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I Got a Bulldog (See also “Nine Pound Hammer” and “John Henry”)
Old-time Song and Breakdown
ARTIST: : Sweet Brothers from Roots of American Fiddle Music- I've Got a Bulldog, Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol 3., County 535 (1980), cut # 1;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Late 1800’s- Early 1900’s
RECORDING INFO: Famous Pyle Brothers. Up on Pyle Mountain, Pyle, Cas (1989), cut#B.05; Roundtown Boys. Deadheads and Suckers, Swallow 2001, LP (1978), cut#B.04 (I Got a Bulldog); Sweet Brothers. Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol 3., County 535, LP (1980), cut# 1; SkirtLifters: Fire Alarm- I've Got A Bulldog/Fort Smith Breakdown;
Nine Pound Hammer- Brothers Four. Brothers Four Greatest Hits, Columbia CS 8306, LP (1962), cut# 12; Brothers Four. Rally 'Round!, Columbia CL 1479, LP (196?), cut#A.01; Cobb, Roy. Roy Cobb, Old Homestead OHS 90057, LP (1975), A.06; Faier, Billy. Travelin' Man, Riverside RLP 12-675, LP (196?), cut# 12; Ferguson, Hank. Behind These Walls, Folk Legacy FSA-013, LP (1963), cut#B.09; Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Folk Songs of our Land, Columbia CL 1830, LP, cut# 10; Flatt, Lester; & Earl Scruggs. Changin' Times, Columbia CL 2796, LP (197?), cut#B.03 (Buddy, Don't Roll So Slow); Grayson and Whitter. Recordings of Grayson and Whitter, County 513, LP (197?), cut# 9; Greenbriar Boys. Greenbriar Boys, Vanguard VRS-9104, LP (196?), cut#A.03; Jenkins, Snuffy; and Pappy Sherrill. Crazy Water Barn Dance, Rounder 0059, LP (1976), cut# 14; Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys. Bluegrass Classics, Columbia Special Prod. BN-26074, LP (197?), cut# 7; Marten, Buzz. Fire at Club 47, Talkeetna 25001, CD (1999), cut#16; Monroe Brothers. Feast Here Tonight, Bluebird AXM2-5510, LP (1975), cut# 5; Monroe Brothers. Are You From Dixie? Great Country Brother Teams of the 1930's, RCA (Victor) 8417-4-R, Cas (1988), cut# 13; Pine Island. Live Inside, Fretless FR 124, LP (1977), cut#B.02; Reno, Don; Bill Harrell and the Tenn. Cutups. Don Reno and Bill Harrell with the Tennesse Cutups, Rural Rhythm RR 171, LP (196?), cut# 9; Rice, Tony. Guitar, King Bluegrass KB-529, LP (197?), cut# 7; Rush, Tom. Tom Rush, Fantasy 24709, LP (1972), cut# 8; Thieme, Art. Outright Bold-Faced Lies, Kicking Mule KM 150, LP (1977), cut# 12b; Travis, Merle. Will the Circle Be Unbroken, United Artists UAS 9801, LP (1972), cut# 13; White, Roland. I Wasn't Born to Rock'n Roll, RidgeRunner RRR 0005, LP (1976), cut# 9b; Roscoe Holcomb, "Roll On, Buddy" (on Holcomb2, HolcombCD1); Mississippi John Hurt, "Spike Driver Blues" (OKeh 8692, 1928; on AAFM3, BefBlues3); South Carolina ditch diggers, "Ten Pound Hammer" (on LomaxCD1700); Aunt Molly Jackson, "Roll On Buddy" (AFS 2548 B, 1939; on LC61); Charlie Bowman & his Brothers, "Roll On Buddy" (Columbia 15357, 1929); Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Brunswick 177, c. 1928); Sweet Brothers, "I Got a Bulldog" (1928; on TimesAint04); Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Columbia 15280-D, 1928; on LostProv1) Meade gives a April 17, 1928 recording date for Blevins' 'Nine Pound Hammer'. Marshall Wyatt also confirms this date in his notes to 'Music From The Lost Provinces' Old Hat CD-1001 (Music at Honkingduck- online); Art Thieme, "Railroad Blues and Nine Pound Hammer" [medley] (on Thieme01)
Swannanoa Tunnel Clayton, Paul. Dulcimer Songs and Solos, Folkways FG 3571, LP (1962), cut# 14; Darling, Erik. Erik Darling, Elektra EKL-154, LP (196?), cut# 11; Darling, Erik. Folk Box, Elektra EKL-9001, LP (1964), cut# 19; Lunsford, Bascam Lamar. Smokey Mountain Ballads, Folkways FP 40, LP (1953), cut# 1; Norton, Dellie. Appalachia, The Old Traditions, Home Made Music LP-001, LP (1982), cut# 3 (Oh, Lord Ellie); Rosenbaum, Art (Arthur). Folk Banjo Styles, Elektra EKL-217, LP (195?), cut# 17; Swannanoa Town Toelken, J. Barre (Barry). National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Folk Music Festival. 1965, Century, LP (1966), cut# 20 Sandburg 457-458, "My Old Hammah"; Asheville Junction Axton, Hoyt. Greenback Dollar, Vee-Jay VJS-1126, LP (1964), cut#A.02; Warner, Frank. Come All You Good People, Minstrel JD-204, LP (1976), cut#B.08; Warner, Frank. Folk Music of the Newport Folk Festival 1959-60. Vol 2, Folkways FA 2432, LP (1961), cut#A.08
RELATED TO: "Swannanoa Tunnel" "John Henry" [Laws I1] (lyrics) "Jumpin' Judy" (lyrics); "Walking Boss" (lyrics); "Swannanoah Tunnel" (floating lyrics); "Don't You Hear My Hammer Ringing" (lyrics); "Old Rattler" (lyrics); "Hammer Ring" “Sugar in My Coffee” “Bald Headed Woman” “east Colorado Blues” “Spikedriver Blues;” “Roll On, John;” “Roll On Buddy, Roll On” “Take This Hammer”
OTHER NAMES: : I’ve Got a Bulldog
SOURCES: Roots of American Fiddle Music (on-line)
Sources for related songs: Anthology of American Folk Music, Oak, Sof (1973), p112; Cooper, Wilma Lee. Songs to Remember, Cooper, Fol (19??), p 8; New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p 94; Friedman, p. 383, "John Henry" (6 texts, but only the last three belong with this song)Sandburg, p. 376, "Ever Since Uncle John Henry Been Dead" (1 text, 1 tune, which I believe belongs here although the text is too short to be sure); 457-458, "My Old Hammah" (1 text, 1 tune); Lomax-FSUSA 93, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune) Lomax-FSNA 145, "Roll On, Buddy"; 297, "East Colorado Blues" (2 texts, 2 tunes -- both, especially the former, folk processed and expanded and perhaps derived in part from other songs.); Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 100, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 112, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune); Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 94-95, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune); Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 913, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune); Courlander-NFM, pp. 137-138, "(John Henry)" (1 text, with a fragment of the plot of "John Henry" but many lyrics from "Take This Hammer"); pp. 285-286, "John Henry (Version III)" (1 text, 1 tune); Darling-NAS, pp. 234-235, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, filed with three texts of "John Henry"); also pp. 327-328, "John Henry, " "This Old Hammer" (2 texts); Silber-FSWB, p. 69, "Take This Hammer" (1 text); p. 124, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text) Archie Green- 'Only A Miner'; "Long Steel Rail" – Cohen;
NOTES: One part; Key of E; Key of G. "I Got a Bulldog" is related to the “John Henry/Nine Pound Hammer” songs which have a variety of names including “Spikedriver Blues,” “Roll On, John,” “Roll On Buddy, Roll On,” “Take This Hammer,” "Swannanoa Tunnel," "Asheville Junction," "Jumpin' Judy," “Sugar in My Coffee,” and “Bald-Headed Woman.” See also “Nine Pound Hammer” and “John Henry.”
Swannanoa Tunnel/Asheville Junction variants are based on tunnel made for the The Western Carolina Railway in North Carolina. Sharp collected two versions of "Swannanoa Tunnel" with the 'Bull-dog' verse. From Sarah Buckner and Mrs. Ford 1916, "Swannanoa Tunnel" No. 91 A:
When you hear my bull-dog barking, Somebody 'round, baby somebody round.
Sharp's version from 1918 also has the same verses but in different places. He also hears "Swannanoa Town, O" for "Swannanoa Tunnel." The same lyrics appear in "My Old Hammah" from Carl Sandburg's book. Here’s some background information on the tunnel:
Swannanoa Tunnel- In 1871 the 2,200-acre plantation of G.S.F. Davidson was sold for thirty thousand dollars to the Catawba Vale Land Association, two years after the Western North Carolina railroad had reached Old Fort. “The Town of Catawba Vale was quite large on paper, but small on the ground,” wrote one of the speculators in the letter to a friend up north. The Western Carolina Railway had reached Old Fort in 1860. The circuitous route of the track through the western hills to the top of the mountains at Ridgecrest was made necessary because of the lack of earthmoving machinery and by the need to keep the grade easy enough for a steam engine to pull a train of heavy cars. In March 1879, the Swannanoa Tunnel was completed and the road reached Asheville in 1880. Seven hand-dug tunnels, nine miles of track, and eleven years later, the new railroad reached Asheville. Three hundred lives were lost building the Western Carolina Railroad; nonetheless, the coming of the railroad meant economic, intellectual, and industrial opportunity from the mountain people.
OTHER VARIANTS: Another related variants of "I Got a Bulldog," are the "Don't You Hear My Hammer Ringing," "Hammer Ring," “Sugar in My Coffee,” “Bald Headed Woman” songs also from the early 1900’s.
John Garth, an a discussion at the Ballad-L list, brought up the point that flesh-and-blood bulldogs don't bark and made a convincing argument that "bulldog" in many songs referred to a stub-nose style of revolver.
From Brian Hoskin: In a paper in Journal of American Folk-Lore from 1915, entitled 'Songs and rhymes from the South', E. C. Perrow lists a song entitled 'Franky' (obviously a version of Franky and Johnny), which has been collected from 'Mississippi; Country whites' in 1909. A stanza in this song suggest the use of bull-dog as a gun:
Franky went down a dark alley;
Heard a bull-dog bark:
And there lay her Albert,
Shot right through the heart.
"Oh, he's my man; but he's done me wrong.
Alan Lomax also collected other versions of the "I Got a Bull Dog". He has them as "Well, I Wonder" sung by Dobie Red & group at Parchman Farm 1947, "Black Woman" sung by BB & group again at Parchman Farm 1947, "Black Gal" sung by Lightning Washington & group at the Darrington State Farm, Texas 1934. He says that this was a railroad song that made it's way into the Prisons. As a railroad song he's got it as a Tie-Tamping and a Track Lining song. In the prisons he has them as a flatweeding song. Bruce Jackson also collected two versions of "Black Gal" one from Joseph "Chinaman" Johnson & group at the Ellis Unit Texas 1965 & the other from JB Smith & Louis "Bacon & Porkchop" at the Ramsey Unit, Texas 1965 again as a flatweeding song. All these tunes are fairly close to "I Got a Bulldog". (Barry Finn)
Here are the lyrics to "I Got a Bull Dog" from Sweet Brothers:
I've got a bulldog, he cost five hundred
I've got a bulldog, he cost five hundred
I've got a bulldog, he cost five hundred
In my back yard babe in my back yard
When he barks he roars like thunder
When he barks he roars like thunder
When he barks he roars like thunder
He barks at you baby he barks at you babe
Take this hammer and give it to the captain
Take this hammer and give it to the captain
Take this hammer and give it to the captain
Tell him I'm gone babe tell him I'm gone
When you pass by oh say good morning
When you pass by oh say good morning
When you pass by oh say good morning
Tell him I'm gone babe tell him I'm gone
When you see my long haired buddy
When you see my long haired buddy
When you see my long haired buddy
Tell him I'm gone babe tell him I'm gone
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