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Grey Cat On a Tennessee Farm
Dan Emmett Words & Music 1850's; Old-Time, Breakdown and song.
ARTIST: Uncle Dave Macon- Reissue on Uncle Dave Macon 'Go Long Mule' County CO-CD 3505. Recorded May 1927.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: 1850’s;
RECORDING INFO: Freight Hoppers. Where'd You Come From, Where'd You Go?, Rounder 0403, CD (1996), cut# 8. Highwoods String Band. Fire on the Mountain, Rounder 0023, LP (1973), cut# 2. Macon, Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave Macon. Early Recordings, County 521, LP (197?), cut# 3. Old Timers. 37th Old-Annual Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, Folkways FA 2434, LP (1962), cut# 2 (Instrumental). Stringbean (David Ackerman). Stringbean and His Banjo. A Salute to Uncle Dave Macon, Starday SLP 215, LP (196?), cut# 1 (Tennessee Farmer) Rounder CD0403, The Freight Hoppers - "Where'd You Come From, Where'd You Go?"
OTHER NAMES: White Cat & Black Cat; Franklin County Breakdown; Run, Boy, Run; Yellow Cat; "Old Red Rooster (James Hood-1975);"
SOURCES: Meade: Country Music Sources; Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pgs. 216-218; Ceolas: A Fiddler’s Companion
NOTES: The words and music are by Dan Emmett from the 1850's probably from folk sources. One of the songs in the repertoire of Uncle Dave Macon, his lyrics are below.
"In repertoire of African-American Kentucky fiddler Cuje Bertram, and appears on a home tape made in 1970 for his family." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
LYRICS:
Just look to the man who can if he will
Prosper in the valley of the Tennessee hills.
Chorus: Big cat spit in the little cat's eye,
Little cat, little cat, don't you cry.
I do love liquor and we'll all take a dram,
I'm gonna tell ya, pretty Polly Ann.
Cattle on the pasture, hogs in the pen,
Sheep on the ranch and wheat in the bin
Big cat spit in the little cat's eye,
Little cat, little cat, don't you cry.
I do love liquor and we'll all take a dram,
I'm gonna tell ya, pretty Polly Ann.
Corn in the crib and porter in the yard,
Meat in the smokehouse, a big tin of lard.
Big cat spit in the little cat's eye,
Little cat, little cat, don't you cry.
I do love liquor and we'll all take a dram,
I'm gonna tell ya, pretty Polly Ann.
Fruit in the cellar, cheese on the board,
Big sack of coffee and sugar in the gourd.
Big cat spit in the little cat's eye,
Little cat, little cat, don't you cry.
I do love liquor and we'll all take a dram,
I'm gonna tell ya, pretty Polly Ann.
Horses in the stable and money in his pocket,
Baby's in the cradle and a pretty woman to rock it.
Big cat spit in the little cat's eye,
Little cat, little cat, don't you cry.
I do love liquor and we'll all take a dram,
I'm gonna tell ya, pretty Polly Ann.
Oh the grey cat spit in the little kitten's eye,
Little cat, little cat don't you cry
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