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Few Days
American, March (2/4 time)- USA, Southwestern Pa.
ARTIST: From Andrews, Printer, 38 Chatham St, N. Y.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1800’s RECORDING INFO:???
OTHER NAMES: A Few Days
SOURCES: Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc; Fifers Thomas Hoge (Greene County, Pa., 1951), Samuel Palmer (Greene and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1944), Marion Yoders (Greene County, Pa., 1960) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 154A-C, pgs. 89-90.
NOTES: From Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion: D Major. Standard. AB. A fife tune once popular in southwestern Pa. Bayard (1981) retells the legend about the origins of the tune, given to him by an informant, which begins in the last days of the Civil War. Lee's men had surrendered and the vast Union Army was standing down, but it took some time to process the orderly discharge of so many men. To prevent them from disbanding wholesale at the prospect of a long wait they were told by the command that they would be going home "in a few days." As this line was repeatedly given for the continued delays it became a camp joke, and any fifer who composed a tune, if asked what he named it, said "Oh, a few days." Bayard says that "Quick Dutch," one of the traditional "Fife Duty" pieces from old fife tutors, may be an ancestor of this tune. The real origins of the tune are in a pre-civil war camp meeting spiritual, says Bayard, which in southwestern Pa. went:
Our camps in the wilderness, a few days, a few days,
Our camps in the wilderness, and then we're going home.
Here’s a version from the 1800’s from American Memory Collection:
This world is coming to an end, few days--few days
I'll crack my shins, my jacket rend--I'm gwine home!
I'm gwine to run clear out of sight, few days--few days;
And leave these naughty diggins quite; I'm gwine home !
CHORUS: For I've got a home out yonder, few days--few days!
I've got a home out yonder, in old Tennessee.
And I can't stay in these diggins, few days--few days!
Can't stay in these diggins, I'm gwine home.
They tell about Maine Liquor Law, few days--few days;
It makes the folks get drunk the more; I'm gwine home.
Nebraska's gwine to be a state, few days--few days;
Cuba too will come in late; I'm gwine home.
CHORUS: For I've got a home out yonder, few days--few days!
I've got a home out yonder, in old Tennessee.
And I can't stay in these diggins, few days--few days!
Can't stay in these diggins, I'm gwine home.
Everything is done by steam, few days--few days;
Leather taffy, chalk ice-cream--I'm gwine home.
Boys wears beards, and women too, few days--few days;
Though all things change there's nothing new I m gwine home
CHORUS: For I've got a home out yonder, few days--few days!
I've got a home out yonder, in old Tennessee.
And I can't stay in these diggins, few days--few days!
Can't stay in these diggins, I'm gwine home.
The Shanghai fowls, how tall they grow, few-days few days;
That people cannot hear them crow; I'm gwine home.
When guano's put on gudgeons' tails, few days few-days;
They grow to be as big as whales; I'm gwine home.
CHORUS: For I've got a home out yonder, few days--few days!
I've got a home out yonder, in old Tennessee.
And I can't stay in these diggins, few days--few days!
Can't stay in these diggins, I'm gwine home.
There's sin and folly everywhere, few days--few days;
Enough to make old Satan stare; I'm gwine home.
I'll sing my parting song once more, few days--few days;
And then I'll pass o'er Jordan's shore; I'm gwine home.
CHORUS: For I've got a home out yonder, few days--few days!
I've got a home out yonder, in old Tennessee.
And I can't stay in these diggins, few days--few days!
Can't stay in these diggins, I'm gwine home.
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