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Possum Up a Gum Stump/ Possum Up A Gum Tree
Old-Time, American song
ARTIST: from Andrew Kuntz
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Dates back to minstrel era- 1822 Possibly the first minstrel song (lyrics also found in Zip Coon); 1925 (Scarborough); Early recoding is Skillet Lickers: Corn Licker Still in Georgia, Voyager VRLP 303, LP (197?), trk# A.09 [1927-30]
RECORDING INFO "Possum up a Gum Stump": 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
RELATED TO: "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."
"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 "Possum Up A Gum Stump": 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."
NOTES: "Opossum Up a Gum Tree" Cecilia Conway (1995) finds references to the song "Opposum up a Gum Tree." It was witnessed by an English performer, Charles Mathews, being rendered by the noted tradedian and performer Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) at the African Grove Theater in New York. The theater was a venue for black performers, and at the conclusion of Hamlet the audience had called for their favorite song; Aldridge obliged. Mathews (who later incorporated the material into a comic act for the British stage) made several transcriptions of the song, the tune of which appears to be similar to the "Turkey Buzzard" family of tunes. Ceclia Conway, in African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia (1995), states that "the song is apparently a variant of the dance tune 'Cooney in de Holler,' which was popular in Phildelphia and the Five Points dance halls and dives of New York duing the time of 'Juba' Lane and Charles Dickens." Nathan (Dan Emmett, 1962), citing T. Allston Brown (The Origins of Minstrelsy) writes that the song was known to white boatmen and African-Americans in South Carolina. {Kuntz}
In 1822, English actor Charles Mathews mounted a one-man show in black-face called "A Trip to America," based on the dialect, songs and dances he observed while in the United States. During a visit to New York's African Theatre, Mathews claimed that an actor performing the role of "Hamlet" was interrupted by calls from the audience for the slave song "Opossum up a Gum Tree," an incident that Mathews used to construct one of the most popular segments of his show.
Charles Mathews famously imitated and parodied the African Grove's star James Hewlett performing Hamlet in a performance Mathews called "The African Tragedian" (part of a larger worked titled "A Trip To America"). Aldridge would later gain fame by claiming to be "The African Tragedian" on whom the performance was based. According to Bernth Lindfors [2], professor of English and African literatures at the University of Texas, Mathews went to the African Theater and invited Hewlett do a private performance for him, and then invented a story about a black actor butchering Shakespeare. In Mathews' parody, Hewlett spoke the line "…and by opposing end them…" as "…and by opossum end them…", leading to a rendition of "Opossum up a Gum Tree", the de facto anthem of African Americans at the time. Aldridge denied that this had actually occurred during his performances at the African Grove; according to Eric Lott, he actually borrowed the joke back from Mathews at a later date and made exactly that transition from Hamlet to the popular song.
Words to the song were published by Southern (The Music of Black Amerians):
"Possum Up a Gum Tree" from Christy's Songster 1850:
OPPOSUM UP A GUM TREE.
Opposum up a gum tree
His tail has body follow
Racoon quickly him see,
Looking out ob hollow.
Pull him down de long tail,
Opposum squall—Opposum squall,
Racoon stick him long tail
Him louder squeak—him louder squeak.
Opposum up, &c.
Opposum look him shy now,
Racoon grin—racoon grin,
Opposum wink his eye now,
Move him chin—move him chin.
Opposum down him tumble,
From de tree—from de tree,
And make him gin to grumble,
Racoon, he, he, he! racoon, he, he, he!
Opposum up, &c.
Black boy lub Till Jenkins,
Tink he'll wed—tink he'll wed;
His massa chide him tinking,
Beat him head—beat him head.
Black boy him lub rum, too,
Make him groggy—make him groggy,
But massa make him cum, too,
When him floggy—when him floggy.
Opposum up, &c.
“POSSUM UP A GUM TREE" Kuntz
Words to the song were published by Southern (The Music of Black Amerians):
Opossum him creep softly, Raccoon him lay mum;
Pull him by the long tail, Down opossum come.
Jin kum, jan kum, beangash, Twist 'em, twist 'em, run;
Oh, the poor opossum, Oh, the sly raccoon.
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