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Possum Up a Gum Stump
Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Alabama, north Georgia, Arkansas.
ARTIST: from Thomas Talley.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Dates back to minstrel era- 1830s (lyrics also found in Zip Coon); 1925 (Scarborough); Early recording is Skillet Lickers: Corn Licker Still in Georgia, Voyager VRLP 303, LP (197?), trk# A.09 [1927-30]
RECORDING INFO: Ford, Ira W. / Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1965/1940), p 29b
Bromberg, David. My Own House, Fantasy F-9572, LP (1978), trk# A.02c
Critton Hollow (String Band). By and By, Flying Fish FF 355, LP (1985), trk# A.02
Curley, Clyde. Songer, Susan; & Clyde Curley (eds.) / Portland Collection. Contra..., Portland Collection, Fol (1997), p161
Forrester, Howdy. Devil's Box, Devil's Box, Ser, 23/1, p22a(1989)
Gish, Don; and Lloyd Wanzer. More Fiddle Jam Sessions, Voyager VRLP 304, LP (1971), trk# 19
Jenkins, Snuffy; and Pappy Sherrill. Snuffy Jenkins. Pioneer of the Bluegrass Banjo, Arhoolie 9027, CD (1998/1962), trk# 3
Kelley, Lewis. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p361/#280 [1928/01/05]
Kuntz, Andrew. Fiddler Magazine, Fiddler Mag., Ser, 11/3, p43c(2004)
Ransom, Stan. I Love Long Island, Connecticut Peddler, CD (1997), trk# 16a
Taylor, Hollis. Fiddler Magazine, Fiddler Mag., Ser, 14/2, p41(2007)
Tonge, Marge. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p150
Walters, Bob. Paddy on the Turnpike, MSOTFA 109, Cas (1993), trk# B.07
Wheeler, Carol Ann. Joy of Fiddlin' Vol II, Yahoo, LP (1980), trk# A.01b
Whited, Ralph. Possum Up a Gum Stump, Alabama Traditions 103, LP (1988), trk# B.09 [1986/12/12]
Hiter Colvin, "Rabbit Up the Gum Stump" (Victor V-40239, 1930/Montgomery Ward 8148, 1939)
Henry Truvillion, "Come On, Boys, and Let's Go to Huntin'" (AFS 3983 B2; on LC8)
OTHER NAMES: "Possum Up a Gum Stump, Cooney in the Hollow," "Rabbit Up the Gum Stump" "Come On, Boys, and Let's Go to Huntin'" "Going/Off to California," "Whiskey You're the Devil," "Whiskey in the Jar," "Lexington," "Old Towser," "Gypsy Hornpipe," "Fireman's Reel," "Buttermilk and Cider."
RELATED TO: "Lynchburg Town" "Old Zip Coon" "Uncle Reuben" (floating lyrics)
"Bile Them Cabbage Down" (floating lyrics) Going Down to Maysville ; Willott's/Willet's Hornpipe; Dubuque;
SOURCES: Ceolas; Folk Index; BrownIII 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town")
Randolph 280, "Possum Up a Gum Stump" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 161, "Possum Up a Simmon Tree" (6 texts, all of a single stanza; some are probably not this piece, but they're too short to classify)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 177, (no title) (1 fragment) 1925
Lomax-ABFS, p. 238, "Little Gal at Our House" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: D Major. Standard. AABB. The tune was mentioned in chronicles before the year 1830 (Mark Wilson). Lomax reports this as a "patting chant" -- sung to the accompaniment of hands clapping or slapping against the thighs. It was cited as having been played in a 1914 Atlanta, Ga. fiddlers' contest, and listed in the Northwest Alabamian of August 29, 1929, as one of the tunes likely to be played at an upcoming fiddlers' convention. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. See also related tune family under "Dubuque."
The version by The Hill Billies (east Tennessee) on Vocalation 5118, 1926 (78 RPM) is really a version of Sally Goodin (see: Possum Up a Gum Stump II) The tune/song appears in several collections, including Brown (3:207), White (236-38), Scarborough (173), Randolph (2:361) and Lomax and Lomax (American Ballads and Folk Songs), pg. 238. Source for notated version: Joe Hermann with the Critton Hollow String Band (West Virginia) [Phillips]. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 29. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 187. Flying Fish FF 355, Critton Hollow String Band - "By and By" (1985). Recorded Anthology of American Music, 1978 - "Traditional Southern Instrumental Styles."
Lyrics to "Possum Up a Gum Stump" from Thomas Talley:
Charles Wolfe, in notes to Thomas Talley's Negro Folk Rhymes (1991), says the first two stanzas of the song below were collected from both black and white sources, although the last two stanzas are rather rare:
'Possum up de gum stump,
Dat raccon in de holler;
Twis' 'im out, an' git 'im down,
An' I'll gin you a half a doller.
'Possum up de gum stump,
Yes, cooney in de holler;
A pretty gal down my house
Jes as fat as she can waller.
'Possum up de gum stump,
His jaws is black an' dirty;
To come an' kiss you, pretty gal,
I'd run lak a goobler tucky.
'Possum up de gum stump,
A good man's hard to fin';
You'd better love me, pretty gal,
You'll git de yudder kin'.
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