Jovial Hunter- Buna Hicks (NC) Recorded 1964
[Buna Hicks on Folk Legacy; Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol I, (1964). Buna Hicks (originally Presnell) was the aunt of Nathan and Rena Hicks (See also Rena Hicks' version). This family version, taken from her husband Roby Monroe, dates back at least 80 years as it was recorded by Samuel Harmon of Cade's Cove Tennessee who moved from Beech Mountain c. 1880. The same basic version from Rena Hicks, included in Thomas G. Burton's 1978 book, Some Ballad Folks, has an extra verse (first verse) added. See below.
R. Matteson 2014]
JOVIAL HUNTER- recorded by Buna Hicks on Folk Legacy; Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol I, (1964). Sandy Patton's notes says that "Mrs. Hicks (Buna) recalls her fragment (of "Sir Lionel') from the singing of her late husband, Robey Hicks.
He looked to the east; he looked to the west
Blow your horn, Center[1]
He blowed his horn both east and west
Just like a jovial[2] hunter
He met the witch wife on the bridge
Blow your horn, Center
They fit three hours by the day
Just like a jovial hunter
He split the witch wife to the chin
Blow your horn, Center
And on his way he went again
Just like a jovial hunter
He went till he came to the wild boar's den
Blow your horn, Center
There laid the bones of a thousand men
Just like a jovial hunter
The wild boar heared him in his den
Blow your horn, Center
He made the oak and ash to bend
Just like a jovial hunter
The wild boar he did slay
Blow your horn, Center
And on his way he went again
Just like a jovial hunter
1. Perhaps a mishearing of "hunter"--an alternative meaning has been attached, that it was named after Center Hicks, a cousin.
2. pronounced "Joval" or perhaps "Jobal"
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Buna Vista Presnell Hicks (1888-1984) was the great-granddaughter of Council Harmon on both her father's and her mother's sides. Her mother and her father were first cousins to each other, and to her husband, Robey. In his book, after giving Buna Hicks' "Jobal Hunter", Burton says, "She has added an initial verse from Mrs. Rena (Hicks)...
Abram Bailey had three sons,
And the youngest one was Center.
All to the wildwoods he went
Just like a jobal hunter.