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Man in the Woopile/N..... in the Woodpile
Old-Timey, Breakdown Minstrel Song. USA;
ARTIST: From Brown Collection
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Minstrel Song 1845 Dan Emmett; Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883)
OTHER NAMES: “In the Woodpile,” “N..... in the Woodpile" "Tucker in the Wood Pile" "Jimmy/Johnny on the Woodpile" "Wood Pile Jig," "The Cotten Patch," "Man in the Cotton Patch" “The Woodpile Tune.”
RELATED TO: "Wild Horse/Horses; Shortenin' Bread
RECORDING INFO: Avery, Sam; and Bud Green. It's Just the Same Today, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFC-108, LP (198?), trk# 12 [1947] (*Man in the Woodpile)
Skillet Lickers. Skillet Lickers, Vol. 1, County 506, LP (1965), trk# B.04 [1930/04/14]
Skillet Lickers. Georgia Fiddle Bands, Vol. 2, County 544, LP (197?), trk# B.07 [1934/03/29] (Cotton Patch)
Skillet Lickers. Corn Licker Still in Georgia, Voyager VRLP 303, LP (197?), trk# B.13 [1927-30]
Skillet Lickers. Brody, David (ed.) / Fiddler's Fakebook, Oak, Sof (1983), p140
Solomon, Norman and Vernon. Solomon Family. Three Generations of Champion Texas Fiddlers, Old Blue CD 701, CD (2004), trk# 4b (*Man in the Woodpile)
Thomasson, Benny. Country Fiddling from the Big State, County 724, LP (1970), trk# 6 (*Man in the Woodpile)
SOURCES: Brown; Kuntz; The title has been identified by Bayard (1944, 1981) as a "floating title" in Pennsylvania, used for a number of different tunes, including a version of "Jennie Put the Kettle On (We’ll All Take Tea) [3]" (see also note for "Bonaparte Crossing the Alps) and "Miss McLeod's Reel." Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 82 (appears as “Wood Pile Jig”). Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2, c. 1880’s; No. 432, pg. 49. Ryan’s Mammoth Collection, 1883; pg. 114. Recorded for Vocalion in 1924 by Uncle Am Stuart (b. 1856, Morristown, Tenn.).
NOTES: A Major. AEAE. AABB. Listed as In the Woodpile [Me IV-B36] it's hard to include this song/tune without using is racist title, N..... in the Woodpile. As I've done throughout this lyric study I've consistantly removed racist lyrics. The song usually appears today as an instrumental with the title "Man in the Woodpile."
Using the single syllable "Man" in the lyrics is certainly a poor substitute. I prefer to use Emmett's own original first version- he used "Tucker in the wood pile."
According to Kuntz: The tune has been credited to American black-face minstrel Dan Emmett, Boston, 1845 (Hans Nathan), although the tune is unattributed in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (which does include many attributed Emmett compositions). It may be an African-American tune to which Emmett’s name became attached to, as a prime exponent of the racial and cultural mixing that was minstrelsy. The melody is catagorized as a 'jig' in Ryan’s, meaning not the familiar 6/8 time Irish jig, but rather a type of duple-metre 19th century old‑time banjo tune perhaps associated with a type of dancing or, derogatorily, with African-Americans. The type was also called a ‘straight’ or ‘sand’ jig, the latter because it was sometimes the vehicle for a kind of clog dance on a sanded stage to reduce friction. “N….. in the Woodpile” was recorded in newspater accounts as having been played by Professor Ludwig (of Cobb County, Ga.) in a 1913 Atlanta, Ga. fiddlers' contest. The title has been identified by Bayard (1944, 1981) as a "floating title" in Pennsylvania, used for a number of different tunes, including a version of "Jennie Put the Kettle On (We’ll All Take Tea) [3]" (see also note for "Bonaparte Crossing the Alps) and "Miss McLeod's Reel."
Typical lyrics as used by the Skillet Lickers and others come from Emmett's earlier minstrel song, Old Dan Tucker.
Tucker in de wood pile — can't count 'lebben.
Put in a fedder bed — him gwine to hebben.
[Man in the Wood Pile- Brown Collection
This proverbial phrase, known all over the country, perhaps got its currency from Dan Emmett's 'Old Dan Tucker,' said to have been written as early as 1830 but first published in 1843 (S- Foster Damon, Series of Old American Songs, No. 2>7) the third stanza of which begins:
Tucker in de wood pile — can't count 'lebben.
Put in a fedder bed — him gwine to hebben.
'*Man in the Woodpile.' From Mrs. C. C. Thomas, who learned it from her mother, Mrs. Woodward. Location and date not noted.
*Man in the woodpile, couldn't count to seven.
Put him in a feather bed and he'll think he's got to heaven.]
The north Georgia band The Skillet Lickers recorded a version of the tune usually known as “Pigtown Fling,” “Wild Horse” or “Ston(e)y Point [1]” under this title on Document DOCD, The Skillet Lickers, vol. 4. Here are the lyrics:
*Tucker in the woodpile
Couldn't count seven
Put him in a featherbed
Thought he was in heaven
*Tucker in the woodpile
*Tucker in the shade
Trying to get to heaven
On a glass of lemonade.
*Tucker and the fat man
Playing seven up
Fat man win the money
And Tucker pick it up.
*edited
Emmet also used the main lyrics in a different song "sung nightly with thunders of Applause, by Dan Emmit, at White's Melodeon, 53 Bowery, N. Y.," his song, WHOOP DE DOODLE DO.
As sung Simon had a son born,
Whoop de doodle do,
Simon had a son born,
Whoop de doodle do.
Simon had a son born,
You'd think she was a daughter,
Yaller Sal, de Georgia gal,
An' de big buck in de water.
CHORUS: What's de matter Susan, what's de matter, my dear?
What's de matter Susan, I'm guine 'way to leabe you.
India rubber overcoat,
Whoop de doodle do,
India rubber overcoat,
Whoop de doodle do.
India rubber overcoat,
Taffy candy shoes,
Nigger on de Telegraph,
Reading of de news.
What's de matter, Susan, &c.
De ole mare she kick high,
Whoop de doodle do,
De ole mare she kick high,
Whoop de doodle do.
De ole mare she kick high,
De colt begin to prance,
De ole sow whistle a jig,
For de pigs to dance.
What's de matter, Susan, &c.
*Tucker on de wood-pile,
Whoop de doodle do,
*Tucker on de wood-pile,
Whoop de doodle do.
Tcuker on de wood-pile,
Can't count eleben,
Put him in a fedder bed,
He think he's guine to heaben.
What's de matter, Susan, &c.
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