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Jim along Josey (Jim Along Josie)
Breakdown and minstrel song; widely known both here and abroad; Written by Edward Harper about 1838.
ARTIST: From Gene (On-line)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1838
RECORDING INFO: Lawrence Older, Adirondack logger, ballad singer and fiddler, back in 1964 and released the recording, with excellent notes written by Pete McElligott, as Folk-Legacy FSA-15; Pete Seeger, "Jim Along Josie" (on PeteSeeger3, PeteSeegerCD03);
OTHER NAMES: “Hey Jim Along Josie,” "Jim along Josy" “Hey Jim Along”
RELATED TO: The “Limber Jim/ Buckeye Jim” group which is related to “Seven Up,” “Shiloh” and the large “Liza Jane” family has floating lyrics with “Jim Along Josey.” Floating lyrics from Cotton-Eyed Joe,” “Fire on the Mountain” and “Granny will Your Dog Bite”
SOURCES: Randolph 575, "Jim Along Josie;" Warner 180, "Get Along Josie;" Spaeth-Weep More, pp. 103-104, "Jim Along Josey;"
NOTES: AABB form later developed into AB form (the verse being only two lines instead of four). Original sheet music (1840) key of C. “Jim Along Josey” is a minstrel song written by Edward Harper around 1838. It is not clear if the song was in the African-American tradition before 1838 and adapted by Harper or whether it was an original composition. I suspect Harper rewrote (adapted) the song from traditional sources.
In the title "Jim Along Josey" the word- Josey, is used as a name (could be a man's or woman's name) The word "Josey" is an African-American dance step and also a minstrel slang for a type of undergarment. The word, Jim, is not really used for a name. "Get Along Josey" could just as easily be substituted for "Jim Along Josey." There is one version entitled, "Git Along Josie."
The “Jim Along Josey” lyrics and fragments of the lyrics show up in a number of songs and fiddle tunes. The “Limber Jim/ Buckeye Jim” group which is related to “Seven Up,” “Shiloh” and the large “Liza Jane” family has floating lyrics with “Jim Along Josey.” Floating lyrics from Cotton-Eyed Joe,” “Fire on the Mountain” and “Granny will Your Dog Bite” also appear in “Jim Along Josey.”
The melody is used for the 2nd part of the fiddle tune, “A Horse named Rover” and has spawned several sequels and parodies Ticket Taker (Bowery, 1840); The Black Ghost, or the Nigger Turned Physician (1841); and The Masquerade (1843).
There are two distinct versions:
The Minstrel Version- Based on the Harper 1838 version which entered the folk process and eventually changed the number of verses from 4 verses to two verses. Other verses were created and added to the mix.
The Play Party Version: The first word in the chorus line is changed- Hey jim along, jim along Josie/Walk jim along, jim along Josie/Hop jim along, jim along Josie, etc.
FROM S. FOSTER DAMON: "Notes to 'Jim Along Josey' [Firth & Hall edition (1840)]", in Series of Old American Songs (Brown University Library, 1936, No. 24): "Jim Along Josey" was another sweeping success in the burnt-cork tradition. It was written by Edward Harper, who sang it in his drama, The Free Nigger of New York, about 1838 (E.L. Rice: Monarchs of Minstrelsy, p 24). In February 1839, John Washington Smith was singing it at the Bowery Amphitheater (Odell: Annals IV, 324). Thereafter, everybody sang it. It was developed into a number of extravaganzas and afterpieces: Jim Along Josey (Chatham Theater, 1840); Jim Along Josey, or the Ticket Taker (Bowery, 1840); The Black Ghost, or the Nigger Turned Physician (1841); and The Masquerade (1843).
The stricter sects, which prohibited dancing, whether square or round, admitted "Jim Along Josey" as a game and not a dance, although to uncritical eyes the players seemed to be doing something easily mistaken for a Virginia reel. For the game, see the Journal of American Folk Lore (XXIV, 295 ff): "Play Parties and Games of the Middle West".
JIM ALONG JOSEY/LIMBER JIM: The widespread popularity of “Jim Along Josey” among both blacks and whites led to the quick adaptation of the lyrics into oral tradition. Compare the “Jim Along Josie” lyrics with Limber Jim/Buckeye Jim. Perhaps the “whooping cough,” is a reference to the disease, tuberculosis.
Jim Along, Josie: Now way down south, not very far off,
A bullfrog died wid de hooping cough,
Chorus: Hey get along, get along Josey,
Hey get along, Jim along Joe!
Limber Jim: Way down yonder in a wooden trough,
An old lady died with the whooping cough.
Chorus: Go limber, Jim; you can't go.
Go weave and spin, you can't go, Buckeye Jim.
From White: Way down yonder in de growin' corn
De old cow died wid de holler horn.
Way down yonder, in de forks o' de creek,
De old cow died in de middle o' next week.
JIM ALONG JOSEY/JAYBIRD DIED: Other songs have used the whooping cough lines including:
Jaybird Died of the Whooping Cough and Bile Dem Cabbage Down:
Jaybird died of the whoopin' cough,
Sparrow died of the colic.
'Long come a frog with a fiddle on his back
Inquirin' his way to the frolic.
EARLY EXAMPLES: The song was popular during the Civil War- here’s a letter from Prock, Baltimore and Ohio R. R., Va., Feb.13, 1862:
I see by the papers that several soldiers, formerly of the 14th, who are said to have been "through the campaign in Western Virginia," are recruiting for other regiments. The through meant I suppose to the tune of "Hey Jim a 'long, Jim a 'long Josey,"- our regimental "sick call." PROCK
And on the Mississippi: Everyone knew when the showboat was coming because for twenty or thirty minutes before its arrival a steam-powered calliope, which was brought outside and set up on the deck, would send music echoing through the hills. The catchy tune "Get Along Josie" was one I remember, but there were many more.
From Slave Dance Songs (on-line): "Jim-Along-Josey" appears have been a popular dance song among enslaved African American in the late 19th century. Adults performed this partner dance almost the same way as square dancing is performed. A man who didn't dance called out the moves that the people had to do. A fiddle (violin) and other instruments would play the music for the dancing. The dancing would go on for a long time because the caller would remember as many verses as he could and also would make up (improvise) new verses to chant. "Jim" is a still common nickname for the male name "James". "Josey" was a common man's or woman's nickname (from "Joseph" or "Josephine"). "Josey" was also the name of an article of under clothing. "Josey" was also used as a name of this dance step. "The phrase "all the go" is like the current slang phrase "all that". They are both used to refer to something that is considered the best, or the most favorite, or something that is the done in the latest, most popular style. The sentence "the bullfrog died with the whooping cough" appears in a number of African American slavery and immediate post-slavery folk songs. "Jim Along Josie" is found in quite a few American folk songs books. Unfortunately, these books rarely mention the song's African American origin.
From "The Journal of an African Cruiser," by An Officer of the U.S. Navy, in The United States Democratic review, Volume 16, Issue 83 (J.& H.G. Langley, etc., May 1845, p. 483) [N.B. the date]: August 2, 1843.--Liberia.--We were visited by Governor Roberts, Dr. Day, and General Lewis, the latter being Colonel Secretary, and military chief of the Settlement. They looked well, and welcomed me back to Liberia with the cordiality of old friendship. The Governor was received by the Commodore, Captain and officers, and saluted with eleven guns. He and his suite dined in the cabin, and some of the officers of the Porpoise in the ward-room. In the evening, we brought out all our forces for the amusement of our distinguished guests. First, the negro band sang 'Old Dan Tucker,' 'Jim along Josey,' and other ditties of the same class, accompanied by violin and tambourine. Then Othello played monkey, and gave a series of recitations.
Bodleian Library collection has numerous broadside printings of Jim Along Josie” in the British Isles from the 1840’s to 1860’s.
From firemen in NY in the mid 1800’s:
I went down town to see my posey,
Who did I meet but Jim Along Josey.
Hey, Jim Along, Jim Along Josey,
Hey, Jim Along, Jim Along Joe.
WITH A JOSEY ON: A joseph is a riding cloak for a woman, and the sort of attire that well might appear in a minstrel show. Josephs were worn as late as the 1860’s (reference to one by George Elliot). A josey might be a slang word for a joseph. A josey is also a slang term for underclothes (Slave Dance Songs). Here is a recurring verse found in many songs:
Who's been here since I've been gone?
Pretty little gal wid a josey on.
A different song was written in 1849. Here are the minstrel lyrics:
Yaller Gal with a Josey On, The
Baltimore: F. D. Benteen, 1849. As sung by Nightingale Ethiopian Serenaders
I see'd a dashing yaller gal,
One day upon the levee,
Her form was round her step was light
But wa'nt her bustle heavy!
She cast a tender glance on me,
And my heart was gone Oh!
She was the taring yaller gal,
That had a josey on,
Chorus: Oh yes, we all remember her
She used to hoe the corn,
She's the dashing yaller gal
That had a Josey on.
Bert Mayfield was born in Garrard County, May 29, 1852.
One song we would always sing was:
Who ting-a-long? Who ting-a-long?
Who's been here since I've been gone?
A pretty girl with a josey on.
FINAL NOTES: "Jim Along Josey" is one of the early minstrel songs and has had a profound effect on the lyrics and popularity of many American songs. The melody uses only 5 notes of the pentatonic scale. The song itself is followed by a lively ‘dance’ in which the comic actor had a chance to ‘do his stuff.’ The popularity of the song was doubtless due in large measure to the catchy tune of the chorus. The song became used as a ‘play party song’ in the Middle West and was admitted as a game even among those stricter sects that prohibited dancing.
Here are the lyrics from Gene:
One of my grandpas used to sing this little ditty to us kids:
Hey Jim-along, Jim-along-a-Josie
Hey Jim-along, Jim-along-a-Joe
Cider ale and ginger beer
Christmas comes but once in a year.
Hey Jim-along, Jim-along-a-Josie
Hey Jim-along, Jim-along-a-Joe
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