|
Give Me Back my Fifteen Cents
Old-time Breakdown and Song; Georgia/Southern Appalachians
ARTIST: Performed by Doc and Merle Watson on Down South, Sugar Hill SH-3742, LP (1984), cut# 1 (Fifteen Cents
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: March 1929
RECORDING INFO: Dixie Clodhoppers Victor V-40048-1929; Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers. Nashville Early String Bands, Vol. 1, County 541, LP, cut# 9; Watson, Doc and Merle. Down South, Sugar Hill SH-3742, LP (1984), cut# 1 (Fifteen Cents); Norman Blake: Give Me Back My Fifteen Cents;
OTHER NAMES: Fifteen Cents;
SOURCES: Honkingduck (on-line); Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc);
NOTES: Key A or D; Form AABB Tune sung to the A part. Earl Johnson (Dixie Clodhoppers) was born in August 24, 1886 in Gwinnett County, Georgia. He learned violin techniques under the tutelage of his father and a correspondence course and formed his first group with his brother and sister (guitar and banjo). When both his brother and sister died in 1923, he played second fiddle with the then well known Fiddlin John Carson and his band the Virginia Reelers, and reportedly even played with the popular Georgia Yellow Hammers on occasion. Eventually, he joined up with brilliant guitarists Byrd Moore and banjoist Emmet Bankston to form his own group, the Dixie Entertainers. When Lee "Red" Henderson replaced Byrd Moore as the guitar player, the group became known as the Clodhoppers. They recorded some of the wildest and most exciting versions of standard breakdowns that have ever been released. Later sessions employed his wife Lula Bell and guitarist Bill Henson.(Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
LYRICS:
I left my home in Tennessee,
Thought I'd learn to travel,
But then I met a pretty little girl
And soon we played the devil
I loved that gal and she loved me
And I thought we'd live together
But then we tied that fatal knot
And now I'm gone forever.
Chorus: Gimme back my fifteen cents,
Gimme back my money;
Gimme back my fifteen cents
And I'll go home to Mammy.
Twas fifteen cents for the preacher man
A dollar for the paper,
Then dear old mother-in-law moved in
And, Lordy, what a caper!
I fiddled a tune for her one day
And she called me a joker
Then that old sow got mad at me
And hit me with a poker.
I worked in town and I worked on the farm,
But there's no way t'suit'em
They're both so dad-burn mean t'me
Somebody oughta shoot'em.
I'm tired of looking at my mother-in-law
I'd like t'see m'Granny,
Gonna leave the state of Arkansas
And go back home t'Mammy!
|