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Ol’ Ridin’ Hoss
ARTIST: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 123.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1860
RECORDING INFO:
RELATED TO: "Billy Patterson” “Fire on the Mountain” “The Humors of Bantry” "Poor Old Man"
OTHER NAMES: "Billy Patterson”
SOURCES: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 123.
NOTES: Listed in The Fiddler’s Companion as an Old-Time fiddle tune and breakdown; G Major, Standard; AABB. The lyrics are based on the Chorus of Daniel Emmett’s Billy Patterson:
Bill Patterson rode bye (sic),
Old Bill your horse will die.
“He dies, I’ll tan his skin,
He lives I’ll ride agin.”
The melody is similar to the Irish jig, “The Humors of Bantry” which is known in the Appalachian region as “Fire on the Mountain.” Here’s some info from A Fiddler’s Companion: Bayard (1981) calls it a "thoroughly characteristic Irish jig, probably of no great age." Although “Fire on the Mountain” is a floating title in Appalachian music, the tune was known as “Fire on the Mountain” to Chicago Irish piper and fiddler James Early and John McFadden and was printed under that title in Joyce’s Old Irish Folk Music and Song.
From Major William S. Marshall; The Singing Major; Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry: The interesting story below comes from Andersonville by civil war veteran and Andersonville survivor, John McElroy. In chapter eighty, he refers to a major from the Fifth Iowa Infantry who was held as a prisoner at the Columbia Military Prison for Union officers, in Columbia, South Carolina. The date would have been circa 1863:
“The Glee Club had several songs which they rendered in regular negro minstrel style, and in a way that was irresistibly ludicrous. One of their favorites was "Billy Patterson." All standing up in a ring, the tenors would lead off:
"I saw an old man go riding by,"
and the baritones, flinging themselves around with the looseness of Christy's Minstrels, in a "break down," would reply: "Don't tell me! Don't tell me!"
Then the tenors would resume: "Says I, Ole man, your horse'll die."
Then the baritones, with an air of exaggerated interest: "A-ha-a-a, Billy Patterson!"
Tenors: "For if he dies, I'll tan his skin; An' if he lives I'll ride him agin,"
All-together, with a furious "break down" at the close: "Then I'll lay five dollars down, And count them one by one; Then I'll lay five dollars down, If anybody will show me the man That struck Billy Patterson." The shanty Poor Old Man from the singing of Richard Maitland found in Doerflinger - Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman - p 14, has similar lyrics:
POOR OLD MAN
(Doerflinger - Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman - p 14)
As I walked out up-on the road one day,
[for they say so, and they know so,]
I saw 'n old man with a load of hay,
[Oh, poor old man!]
Says I, old man, your horse is lame,
Says I, Old man that horse will die
Now if he dies he'll be my loss
And if he lives he'll be my horse.
And if he dies I'll tan his skin
If he live I'll ride him again
Similar lyrics can be found in other songs such as Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers 'Jaw Bone' recorded February 6, 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee, and issued as Victor 21577 in October 1928:
Little old man come riding by
Say, 'Old man, your horse will die'
'If he dies, I'll tan his skin
'If he lives, I'll ride him again'
Chorus: Walk jaw bone and walk away
Walk jaw bone both night and day
To what extent Daniel Emmett’s 1860 song Billy Patterson was an influence is uncertain. It was popular during the Civil War period. It seems likely that Emmett wrote the verses and the chorus was arranged from existing folk/minstrel lyrics such as the ones found in Ol’ Ridin’ Hoss and other songs.
OL' RIDIN' HOSS
Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 123.
A little old man comes a-ridin' by.
Sez I: "Old man, your hoss'll die."
"If he does, I'll tan his skin,
And if he don't, I'll ride 'im agin."
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