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Ground Hog
Traditional Old-Time, Song Tune and Breakdown. USA, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.
ARTIST: "The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore; the folklore of North Carolina, collected by Dr. Frank C. Brown during the years 1912 to 1943, in collaboration with the North Carolina Folklore Society"
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Ca. 1850's (Meade);
OTHER NAMES: Groundhog; Groundhog Blues; The Ground-Hog Song;
RECORDING INFO: Jack Reedy & his Walker Mountain String Band, "Ground Hog" (Brunswick 221, 1928; on CrowTold02, LostProv1) Almanac Singers, "Ground Hog" (General 5018B, 1941; on Almanac01, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)New Lost City Ramblers, "Groundhog" (on NLCR16). Pete Seeger, "Ground Hog" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07b) (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02); Allen, Red;, Frank Wakefield & the Kentuckians. Bluegrass, Folkways FA 2408, LP (1964), cut# 8. Baker, Bob. American Banjo, Folkways FA 2314, LP (1966), cut# 27.Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins. Down to the Cider Mill, County 713, LP (1968), cut# 9. Collins, Mitzie. Sampler of Folk Music, Sampler aafm 7601, LP (1976), cut#A.02 . Dillards. Backporch Bluegrass, Elektra EKS-7232, LP (197?), cut# 7.Feldmann, Peter. Barnyard Dance, Hen Cackle HC 501, LP (1980), cut#B.02 Gainer, Patrick. Folk Songs of the Alleghenies, Folk Heritage, LP (1963), cut#B.08 . Gellert, Dan; and Shoofly. Forked Deer, Marimac 9000, Cas (1986), cut#A.07 (Ground Hog). Ginandes, Shep. Dogwood Soup, Pathways of Sound POS 1023, LP (196?), cut#B.07. Hammond, Lorraine Lee. Dulcimer Player News, Dulcimer Player News DPN, Ser (1973-), 14/1, p25 . Hesperus. Crossing Over, Greenhays GR 718, LP (1988), cut# 10a . Hinton, Sam. Whoever Shall Have Some Good Peanuts, Scholastic SC 7530, LP (1964), cut#B.01. Hinton, Sam. Singing Across the Land, Decca DL 8108, LP (196?), A.03b. Jarrell, Tommy. Brandywine '83. The 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Brand..., Heritage (Galax) 054, LP (1984), cut# 4 . Jones, Vester. Traditional Music From Grayson and Carroll Counties, Folkways FS 3811, LP (1962), cut# 16 . Mabus, Joel. Clawhammer, Fossil, Cas (198?), cut# 2. Matteson, Maurice. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, Colonial Press, Bk (1991), p 46. Reedy, Jack; & His Walker Mountain String Band. Mountain Songs, County 504, LP, cut# 3. Reese, Marion. That's My Rabbit, My Dog Caught It; Southern Trad. Instrument..., New1 World1 NW 226, LP (1978), cut# 1. Sainte-Marie, Buffy. Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie, Vanguard VSD 3/4, LP (197?), cut# 8 (Ground Hog) . Sainte-Marie, Buffy. Many a Mile, Vanguard VSD 79171, LP (196?), cut#A.03. Stamper, I.D.. Red Wing, June Appal JA 0010, LP (1977), cut# 2. Sundall, Jon. Eagle and the Sparrow, June Appal JA 008, LP (1976), cut# 1. Watson, Doc. Essential Doc Watson, Vanguard VCD 45/46, CD (1986), cut#17; Flying Fish 102, New Lost City Ramblers - "Twenty Years/Concert Performances" (1978). Folkways FA 2360, Frank Proffitt. Heritage 054, Tommy Jarrell - "Brandywine 83: Music of French America" (1984). Marimac 9000, Dan Gellert & Shoofly - "Forked Deer" (1986). Recorded Anthology of American Music (1978) - "Traditional Southern Instrumental Styles." Rounder Cd0278, Mike Seegar - "Solo-Old Time Country Music" (1991). The Whistlepigs- "Out of Their Hole."
SOURCES: Randolph 413, "The Ground-Hog Song" Wyman-Brockway I, p. 30, "The Ground Hog"; Warner 123, "Groundhog"; Lomax-FSUSA 8, "Ground Hog"; Lomax-FSNA 131, "Groundhog". American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.271 (Ground Hog); Learned by Frank Proffitt (North Carolina) from his father [Warner]. Warner (Traditional American Folk Songs), 1984; pgs. 296-297; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: "A Major; Standard; One part. A well-known Appalachian folk song, nursery and fun song, and banjo tune. Brown says, "Its appearence in the Ozarks is doubtless due to immigration from Kentucky. It has not been found in the northern states, nor is it a Negro song." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). First recorded in 1924 by Land Norris (Vocal with banjo) Groundhog is an Appalachian song. From Tommy Jarrell (solo fiddle) to Flatt and Scruggs “Groundhog” is a bluegrass/old-time standard.
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The Ground Hog "The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore; the folklore of North Carolina, collected by Dr. Frank C. Brown during the years 1912 to 1943, in collaboration with the North Carolina Folklore Society"
This is peculiarly a song of the southern Appalachians. Although the habitat of the creature (known also as whistlepig, and in the Northern states as woodchuck) reaches from Canada well towards the Gulf of Mexico, he is the subject of popular song only in the southern Appalachians; the song is known in Virginia (FSVH 246), West Virginia (FSS 498), Kentucky (Shearin 38, LT 30-3), North Carolina (SSSA 5-6, FSSH 388,1 30.2, JAFL xiv IS4-5, v6. BMFSB 38-9), Georgia (FSSH 389), and less definitely the Southern mountains (AMS 92-3). Its appearance in the Ozarks (OFS III 150-3) is doubtless due to immigration from Kentucky. It has not been found in the Northern states, nor is it a Negro song— White reports only a two-line fragment from Tennessee Negroes (ANFS 160). Apparently it originated in the frontier life of the South, probably in the early nineteenth or possibly in the later eighteenth century. Besides the texts here given the Collection has two recordings of it: one from Obadiah Johnson. Crossnore, Avery county, in 1940. and one from Bonnie Wiseman, Hinson's Creek.
Avery county, in 1939.
A. 'Ground Hog.' Contributed by Miss Clara Hearne from Pittsboro, Chatham county, some time in 1922-23. The first line of each stanza is sung twice, making with the refrain a stanza of four lines, as printed bere for stanza 1.
1. Whet up your knife and whistle up your dog.
Whet up your knife and whistle up your dog.
We're going to the hills to hunt a ground hog.
Whack fal doodle all day.
2. Too many rocks, too many logs.
Too many rocks to hunt ground hogs.
3. Over the hills and through the brush.
There we struck that hog's sign fresh.
4. Up came Berry with a ten toot pole
And roused it in that ground hog's hole.
5. Up came Kate and stood right there,
Till Berry twisted out some ground hog's hair.
6 Kate and Berry kept prizing about;
At last they got that ground hog out.
7 Took him to' the tail and wagged him to a log
And swore, by God, it's a pretty fine hog.
8. Meat in the cupboard, hide on the churn;
That was a ground hog, I'll be durn!
9. Work, boys, work, as hard as you can tear.
The meat 'll do to eat and the hide'll do to wear.
10. Work, boys, work for all you'll earn.
Skin him after night and tan him in a churn.
11. They put him in a pot and the children began to smile;
They ate that ground hog before it struck a boil.
12. Up stepped Susie with a snigger and a grin.
Ground hog grease all over her chin.
'Ground Hog.' Received from J. T. C. Wright of the Appalachian Teachers College, Boone, Watauga county, in 1922. Four fine stanzas as in A.
1. I shouldered up my gun and I whistled to my dog,
I shouldered up my gun and I whistled to my dog;
Ise gwine up the mountain for to catch a groundhog.
Law, man, law!
2. I treed him in the mountain and I treed him in a log,
I treed him in a holler and 1 treed him with my dog.
3. I cut a long pole for to twist him out.
Great God a'mighty, what a groundhog stout !
4. God a'mighty, man, just look at Jim!
Groundhog gravy all over his chin.
5. Run here, mama, and run here quick.
This old groundhog has made me sick.
6. Run here, doctor, run here quick.
This old groundhog has made me sick.
7. Ise nebber gwine to cut groundhog no more,
For if I do Ise a dead man shore.
* This text Henry obtained in New Jersey, but it was learned in North
Carolina.
'So in the manuscript; a slip of the pen, apparently, for "by."
'The Ground Hog" Reported by Mrs. Sutton, probably in 1920, with the comment: "This song is a sort of hunting tune, and the loud 'whoopees' in it are most effective when it's sung as a chorus, ... It is very popular, especially with the kiddies."
1 Whet up yer knife and whistle up yer dog.
We're ofi to the woods fur to ketch a groun' hog.
Chorus: Whoopee, whoopee, doodle dal day,
Whoopy doo doodle doo dal day.
2. Cut and trim a long slim pole.
Twis' ole groun' hog out'n his hole.
3. Put that hog in a big tow sack.
Bring him home swung down my back.
4. Skin that groun' hog and tan his hide,
Put my baby gal safe inside.
Mrs. Sutton also reports the following stanza as a "banjo tune," obtained from Reems Creek, Buncoinbe county. The tune was taken down by Miss Vivian Blackstock.
Whet up your knives, call up your dogs,
Go to the woods, catch a ground hog.
Meat's good to eat, hide's good to wear.
Rang tang a fodalink a day !
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