Down Yonder

Down Yonder

ARTIST: L. Wolfe Gilbert

CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1921

SOURCES: "Copied from manuscript of Denune Provance, Peachen, Pennsylvania, September 21, 1943. Learned from traditional players about Dunbar" [Bayard]; Gordon Tanner (Gwinnett County, Ga.) [Rosenbaum]; Scotty Stoneman [Phillips]. Bayard. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 44. Rosenbaum (Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in North Georgia), 1989; pg. 112. Bluebird 5488A or B-5562 (78 RPM), Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (1934). Columbia 15130-D (78 RPM), McMichen's Melody Men (Ga.). Folkways FTS 31089, Gordon Tanner (Ga.). Superior 2784 (78 RPM), 1930, Tweedy Brothers (W.Va. brothers Harry, Charles, and George who played twin fiddles and piano). Recorded but unissued by the Stripling Brothers (Ala.) for Decca in 1934.

From Kuntz: One of the most popular old-time songs ever recorded. The 1934 Skillet Lickers recording was kept in print by RCA until 1960 and sold over a million copies all told; it was the third best-selling country music record in its initial release year (backed with "Back Up and Push"). Tony Russell reports that Gordon Tanner, Gid Tanner's 17 year old son, played the uncredited fiddle lead at the session. Written by L. Wolfe Gilbert in 1921 (Gilbert also wrote the words to "Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee"), it was recorded by the Peerless Quartette that year.

Rosenbaum speculates this may have been the source for Clayton McMichen's 1926 version. "Fiddle tunes by this name have been collected in Ligonier, Pa., and in Iuka, Miss.: see 'Check-list of recorded songs in the English language in the Archive of American Folk Song to July, 1940' (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Mucis Division, 1942), I, 86" (Bayard). Art Rosenbaum (1989) relates a story about the name of the tune from Georgian Uncle John Patterson. Patterson was unaware that the song was popular before it was known as a fiddle tune. It seems that at a Fiddlers' Convention held in Atlanta in the 1920's Patterson was with Gid Tanner, Fate Norris, Lowe Stokes and others of the Skillet Lickers hangers on: "I was there with the banjo, and I was very small. I just wanted to be around, play with 'em. They'd say, 'Come on in, Uncle John.' I'd be sort of timid, and set down, and you talk about banjo, fiddle, and guitar, we'd tear it apart! So I broke a string. They'd been workin' on this fune for a long time, and nobody knew what was playin'. And I broke a string, and I says, 'I got to go down younder and get a string.' And they said, 'That's it, "Down Yonder"! And I went down on Decatur Street and got a string to go on the banjo." It was recorded by Herbert Halpert for the Library of Congress from the playing of Tishomingo County, Mississippi, fiddler John Hatcher in 1939.

Lyrics to: DOWN YONDER

Railroad train, railroad train, hurry some more; 
Put a little steam on just like never before. 
Hustle on, bustle on, I've got the blues, 
Yearning for my Swanee shore. 
Brother if you only knew, you'd want to hurry up, too. 

(Refrain:) Down yonder, someone beckons to me, 
Down yonder, someone reckons on me. 
I seem to see a race in memory 
Between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee. 
Swanee shore, I miss you more and more; 
Ev'ryday, my mammy land, you're simply grand 
Down yonder, when the folks get the news, 
Don't wonder at the hullabaloo. 
There's Daddy and Mammy, there's Ephram and Sammy, 
Waitin' down yonder for me. 

Summer night, fields of white, bright cotton moon? 
My, but I feel glad I'm gonna see you all soon! 
'Lasses cakes mammy bakes, I taste them now. 
I'll see my sweetie once more, 
There's lots of kissing in store.