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I'm A free Little Bird/Free Little Bird/Katy Kline/
See Also: Free Little Bird/As Free A Little Bird (John Hammonds)
See Related: Katy Kline/On The Banks On The Tennessee/
Old-Time, Song and Breakdown; Original words by L. V. H. Crosby - USA; Eastern Tenn.
ARTIST: Roscoe Holcomb- The High Lonesome Sound #15
Listen: Roscoe Holcomb "I'm As Free A bird"
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1909 1853 (Earliest recording, Dykes Magic City Trio- 1927)
OTHER NAMES: As Free A Little Bird (John Hammonds) Katy Cline;
RELATED TO: Willie Dear; Katy Cline; On The Banks of The Tennessee; Careless Love;
RECORDING INFO: Old Homestead OHCS 191, "Dykes Magic City Trio" (Eastern Tenn.) {originally recorded for a Brunswick 78 in 1927}. Columbia 15498 (78 RPM), Roane County Ramblers (1929). County 403, Roane County Ramblers (Eastern Tenn.) {1929}. Marimac 9008, The Lazy Aces - "Sill Lazy After All These Years" (1986. Version originally from Clarence Ashley & Fred Price); Any Old Time String Band. Any Old Time String Band, Arhoolie 4009, LP (1978), cut#B.04; Ashley, Clarence (Thomas/Tom)). Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Part 2, Folkways FA 2359, LP (1963), cut# 1; Ashley, Clarence (Thomas/Tom)). Folk Go-Go, Verve/Folkways FV 9011, LP (197?), cut# 12; Bluestein, Evo. Evo's Autoharp, Greenhays GR 715, LP (1985), cut# 4; Boosinger, Laura. My Carolina Home, Upstream UP 888, CD (1990), cut# 7; Chelf, J. E.. I Kind of Believe It's A Gift, Meriweather Meri 1001-2, LP (198?), cut# 31 (Sweet Sunny South); Douglas, Bob. Sequatchie Valley, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS-109, LP (198?), cut# 11c (Free A Little Bird); Highwoods String Band. Fire on the Mountain, Rounder 0023, LP (1973), cut# 13; Holcomb, Roscoe. High Lonesome Sound, Folkways FA 2368, LP (1965), cut#B.06; Holcomb, Roscoe. High Lonesome Sound, Smithsonian SF 40104, CD (1998), cut#15 (I'm a Free Little Bird); Holt, David. Reel and Rock, Flying Fish FF 372, LP (1985), cut#A.02; Lunsford, Bascam Lamar. Music From South Turkey Creek, Rounder 0065, LP (1976), cut#a 1; McCutcheon, John. Barefoot Boy with Boots On, Front Hall FHR-021, LP (1981), cut# 11; New Lost City Ramblers. There Ain't No Way Out, Smithsonian/Folkways 40098, CD (1997), cut#23; Owens, Bill; and the Kinfolk. Songs of the Smokey Mountains, REM LP-1024, LP (197?), cut# 10 (Free A Little Bird); Ridgel's Fountain Citians. Tennessee Strings, Rounder 1033, LP (197?), cut# 6 (Free A Little Bird); Roane County Ramblers. Original Recordings, 1928-29, County 403, LP (1971), cut# 7 (Free A Little Bird; Seeger, Peggy And Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, LP (1977), cut# 45; Stringbean (David Ackerman). Stringbean and His Banjo. A Salute to Uncle Dave Macon, Starday SLP 215, LP (196?), cut# 12; West, Hedy; and Bill Clifton. Getting Folk Out of the Country, Bear Family BF 15008, LP (198?), cut# 1;
SOURCES: American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Bk (1948), p.120; Darling-NAS, pp. 268-269, "Free a Little Bird;" Silber-FSWB, p. 391, "Free Little Bird;" Mel Bay’s “Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley” by Dix Bruce;
NOTES: “Free Little Bird” is an adaptation of “Kitty Clyde,” written and composed by L. V. H. Crosby and published in1853; for complete lyrics see Version 6. Here’s a verse of Kitty Clyde:
How I wish that I was a Bee,
I'd not gather honey from flowers,
But would steal a dear sip from Kitty's sweet lip,
And make my own hive in her bowers.
Or, if I was some little bird,
I would not build nests in the air,
But keep close by the side of sweet Kitty Clyde,
And sleep in her soft silken hair.
Free Little Bird is related to “Willie Dear,” and the Monroe’s “Katy Cline,” and has a similar structure to “Careless Love.” In “Katy Cline" the singer “wishes he were a little bird with its nest in the air” plus there are other floating verses. Monroe Brothers, "Katy Cline" (Bluebird 6960, 1937) is another version based on “Kitty Clyde,” the name changing slightly to “Katy Cline.”
More information on “Free Little Bird” can be found in W.K. McNeill, Southern Mountain Folksongs (August House, 1993, pp. 81-86).
FREE LITTLE BIRD SONGS AND RHYMES FROM THE SOUTH BY E. C. PERROW II. SONGS IN WHICH ANIMALS FIGURE (From East Tennessee; mountain whites; from memory; 1909)
I'm as free a little bird ez I ken be!
I'm as free a little bird ez I ken be!
I'll build my nest in the high oak-tree,
Where the bad boys can't bother me.
I'm as free a little bird ez I ken be!
I'm as free a little bird ez I ken be!
I'll draown myself in the bottom uv the sea,
Before I'll let the bad boys bother me.
1 For another version, cf. Journal of American Folk-Lore, vol. xxii, p. 241.
FREE LITTLE BIRD- from John McCutcheon: Roscoe Holcomb (actually Roscoe Halcomb) of Daisy, Ky., is one of the most powerful and moving musicians I’ve ever heard. A particularly soulful, usually bluesy, singer and musician, Roscoe’s music reflects a long life of hard work. I used to spend most every Christmas Eve with Rossie and his wife, Ethel. One year, between a long Christmas supper and a short night’s sleep, Rossie treated his family and me to the longest and most rousing version of “Free Little Bird” I’ve ever heard. I’ll never forget it.)
Chorus
I’m as free little bird as I can be
I’m as free little bird as I can be
I’m as free of my age as a bird in a cage
I’m as free little bird as I can be
Take me home, little birdie, take me home (2x)
Take me home, little birdie, ‘cause I don’t love nobody
Take me home, little birdie, take me home Chorus
I can’t stay here by myself (2x)
I can’t stay here nor no place else
I can’t stay here by myself Chorus
I’ll not build my nest on the ground (2x)
I’ll build my nest in a tall oak tree
Where the bad boys won’t ever tear it down Chorus
And I’ll not build my nest in the air (2x)
I’ll build my nest in my true love’s breast
And sleep in the locks of her hair Chorus
I'M A FREE LITTLE BIRD- Roscoe Holcomb from High Lonesome Sound
Listen: Roscoe Holcomb
[banjo]
CHORUS: I’m a free little bird as I can be
I’m a free little bird as I can be
Just sitting on the hillside, I'll be without a care
I’m a free little bird as I can be
Take me home, little birdie, take me home
Take me home, little bird, take me home
Take me home, little birdie, for I love no other
Take me home, little bird, take me home
[banjo]
Oh I can’t stay here by myself
I can’t stay here by myself
I can’t stay here neither nowheres else
I can’t stay here by myself
CHORUS:
Take me home, little birdie, take me home
Take me home, little bird, take me home
Take me home, little birdie, for I love no other
Take me home, little bird, take me home
[banjo]
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