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Liza Jane (See also: Good-bye Liza Jane)
Old-Time, Bluegrass, Western Swing; Breakdown. USA, Widely Spread.
ARTIST: From Raiford, Fla. Women's Dormitory Texts; John Lomax 1939; Steal, Miss Liza-game song--by Gussie Slayter, Johnny Mae Medlock, Ruth Hine
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Late 1800's (Listed as 1930 in the Traditional Ballad Index)
OTHER NAMES: “Lasses Cane,” “It’s Goodbye Liza Jane,” “Tumblin' Creek Liza Jane,” “Liza Jane,” “Susan Jane,” "Saro Jane” (Should not be confused with "Rock About My Saro Jane," which is a different song); “Goodbye Liza Jane;” “Little Saro Jane” “My Little Dony;” "I Lost My Liza Jane."
RELATED TO: "Pig in a Pen," “Scraping Up Sand in the Bottom of the Sea” "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27] (lyrics); "Run Mollie Run" (lyrics) "Push Boat" (lyrics) "Cindy" (floating lyrics) “Old Joe Clark” (lyrics), “Black Them Boots;” "Shiloh;" “Goin' Down to Cairo;” “Charleston Is Burning Down” or “Charlottestown Is Burning Down.”
RECORDING INFO: Two influential recordings were made of the tune in the 1920's which helped spread its popularity among early country musicians, remarks Charles Wolfe (1991). The first was by the east Tennessee string band The Hill Billies, who released it under the title "Mountaineer’s Love Song,"(See Version 1) and the second was by another band from the same area, the Tenneva Ramblers, (See Version 2) as "Miss Liza, Poor Gal." Bob Wills (Texas), the father of western swing, said this was the first tune he learned (as "Goodbye, Miss Liza Jane") to fiddle. Here is a list of early recordings:
Old Liza Jane- Uncle Am Stuart 1924
Liza Jane - Riley Puckett 1924
Liza Jane - Henry Whitter 1925
Goodbye Liza Jane - Fiddlin' John Carson 1926
Mountaineer's Love Song - The Hillbillies 1926
Miss Liza Poor Gal - Tenneva Ramblers 1928
Liza Jane - Carter Brothers and Son 1928
Old Eliza Jane - Doc Roberts and Asa Martin 1928
Liza Up the Simmon Tree - Bradley Kincaid 1928
Poor Mary Jane - Charlie Craver 1928
Liza Up the 'Simmon Tree - Bradley Kincaid 1929
Liza Jane - Kessinger Brothers 1931
OTHER RECORDINGS: New Lost City Ramblers, "Liza Jane" (on NLCR06, NLCR11); Bradley Kincaid, "Liza Up in the Simmon Tree" (Supertone 9362, 1929; on CrowTold01); Pete Seeger, "Oh! Liza, Poor Gal" (on PeteSeeger06, PeteSeegerCD01); "Liza Jane" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03). Volo Bogtrotters. Tough Luck, Marimac 9042, Cas (1991), cut# 1 (Goodbye/Good-bye Liza Jane). Watson, Doc. Out in the Country, Intermedia/Quicksilver QS 5031, LP (1982), cut# 11; Doug & Bonnie Miller, Eric Weisberg (Eight More Miles to Louisville). Gardner, Worley. Mountain Melodies. Tunes of the Appalachians, Oak Leaf OL 3-7-2, LP (197?), cut# 2 (Middle of the Afternoon); Gaster, Marvin. Uncle Henry's Favorites, Rounder 0382, CD (1996), cut# 6; Henske, Judy. High Flying Bird, Elektra EKS 7241, LP (1963), cut#B.07 (Charlotte Town); Lundy, Ted; and the Southern Mountain Boys. Ted Lundy and the Southern Mountain Boys, Rounder 0020, LP (1973), cut# 2; Seeger, Pete;, Mike Seeger, and Larry Eisenberg. American Playparties/Play Parties, Folkways FC 7604, LP (1959), cut#A.07; Simmons, Jean. Potpourri, Dancing Doll DLP 612, LP (1985), cut#B.10 (Black Them Boots); Simmons, Woody (West Va.). All Smiles Tonight, Elderberry ER 002, LP (1979), cut# 15 (Liza Jane (tune)); Smith, Glen; & the Mountain State Pickers. Glen Smith and the Mountain State Pickers, Kanawha 322, LP (197?), cut#A.06; Stoneking, Fred. Saddle Old Spike. Fiddle Music From Missouri, Rounder 0381, CD (1996), cut#25; County 772, Bobby Hicks- "Texas Crapshooter." King 787, Reno and Smiley- "Banjo Special." Mountain 301, Kyle Creed- "Blue Ridge Style Dance Time." Kicking Mule 205, Delaware Water Gap- "From the Rivers of Babylon to the Land of Jazz" (1979. Appears as "Liza Jane"). Kapp KS 3639, Bob Wills and Mel Tillis- "Mel Tillis and Bob Wills in Person." Victor 21141 (78 RPM).
SOURCES: Randolph 435, "Liza Jane" (3 texts, 1 tune). Sandburg, pp. 132-133, "Liza Jane" (1 text, 1 tune); 308-309, "Liza in the Summer Time (She Died on the Train)" (1 text, 1 tune). Lomax-ABFS, pp. 284-286, "Liza Jane" (2 texts, 1 tune. The main text is composite) American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p.284 . American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955), p132 . American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955), p133 (Mountain Top) . American Songbag, Harcourt Brace Jovan..., Sof (1955), p308 (Liza in the Summer Time). Bobby Hicks (Brody, Phillips): Plank Road String Band via Delaware Gap String Band (Kuntz). Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 124. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 339-340. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 21. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 100. Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p293; Hicks, Bobby. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 13/3, p63; Randolph 435, "Liza Jane;" Sandburg, pp. 132-133, "Liza Jane" 308-309, "Liza in the Summer Time (She Died on the Train);" Lomax-ABFS, pp. 284-286, "Liza Jane;" Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 591 [no title] Silber-FSWB, p. 30, "Goodbye 'Liza Jane"
NOTES: A Major. Standard. AABB. “Liza Jane/Goodbye Liza Jane” is part of the large family of songs cross referenced to other tunes including “Molly and Tenbrooks,” and “Pig in a Pen.” The "Liza Jane" lyrics are also sung to different tunes such as of “Git Along Home Cindy.” The name and lyrics appear in a variety of other songs including "Run Mollie Run" (lyrics) "Push Boat" (lyrics) "Cindy" (floating lyrics) “Old Joe Clark” (lyrics). The “Little Liza Jane” or “L’il Liza Jane” songs composed by Countess Ada de Lachau in 1916 are not part of the “Liza Jane” song family and are frequently confused with “Liza Jane” songs.
From the Library of Congress: “In short, the tune is cut of a cloth so common in the Upper South, and in musical domains touched by the influence of the Upper South, that it could be described as a paradigmatic Southern tune, appearing in so many related versions, allied forms and modified guises that it almost defies genetic tracing."
Eddie Cox, a minstrel show performer, published "Good-bye, Liza Jane" in the 1880's (See Version 3). He didn't claim any credit for writing it, just arranging it See: “Good-bye Liza Jane Version 3).
In 1903 the Tin Pan Alley composer, Harry von Tilzer, published "Good-Bye, Eliza Jane" (See “Goodbye Miss Liza Jane” Version 1) which was a different song altogether. Charlie Poole did a cover of the Tilzer version leading some to assume that it was a folk version.
In 1917 Cecil Sharp collected "Liza Anne" in Kentucky that also seems to blend “Liza Jane” and the “Possum Up a Gum Stump”. Another version called "Liza Jane" was published in 1931 by Jean Thomas in a book "Devil's Ditties."
Below are three songs fom the ‘Goodbye Liza’ group similar in melody and meter that make up the ‘Goin’ To Cairo’ branch: "Black Them Boots;" “Goin' Down to Cairo;” “Charleston Is Burning Down.” Other versions of “Goodbye Liza Jane” also have the same tune and meter. "Black Them Boots" and “Goin' Down to Cairo” are different versions of the same song dating back to events in Cairo Ill. in 1858. I suspect that “Charleston/Charlottestown Is Burning Down” is an early version that was adapted to the events (see details below) around 1858. Look at the structure of the basic lyrics:
"Goin' down to Cairo/Goodbye, goodbye/
Goin' down to Cairo/Goodbye, Liza Jane,"
“Black them boots and make 'em shine/goodbye,goodbye/
Black them boots and make 'em shine/Goodbye, Liza Jane”
“Charlottestown is burning down/Goodbye, goodbye/
Burning down to the ground/ Goodbye Liza Jane.”
(See “Black Them Boots” for versions in this collection)
“Goin' Down to Cairo” was a minstrel song, traveling the mid-west circus route on the program for Rutledge & Rogers. [This is a variant of] "Goin' Down to Cairo," a southern Illinois fiddle tune with these verses and the chorus "Goin' down to Cairo/Goodbye, goodbye/Goin' down to Cairo/Goodbye, Liza Jane." Some of the other "Ring Party Games" that were very popular, were actually square dances, but of course no one dared call them dances in those days, so they were party games. Tommie Garrett was the most popular "caller" for the square dance type games during the 1920's. Some of the ring games of the day were called "Black Them Boots and Make Them Shine", "Build My House, Wilburn", "Same Old Two and Go Right Through", "Four In The Middle", "Dusty Miller" and "In And Out The Window".
The “L’il Liza Jane” song (“I's got a gal and you've got none, L'il Liza Jane”) is an entirely different song composed by Countess Ada de Lachau – 1916. Bob Wills did a Texas Style breakdown similar to the version found in Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 143. The title “Little Liza Jane” appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954 (may refer to any of the "Liza Jane" variants).
Nobody seems certain if Liza Jane was originally from black or white musical tradition, although the early blues singer Henry 'Ragtime Tex' Thomas included verses from the song in his '20s recording Run, Mollie, Run (reissued on Yazoo 1080/1), while a version by the black Texan singer Pete Harris - recorded by John Lomax on behalf of the Library of Congress in 1934 - has been issued on Rounder CD 1821. Bradley Kincaid used a version of the song as a 'signature tune' for many of his radio shows, and there is a good version on Yazoo CD 2051. Suffice it to say that it is a highly popular piece today and can be heard on numerous recordings, including Clark Kessinger's influential 1929 recording reissued on Document DOCD-8011.
Here are the lyrics to “Liza Jane” from Lomax in 1939:
Steal Miss Liza, steal Liza Jane
That ole man ain’t got no wife--Steal Liza Jane
Can't get a wife to save his life, steal Liza Jane
Steal Miss Liza, steal Liza Jane (repeat)
That ole man, etc.
Can't keep a wife, etc.
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