|
Johnny Get Your Haircut
Old-time, Breakdown- W. Va.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: C 1887 Winner; 1889 Wehman's Universal Songster
RECORDING INFO: County Records 536, Clark Kessinger. Seeger, Peggy And Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, LP (1977), cut# 62
OTHER NAMES: "Chippy/Tippie/Johnny/Hippie Get Your Hair Cut," "Hey, Betty Martin" "Granny Will Your Dog Bite."
SOURCES: Clark Kessinger (W.Va.) [Phillips]. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 20-21. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 97. American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Bk (1948), p.142Vance, A. T.. American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955), p158 (Hey, Betty Martin)
NOTES: C Major. Standard. AAB (Phillips/1989): AA'B (Phillips/1994) {the 'B' part is irregular}. Joel Shimberg reports that West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine sang the fragment "Gippy get your hair cut short like mine" to the melody. Floating title with “Granny Will Your Dog Bite.” A version was published in 1889 in Wehman's Universal Songster as copyrighted by J. Gib. Winner:
Johnny, Get Your Hair Cut.
Copyright, 1887, by J. Gib. Winner.
Over in the sands of Jersey,
Where the watermelons grow,
Dwells a youth who whistles ever
This one tune all he does know:
Chorus.
Johnny, get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,
Johnny, get your hair cut like a sport;
Johnny, get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,
Johnny, get your hair cut, your hair cut short.
Up in Manayunk the mill hands
Make the hills and valley ring,
When the long day's work is over.
As they travel home and sing:-Chorus.
On the banjo and the organ,
On the fiddle and the flute,
On the cornet and the kazoo,
Everybody tries to toot:-Chorus
Every cheap and five cent barber
Tries to make the business pay,
So his sign upon the shutter
To the crowd is made to say:-Chorus
Many folks are fond of music,
Some they like it not at all,
Get your gun if any neighbor
In your ear begins to squall:-Chorus
Now my song at last is ended,
Let me give you all a rest,
Nevermore to find me singing
This old tune we love the best:-Chorus.
Winner's minstrel type text was clearly a rewrite, possibly from the older "Hey Betty Martin" songs. The lyrics/song possibly were used to form the opening verse of the 1917 song "Over There:"
Johnny get your gun, get your gun, get your gun,
Take it on the run, on the run, on the run.
A similar lyric was used by Earl Johnson in "Johnny Get Your Gun."
The tune went back to a ditty sung in the 1860's during the War between the States, as follows:
Johnny, git your gun and your sword and your pistol,
Johnny, git your gun and come with me. (Sandburg)
Another related version is Johnny Get Your Gun ( May 1, 1886) The Popular Rage Ethiopian Song and Chorus Originated and Sung by America's Popular Comedians, Sheffer and Blakely, And written for them by F. Belasco, (Monroe H. Rosenfield, 1861-1918). Here are some standard fiddle lyrics using Winner's chorus but reversing the 2nd and 4th lines:
Johnny Get Your Hair Cut
Johnny get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,
Johnny get your hair cut, hair cut short.
Johnny get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,
Johnny get your hair cut like a sport.
|