mighty white.
Yes, by George, I'm siccin' out of sight, babe.
Old Mister Rabbit your eyes are mighty red, baby.
Old Mister Rabbit your eyes are mighty red.
Yes, by George, I'm darn nigh dead, babe.
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