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Crawdad (The Crowfish Man); See also Baby Mine songs
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown and Song. USA; Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana.
ARTIST: John Langstaff, John Langstaff Sings American and English Folk Songs and Ballads, Tradition TLP 1009, LP (196?), cut#A.08.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: Family of songs dates back to 1800s; 1909 Perrow; 1917 Sharp; 1928 Recording
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:
Wake up, darling, don't sleep too late,
The crow-fish man's done passed your gate,
This morning, so soon.
Selling crow-fish two for a dime,
Nobody's crow-fish eats like mine,
This morning so soon.
Around the mountain I must go,
If anything happens let me know,
This morning so soon.
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 |