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Pig in a Pen
Traditional Bluegrass and Old-Time song
ARTIST: Aruthur Smith 1937
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1800s-First Recording 1937 "Pig at Home in a Pen" Arthur Smith with Delmore Brothers
RECORDING INFO:
Bailey, Mike. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1978/06,p26 (Pig in a Pen)
Bird, Elmer. Elmer's Greatest Licks, Bird, Cas (1980), trk# 11 (I've Got a Pig at Home in the Pen)
Camp Creek Boys. Original Camp Creek Boys Through the Years, Mountain 312, LP (197?), trk# 12
Cooper, Wilma Lee. Cooper, Wilma Lee. Songs to Remember, Cooper, Fol (196?), p13
East, Earnest; & the Pine Ridge Boys. Old Time Mountain Music, County 718, LP (1969), trk# 9
Gravely, Spud. Ballads and Songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains., Asch AH 3831, LP (1968), trk# A.11 [1960ca] (Pig in a Pen)
Gregory, W. L.; and Clyde Davenport. Monticello, Davis Unlimited DU 33014, LP (1975), trk# 7 [1974/09/29]
Hobbs, Smiley. American Banjo - Tunes and Songs in Scruggs Style, Folkways FA 2314, LP (1966), trk# B.01 (Pig in a Pen)
Leftwich, Andy. Fiddler Magazine, Fiddler Mag., Ser, 13/4, p15(2006) (Pig in a Pen)
Limited Edition. Limited Edition Presents the Limited Edition, Limited Edition, LP (1975), trk# A.02 (Pig in a Pen)
Morgan, Tom. Bluegrass with Friends and Family, Folkways FTS 31072, LP (1983), trk# A.04 [1963/05/18]
Old and in the Way. Old and in the Way, Sugar Hill SH 3746, LP (1975), trk# A.01 [1973/10]
Pegram, George; and Parham, Red (Walter). Music From South Turkey Creek, Rounder 0065, LP (1976), trk# b-2
Pine River Boys with Maybelle. Outback, Heritage (Galax) 003 (III), LP (1974), trk# B.02
Round Peak Band. Round Peak Band, Marimac 9044, Cas (1992), trk# A.10 (Pig in a Pen)
Rural Delivery. R. D. Breakdown, Hare 082082, LP (1982), trk# A.01 (Pig in a Pen)
Smith, Fiddlin' Arthur; & his Dixieliners. Fiddlin' Arthur Smith and His Dixieliners, Vol 2., County 547, LP (1978), trk# A.06 [1937/02/17] (Pig at Home in a Pen)
RELATED TO: Hard To Love (Little Turtle Dove); Liza Jane; Shady Grove; On a Cold Frosty Morning (Related Melody)
OTHER NAMES: "Pig at Home in a Pen"
SOURCES: Ford, Ira W. / Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1965/1940), p 41a; Carlin, Bob. Brody, David (ed.) / Banjo Picker's Fakebook, Oak, Fol (1985), p117b; Hicks, Ed. Thede, Marion (ed.) / The Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p 53b [1930s]; Skillet Lickers. Brody, David (ed.) / Fiddler's Fakebook, Oak, Sof (1983), p215 The Skillet Lickers (Atlanta, Georgia) [Kuntz]; Ed Hicks (Adair County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Harvey Taylor [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pg. 215. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 41. Kuntz (Ragged But Right), 1987; pg. 331-332. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 180. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 53. Also appears in Ira Ford's book. Flying Fish 089, The Red Clay Ramblers, "Chuckin' the Frizz" (1979. Learned from "Lowe Stokes et. al.). Rounder 1023, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (North Ga., 1928) "The Kickapoo Medicine Show." Rounder CD0421, Bruce Molsky - “Big Hoedown” (1997). Tennvale 004, Pete Sutherland, "An Anthology."
NOTES: The liner notes for Old & In The Way's album "Breakdown" say that Pig In A Pen was "composed by Grand Ole Opry fiddler Arthur Smith, who recorded it with The Delmore Brothers in 1937." Using "Beautiful Beautiful Brown Eyes" as a traditional song aquired by Smith and The Delmores, it seems likely that Smith simple was the first to record this song.
They go on to say that as the song "became a favorite with old-time musicians," it "garner[ed] added verses from the old mountain lyric song traditions."
In Old & In The Way's Version "Jerry [Garcia] sings the same verses as Carter Stanley, which are different from those sung by Smith." This was played by Jerry with Old And In The Way in 1973-74, and much earlier with the Black Mountain Boys in 1964 and with the Hart Valley Drifters in 1962.
Meade categorizes the song under "Hard To Love" which isn't really the correct fit for the song. Meade's "Hard To Love" group includes songs like "I Wish to the Lord I Had Never been Born 'It's Hard To Love and Can't Be Loved" and white Oak Mountain.
Lyrics to "Pig in A Pen" by Arthur Smith (from an on-line source):
I got a pig at home in a pen
Corn to feed him on
All I need's a pretty little girl
To feed I'm when I'm gone
Going up on a mountain
To sow a little cane
Put that old gray bonnet
On sweet little Liza Jane
Going up on a mountain
To sow a little cane
Raise a barrel of sorghum
Sweet little Liza Jane
Black smoke arising
Sure sign of rain
Put that old gray bonnet
On little Liza Jane
Bake them biscuits baby
Bake em good and brown
When you get them biscuits baked
We're Alabama bound
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