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Gum Tree Canoe/Tombigbee Waltz
Old‑Time, Waltz and minstrel song titled Gum Tree Canoe; Words by S. S. Steele; Music by A. F. Winnemore 1847
ARTIST: Frank Crummit 1929 (Last version below)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
OTHER NAMES: Tombigbee River; Gum Tree Canoe; Old Corn Mill; On Tom Big Bee River; The Tombigbee March; TomBigee
EARLIEST DATE: 1847; First recording Frank Crummit 1929- lyrics below
RECORDING INFO: Tombigbee River [Me II-X 1] - Reed, George/Steele, S. S.
At - On Tom Big Bee River; Tom Bigbee River; The Tombigbee March, TomBigee
Rm - Tombigbee Waltz
Ford, Ira W. / Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1965/1940), p298 (Gum Tree Canoe)
Chapple, Joseph Mitchell / Heart Songs, Chappell, Bk (1909), p250 (Tom Big Bee River)
Fahey, Warren (ed.) / Pint Pot and Billy, Fontana, sof (1977), p22 (Gum Tree Canoe)
Gellert, Dan; and Shoofly. Forked Deer, Marimac 9000, Cas (1986), trk# B.01 (Tom Big Bee River)
Indian Creek Delta Boys. Indian Creek Delta Boys, Davis Unlimited DU 33029, LP (1976), trk# 15
Price, Truman; and Jane Keefer. Songs and Tunes of the Oregon Trail, True West TW C-21, Cas (1991), trk# 14b
Short, Lillian. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume IV, Religous Songs and Others, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p302/#787 [1941/04/25] (Gum Tree Canoe)
Song Spinners. Johnson, Margaret & Travis (eds) / Early American Songs from ... the Spi, AMP, Fol (1943), # 6 (Gum Tree Canoe)
Tombigbee Waltz
Rm - Tombigbee River
Bryan, James. Lookout Blues, Rounder 0175, LP (1983), trk# 9
Gaskin, Phyllis. Mountain Dulcimer - Galax Style, Heritage (Galax) 094C, Cas (1991), trk# 12 (Tom Bigbee Waltz)
Pine Tree Stringband. Country Mountain Favorites, Northquest NOQ 212052, CD (2003), trk# 2.12 (Tom Biggsby River Waltz)
SOURCES: Kuntz; Levy; Mudcat. Source for notated version: Tom Jackson via James Bryan [Matthiesen, Phillips]. Matthiesen (Waltz Book I), 1992; pg. 50. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Music), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 314. Copper Creek 0164, Tom Sauber, Brad Leftwich, Alice Gerard – “Been There Still” (appears as “Gum Tree Canoe”). Rounder 0175, James Bryan ‑ "Lookout Blues" (1983. Learned from Tom Jackson). Davis Unlimited, Indian Creek Delta Boys (1976. Learned from Benny Woods: "Benny says that an old girlfriend of his used to sing this 'old-fashioned waltz'.). Marimac CD, Dan Gellert.
NOTES: Meade attributes the song to George Reed 1847 also giving credit to S.S. Steele for the lyrics. There are even Australian versions of the song, printed in the early 1900s. Teh song is usually know as "Gum Tree Canoe" but also under a variety of names associated with the Tombigbee River.
According to Kuntz: TOMBIGBEE WALTZ. G Major. Standard tuning. AB (Mathiesen): AA'BB' (Phillips). The melody is named for the Tombigbee River which flows from northeastern Mississippi into the Alabama River. Tombigbee is rumored to mean ‘coffinmaker’ in one of the Native American languages. A song version, “Tom Big Bee River,” attributed to S.S. Steele, was printed in Heart Songs – Melodies of Days Gone By, published in 1909 by World Syndicate Publishing Company (Cleveland; New York), although it is much older. From the dialect employed in the lyrics, minstrel origins are indicated. S.S. Steele and A.F. Winnemore (1847) are credited with words and music in Garson’s Laura Ingles Wilder Songbook.
Below are the lyrics from Kuntz along with other versions:
TOMBIGBEE WALTZ
Heart Songs – Melodies of Days Gone By, published in 1909 by World Syndicate Publishing Company (Cleveland; New York)
On Tom-big-be River so bright I was born,
In a hut made of husks ob de tall yaller corn,
And dar I fust meet mid my Jula so true,
An I row'd her about In my gum-tree canoe.
Chorus: Singing row away, row, O'er the waters so blue,
Like feathers we'll float in my gum-tree canoe.
All de day in de flied de soft cotton I hoe,
I tink ob my Jula an sing as I go;
Oh, I catch her a bird, wid a wing ob true blue,
An at night sail her 'round in my gum-tree canoe.
THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER John Hartford
On Tombigbee river so bright I was born,
In a hut made ob husks ob de tall yaller corn,
An dar I fust meet wid my Jula so true
An I row'd her about In my Gum Tree Canoe
Chorus: Singing row away row, O'er the waters so blue,
Like a feather we'll float, In my Gum Tree Canoe
All day in de field de soft cotton I hoe,
I tink of my Jula an sing as I go,
Oh I catch her a bird, wid a wing ob true blue,
An at night sail her round in my Gum Tree Canoe.
Singing row away
Chorus
Wid my hands on de banjo and toe on de oar,
I sing to de sound ob the rivers soft roar;
While de stars dey look down at my Jula so true,
An' dance in her eye in my Gum Tree Canoe.
Singing row away
Chorus
Gum Tree Canoe- Tom, Brad and Alice
On the Tom Big Bee River so bright I was born
In a hut made of husks of the tall yellow corn
It was there that I first met my Julah so true
And I rowed her around in the gum tree canoe
chorus: Sing row away row o'er the waters so blue
Like a feather we'll float in my gum tree canoe
Sing row away row o'er the waters so blue
Like a feather we'll float in my gum tree canoe
All day in the fields of soft cotton I'd hoe
And think of my Julah and sing as I go
I'd catch her a bird with a wing of true blue
And at night row her around in the gum tree canoe
repeat chorus
With my hand on my banjo and my toe on the oar
I would sing her a song to the river's soft roar
While the bright stars shone down on my Julah so true
And they danced in her eyes in the gum tree canoe
repeat chorus
One day the old river took us so far away
That we couldn't get back so we thought we'd just stay
We spied a tall ship with a flag of true blue
And she took us in tow in the gum tree canoe
repeat chorus
PLANTATION MELODIES, The words by S. S. STEELE, Esq. as sung by A. F. WINNEMORE and his Band of VIRGINIA SERENADERS Arranged for the Piano-Forte by A. F. WINNEMORE. [1847]
THE GUM TREE CANOE
1. On Tombigbee river so bright I was born,
In a hut made ob husks ob de tall yaller corn,
An dar I fust meet wid my Jula so true,
An I row'd her about in my Gum Tree Canoe.
CHORUS: Singing row away row, O'er de waters so blue,
Like a feather we'll float, In my Gum Tree Canoe.
2. All de day in de field de soft cotton I hoe.
I tink of my Jula, an sing as I go,
Oh I catch her a bird, wid a wing ob true blue,
An at night sail her round in my Gum Tree Canoe. CHORUS
3. Wid my hands on de banjo and toe on de oar,
I sing to de sound ob de rivers soft roar;
While de stars dey look down at my Jula so true,
An' dance in her eye in my Gum Tree Canoe. CHORUS
4. One night de stream bore us so far away,
Dat we could'nt cum back, so we thought we'd jis stay;
Oh we spied a tall ship wid a flag ob true blue,
An it took us in tow wid my Gum Tree Canoe. CHORUS
THE GUM-TREE CANOE
Words by S. S. Steele; Music by A. F. Winnemore 1847
Chorus: Singing row away, row, o'er the waters so blue,
Like a feather we sail in our gum-tree canoe.
On Tombigbee River so bright I was born,
In a hut made of husks of the tall yellow corn,
And there I first met with my Julia so true,
And I rowed her about in our gum-tree canoe.
All the day in the field the soft cotton I hoe,
I think of my Julia and sing as I go,
Oh, I catch her a bird with a wing of true blue,
And at night sail her round in our gum-tree canoe.
With my hands on the banjo and toe on the oar,
I sing to the sound of the river's soft roar,
While the stars they look down at my Julia so true
And dance in her eye in our gum-tree canoe.
One night the stream bore us so far away
That we couldn't come back so we thought we'd just stay,
Oh, we spied a tall ship with a flag of true blue,
And it took us in tow with our gum-tree canoe.
GUM TREE CANOE sung by Frank Crumit in 1929.
On the Tombagee River so bright I was born,
In a hut made of husks of the tall yellow corn,
And there I first met with my Julia so true,
And I rowed her about in my gum-tree canoe.
CHORUS: Sing roll away roll, o'er the water so blue,
Like a feather we'll float in my gum-tree canoe.
All the day in the field of soft cotton I hoe,
And I think of my Julia and sing as I go.
Oh, I catch her a bird with a wing of true blue,
And at night sail around in my gum-tree canoe.
With my hand on the banjo and toe on the oar,
I sing to the sound of the river's soft roar,
While the stars they look down at my Julia so true,
And they dance in her eyes in my gum-tree canoe.
One night the stream bore us so far, far away,
That we couldn't come back, so we thought we'd just stay.
Then we spied a tall ship with a flag of true blue,
And they took us in tow in my gum tree canoe. CHORUS
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