Knock Around the Kitchen

Ozarks Fiddle Music

Knock Around the Kitchen/Cuttin' At The Point

See also: "Wait in the Kitchen"

Old-time/bluegrass banjo and fiddle tune. Kentucky, West Virginia.

ARTIST: Ozarks Fiddle Music; Jim Herd

DATE: 1800s; 1868 McBride's magazine‎

RECORDING INFO: Cutting at the Point [Me IV-E 86]

Rt - Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In
Carlin, Bob. Banging and Sawing, Rounder 0197, CD (1996/1985), trk# 12 [1982-85]
Deseret String Band. Young Fogies, Heritage (Galax) 056, LP (198?), trk# 8b
Silberberg, Gene. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p 42
Wilson, Charlie; & his Hayloft Boys. Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky, Vol.3, Way Down South in Dixie, MorningStar 45005, LP (1980), trk# A.01 [1932/10/19]
Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In [Me IV-E 86]

Rt - Cutting at the Point
Herd, Jim. Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks. Vol. 3, Rounder 0437, CD (2000), trk# 4 [1997/08/19]

RELATED TO: Dark of the Night (Owen Chapman); Red Fox (Henry Reed); Girl on the Log

OTHER NAMES: Cuttin' At The Point; Cutting at the Pint; If You Can't Stand the Heat Get out of the Kitchen

SOURCES: Folk Index; Kuntz; Meade

NOTES: "Knock Around the Kitchen" is an old tune that was in the African-American tradition in 1868. The title comes from a ditty sung to the tune (lyrics below). Here's a quote from McBride's magazine‎ (Page 622; Language Arts & Disciplines- 1868):

Who that has listened to the music of " Harry Cain," or " Send for the Barber,"
or " We'll Knock Around the Kitchen Till the Cook Comes In," will forget the merry cadence?

The tune was recorded in 1933 Jess Hilliard and his West Virginia Hillbillies for Champion in Richmond, IN. Under the other title  common title, "Cuttin' at the Point"  
it was recorded in the same year by fiddler Charlie Wilson and his Hayloft Boys. Similar lyrics are also found in the "Wait in the Kitchen" songs which are part of the Richmond Cotillion family. (see also: "Wait in the Kitchen")

Here's some info from Andrew Kuntz: KNOCK AROUND THE KITCHEN (Till the Cook Comes In). See note for “Cuttin’ at the Pint/Point.” Rounder 0437, Jim Herd  – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, Vol. 3: Down in the Border Counties.”

CUTTIN' AT THE PINT/POINT. AKA and see "Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. ADae tuning. AB (Silverberg): AABB (Phillips). The tune is played in Trimble, Henry and Carroll Counties in central Kentucky as "Knock Around the Kitchen 'Til the Cook Comes In." Sources for notated versions: Liz Slade (Yorktown, New York) [Kuntz]; Tom Carter and Ron Kane with the Deseret String Band [Phillips]. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 64. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 32. Gennett Records (78 RPM), Charlie Wilson and His Hillbillies (1932. The ensemble was from Montgomery County, Kentucky). Morining Star 45005, Charlie Wilson and His Hayloft Boys (Ky.) - "Way Down South in Dixie."

The tune has also been recorded by Foghorn String Band and is on Bob Carlin's Banging & Sawing Cuttin CD.

Here are lyrics from Jim Herd (Ozarks Fiddle Music):

Knock around the kitchen til the cook comes in,
The cook comes in, the cook comes in.
Knock around the kitchen til the cook comes in,
The poor old cook comes in.