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Rabbit in a Log/ Gonna Have a Feast Here Tonight/ Have A Feast Here Tonight
Traditional Old-Time, Bluegrass; Song
ARTIST: From Andrew Kuntz/ Toneway Project
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes;
DATE: Clearly dates back to 1800s. Prairie Rambler's 1933 recording Bluebird. Monroe Brothers, "Have a Feast Here Tonight" (Bluebird 7508) 1938; Fragments of the song have been collected from black informants in South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi as early as 1909 [Erbsen]. 1913 (Brown)
RECORDING INFO: Wernick, Peter (ed.) / Bluegrass Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976), p 77a (Rabbit in the Log)
Baker, Bob; and the Pike County Boys. Mountain Music Bluegrass Syle, Folkways FA 2318, LP (1959), trk# B.07 (Feast Here Tonight)
Forbes, Walter. Ballads and Bluegrass, RCA (Victor) LPM-2472, LP (1962), trk# 6 (Feast Here Tonight)
Kazee, Buell. Mountain Frolic. Rare Old Timey Classics; 1924-37, JSP 77100A-D, CD (2007), trk# C.14a
Mitchell Trio. Violets of Dawn, Mercury MG 21067, LP (196?), trk# B.02 (Rabbit)
Monroe Brothers. Feast Here Tonight, Bluebird AXM2-5510, LP (1975), trk# 26 [1938/01/28] (Have a Feast Here Tonight)
Monroe Brothers. Are You From Dixie? Great Country Brother Teams of the 1930's, RCA (Victor) 8417-4-R, Cas (1988), trk# 15 [1938/01/28] (Have a Feast Here Tonight)
Monroe, Bill; and Doc Watson. Bill and Doc, Sonyatone FEN-210, LP (197?), trk# 6 (Feast Here Tonight)
New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 4, Folkways FA 2399, LP (1962), trk# 7 (Have a Feast Here Tonight)
Ross County Farmers. Farmer's Frolic, Marimac 9013, Cas (1987), trk# 3 [1986/10/11] (Feast Here Tonight)
Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Raim, Ethel and Josh Duncan (eds.) / Grass Roots Harmony, Oak, Sof (1968), p32 (Feast Here Tonight)
Stanley Brothers. Legendary Stanley Brothers, Vol. 2, Rebel SLP 1495, LP (197?/196?), trk# B.04 [1964?]
Stanley Brothers. Evening Long Ago, Columbia Legacy CK 86747, CD (2004/1956), trk# 19 (Feast Here Tonight)
Taylor, Earl; and the Stoney Mountain Boys. Folk Songs from the Blue Grass, United Artists UAL 3048, LP (1959), trk# B.07 (Rabbit on a Log)
Unidentified Band. Union Grove 50. Old Time Fiddlers Convention, Union Grove SS-9, LP (1974), trk# B.06 (Rabbit in the Log)
Wernick, Pete/Peter. Wernick, Peter (ed.) / Bluegrass Banjo, Oak, Sof (1974), p 71
West, Jeanie. Roamin' the Blue Ridge, Prestige International INT 13038, LP (196?), trk# A.04 (Have a Feast Here Tonight)
The Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys [Grass Roots Harmony]. Grass Roots Harmony (Oak Publications), 1968; pg. 32. Bluebird AXM2-5510, The Monroe Brothers – “Feast Here Tonight” (1975. Reissue appears as “Have a Feast Here Tonight”). Folkways FA2399, New Lost City Ramblers –“New Lost City Ramblers, vol. 4” (1962. Appears as “Have a Feast Here Tonight”). Marimac 9013, Ross County Farmers – “Farmer’s Frolic” (1987. Appears as “Feast Here Tonight”). Prestige International INT13038, Jeanie West – “Roamin’ the Blue Ridge” (appears as “Have a Feast Here Tonight”). RCA (Victor) LPM-2472, Walter Forbes – “Ballads and Bluegrass” (1962. Appears as “Feast Here Tonight”). Rebel SLP1495, The Stanley Brothers – “Legendary Stanley Brothers, vol. 2.” Union Grove SS-9, “Union Grove 50” (1974).
OTHER NAMES: Feast Here Tonight;
RELATED TO: "Never Let Your Honey Have Her Way" (lyrics, form); Me and my Old Wife had a Little Falling Out; Georgia/Georgie Buck; Skillet Good and Greasy
SOURCES: BrownIII 166, "Rabbit in the Log" (1 fragment); Kuntz; Folk Index; Meade
NOTES: The Monroe Brothers (Charlie and Bill) recorded the tune around 1938 under the title “Have A Feast Here Tonight,” but probably learned it from the Prairie Ramblers who broadcast on the WLS program National Barn Dance and recorded the tune on a Bluebird 78 RPM. The Ramblers’ version was quite a bit slower. According to Peter Feldman, the tune is essentially the same as the Carter Family’s “Gospel Ship” (also recorded by the Monroe Brothers.
166 Rabbit in the Log "The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore; the folklore of North Carolina, collected by Dr. Frank C. Brown during the years 1912 to 1943, in collaboration with the North Carolina Folklore Society"
Reported as Negro song known in Tennessee (ANFS 283), Alabama (ANFS 233, 2St,), and Mississippi (JAFL xxvi 127).
'Rabbit Song.' Reported in 1913 by William B. Covington as another of his reminiscences of my early youth spent in the country on the border of the sand hills of Scotland County."
Rabbit in tbe log-
An' I ain't got no dog.
Shoutin' an' singin",
Gwine home.
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