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Way down South in de Alabama/Down in Alabam ( Ain’t I glad I Got Out de Wilderness)
Old-Time, Breakdown. USA Words & music: J. Warner published by Wm. Hall & Son, N. Y.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1858.
ARTIST: Vernon Dalhart
RECORDING INFO: See: "Old Grey Mare, The”
OTHER NAMES: "Out of the Wilderness," "The White Horse." The original melody of the tune now better known as "The Old Grey Mare (Came Out of the Wilderness)," which begins: The old gray mare, she ain't what she used to be, Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be- "Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness," "Johnny Stole a Ham," "Old Yeller Dog," "Old Blind Dog."
SOURCES: "The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. A related tune is "Old Blind Dog." Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner remembered the tune as a hoedown in the Southwest, c. 1900." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
NOTES: "G Major. Standard. AABB The original minstrel version of "The Old Grey Mare (Came Out of the Wilderness)." It is likely that the tune is older than the 1858 date since it closely resembles a contemporary revivalist hymn--they may have had a common folk ancestor. Bayard (1981) calls it a good example of a popular tune which became traditional (or, if it was a traditional tune reworked by Warner, then a folk tune which became a popular one, which again reverted to folk form). Mark Wilson relates that a parody figured prominently in the famous Lincoln-Douglas campaign of 1860, probably the "Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness" version popular in Civil War times." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
WAY DOWN SOUTH IN DE ALABAMAReworking of Old Gray Mare tune with original plantation dialect. Related to the Down in Alabam branch of songs. 'Way down South, in de Alabama,
'Twas there I left my ole Aunt Hannah;
Ole Miss Squankum she whar dare,
She wanted a lock ob dis child's hair! Chorus: 'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou, auh! ou, ah!
'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou ah! faddle um de day! Before I left, we danc'd two reels;
(De holler ob her foot war back ob her heels!)
I play'd on de banjo 'till dey all begin to sweat;
Knock'd on de jaw-bone, and bust de claronet! Chorus: 'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou, auh! ou, ah!
'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou ah! faddle um de day! Vinegar shoes and paper stockings,
Set to me, Miss Polly Hopkins;
My missus dead, and I'm a widder,
All de way from Ravin river. Chorus: 'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou, auh! ou, ah!
'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou ah! faddle um de day! Dandy Jim an' ole Peter Dare,
Two best men in human natur;
De puttiest ting in all creation,
Is a little yaller gal in de wild-goose nation. Chorus: 'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou, auh! ou, ah!
'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou ah! faddle um de day! Blow away, ye gentle breezes,
All among the cimmon treeses!
Dare I'll set 'long wid de Muses,
Mendin' my ole boots and shoeses. Chorus: 'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou, auh! ou, ah!
'Way down South, in de Alabama,
Ou ah! faddle um de day!
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