Down by the Waters Rolling- Griffin (FL-GA) 1877 Mor A
[From Folksongs of Florida; Alton Morris, 1950, pp. 235-36 with music. Mrs. G. A. Griffin was born in Dooly County, Georgia in 1863. In 1877 she moved to Newberry, Florida. She learned this song from her father, a fiddler, before 1877.
This is the first version of a group of songs that uses the "Down by the waters rolling" refrain. A cover version "Rollin', A-Rollin' " was recorded at WFMT in Chicago in 1963 by the Golden Ring - Folk-Legacy Records. According to the liner notes: This is the original recording of George and Gerry Armstrong, Ed Trickett, Howie Mitchell, Win Stracke, and others. George and Gerry Armstrong learned this from Bob Coltman, who modified it, perhaps inadvertently, from the version printed in Folk Songs of Florida by Alton C. Morris.
After comparing the texts it looks like the chorus was adapted from Folk Songs of Florida by Alton C. Morris but the verses were compiled elsewhere.
R. Matteson 2014]
Down by the Waters Rolling- Sung by Mrs. G. A. Griffin, learned in Georgia before 1877, collected in Florida in 1937,
There was two sisters living in the East,
By rolling, by rolling;
There was two sisters living in the East
Down by the waters rolling.
They were both courted by the young landlord,
By rolling, by rolling;
They were both courted by the young landlord,
Down by the waters rolling.
He gave the oldest a gay gold ring,
By rolling, by rolling;
He gave the oldest a gay gold ring,
Down by the waters rolling.
He gave the youngest a gay gold pin,
By rolling, by rolling;
He gave the youngest a gay gold pin,
Down by the waters rolling.
The eldest one shoved the youngest one in,
By rolling, by rolling;
"Sister, oh Sister, oh hand me your hand,
Down by the waters rolling."
"You can have the landlord and all his land,
By rolling, by rolling;
You can have the landlord and all his land,
Down by the waters rolling."