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Rock The Cradle Joe
Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Patrick & Franklin Counties, Virginia; North Carolina, West Virginia
ARTIST: From the Frank C. Brown Collection of NC Folklore, vol. III, Folk Songs.
No. 97. Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1800's- Probably from the Minstrel (listed as a song in Slave Lullabies) era. Related to Rock the Cradle Lucy (Miss Lucy Long from 1844). "Rocke the Cradle, John" "was licensed by Laurence Price in 1631 in England, and there is an Irish song called "The Old Man Rocking the Cradle."
RECORDING INFO Rock the Cradle Joe:
Brody, David (ed.) / Guitar Picker's Fakebook, Oak, Sof (1984), p120
Boiled Buzzards. Fine Dining, Marimac 9043, Cas (1991), trk# B.05
Bursen, Howard (Howie). Building Boom, Flying Fish FF 441, LP (1988), B.06b
Carlin, Bob. Brody, David (ed.) / Banjo Picker's Fakebook, Oak, Fol (1985), p133b
Clayton, Bob. Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1982/02,p23
Curley, Clyde. Songer, Susan; & Clyde Curley (eds.) / Portland Collection. Contra..., Portland Collection, Fol (1997), p169
Famous Pyle Brothers. Up on Pyle Mountain, Pyle, Cas (1989), trk# A.07
Fenton, Mike; & Willard Gayheart. Galax International, Heritage (Galax) 067, LP (1988), trk# D.06 [1986/08]
Fenton, Mike. 52nd Annual Old Fiddlers Convention Galax, Va 1987, Heritage (Galax) 704, LP (1988), trk# 7
Frosty Morning String Band. Fiddling Celebration, Soaring Hawk SH 002, LP (1980), trk# A.04
Hold the Mustard. Hold the Mustard, Hold the Mustard, LP (1987), trk# A.04c
Levy, Bertram; and Peter Ostroushko. First Generation, Flying Fish FF 392, LP (1987), trk# 10d
Michael, Walt; & Company. Step Stone, Flying Fish FF 480, Cas (1988), trk# 7b
Milnes, Gerry; and Lorraine Lee Hammond. Hell Up Coal Holler, Shanachie 6040, CD (1999), trk# 11a
Nelson, Mark. Fiddle Tunes for Dulcimer, Kicking Mule KM 218, LP (1980), trk# 3d
Old Virginia Fiddlers. Old Time Fiddle, Patrick County, VA, County 201, LP (1977), trk# B.05 [1948]
Plank Road String Band. Plank Road. Vocal and Instrumental Blend, June Appal JA 015, LP (1978), trk# 11
Plank Road String Band. Brody, David (ed.) / Fiddler's Fakebook, Oak, Sof (1983), p232
Silberberg, Gene. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p162
Thompson, Linda Lowe. Dulcimer Players News, DPN, Ser, 27/2, p47(2001)
Trickett, Ed. People Like You, Folk Legacy FSI 092, LP (1982), trk# 5
Winston, Dave. Southern Clawhammer, Kicking Mule KM 213, Cas (1978), trk# A.01
RECORDING INFO Rock the Cradle Lucy: County 506, The Skillet Lickers "Old Time Tunes Recorded 1927, 1931." Calicanto Singers. Days of Gold!, Calicanto, CD (1999), trk# B.07; English, Logan. Days of '49. Songs of the Gold Rush, Folkways FH 5255, LP (1957), trk# B.07; Cofer Brothers. Georgia Fiddle Bands, Vol. 2, County 544, LP (197?), trk# A.02 [1929/03/13] ; Famous Pyle Brothers. Up on Pyle Mountain, Pyle, Cas (1989), trk# A.06; Mainer's Mountaineers (J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers). J. E. Mainer & the Mountaineers. Vol 20. 20 Old-Time Favorites, Rural Rhythm RC-250, Cas (1988), trk# B.06; Reeltime Travelers. Reeltime Travelers, Yodel-Ay-Hee 034, CD (2000), trk# 10 ; Skillet Lickers. Skillet Lickers, Vol. 1, County 506, LP (196?), trk# B.05 [1929/10/29]
RELATED TO: Rock Little Julie; Sally Ann; Rock That/The Cradle Lucy
OTHER NAMES: Rock De Cradle Joe;
SOURCES: Kuntz; Folk index; Old-time Music Forum; Mudcat; Alan Block (N.H.) [Spandaro]; Jay Ungar (West Hurley, New York) [Kuntz]; Babe Sengler (Va.) [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 232. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician: Occasional Collection of Old-Timey Fiddle Tunes for Hammer Dulcimer, Fiddle, etc), No. 2, 1982/1988; pg. 10. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 333-334. Sing Out, Vol. 36, No. 2, August 1991; pg. 77. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 169. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 16. Tennvale 004, James Leva and Bruce Molsky- "An Anthology." County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers- "Rare Recordings 1948-49." June Appal 015, Plank Road String Band- "Vocal and Instrumental Blend." Kicking Mule 213, David Winston- "Southern Clawhammer Banjo."
Slave Lullabies. illus. by Michael Cummings. unpaged. with CD. score. CIP. Houghton. 2000. Tr $18. ISBN 0-395-85755-4. LC 97-20269. PreSchool-Grade 5-This collection includes songs of hope as well as haunting refrains of people being sold. From the reassuring "Great Big Dog" to the nonsense of "Rock de Cradle, Joe."
NOTES: D major; AABB. I play this on guitar Capo 2 in C. This song has three listings with Andrew Kuntz including several sets of lyrics (below). The “Rock the Cradle” lyrics appears in different old-time songs (Red Rocking Chair/Red Apple Juice) and possibly could have been brought over from English sources. Similar lyrics are found in the 1631 English ditty Roch the Cradle John. "Rock the Cradle, John" is also listed in "Wehman's complete dancing master and call book containing full and complete..." No. 1, c.1889. Here are some the lyrics from 1850:
The old English song, "Rock the Cradle, John," has the chorus:
Rock the cradle, John,
Rock the cradle, John,
For there's many a man who rocks another man's bairn,
And thinks he is rocking his own.
Firth c.26(180), by J. B. Geoghegan, c. 1850
An African-American version titled "Rock the Cradle Joe" appears in a recent book, Slave Lullabies. The lyrics and tune are related to “Rock the Cradle Lucy” (Cofer Brothers and Skillet Lickers) from the 1920s. “Rock the Cradle Lucy” is loosely based on the popular minstrel song, “Miss Lucy Long,”also known as "Lucy Long," the chorus is:
Take your time Miss Lucy
Take your time Miss Lucy Long
Rock de cradle Lucy
Take your time my dear.
The tune is similar to Sally Ann and has been compared to Soldier's Joy. According to
James York Glimm in his book, "Snakebite: lives and legends of central Pennsylvania" the cradle refers to a wheat sythe: Well, you was talking about them old fiddle tunes, and that one called "Rock the Cradle, Joe." That's not about a baby cradle, that's about cutting wheat.
The song was collected from African-American (Scarborough 1925- source from late 1800s) and white sources (Brown- 5 lyric versions) with the "Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe/Joe cut off his toe" rhyme. Here's the standard Round Peak and Galax lyrics from Pete Peterson:
Rock the Cradle Joe
VERSE: Gotta get up, gotta go to work
Gotta get up in the morning
Watcha gonna do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe
CHORUS: Watcha gonna do when the baby cries
Lord I don't know
Watcha gonna do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe
According to Pete Peterson, "The tune I know (and have played for about 30 years under that name) is the one found near Round Peak and Galax and is first cousin to Sally Ann-- as Nancy Sluys once called it" the Surry County national anthem". The tune is sung using only the "main notes" and not all the arpeggios-- just like Soldiers Joy."
VERSE: Gotta get up, gotta go to work
Gotta get up in the morning
Watcha gonna do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe
CHORUS: Rock the cradle Lucy, rock the cradle high
Rock the cradle Lucy, don't let the baby cry.
Rock the cradle Luck, rock the cradle low
Rock the cradle, Lucy, and rock the cradle Joe
and there is the wonderful one I learned from Martha Burns, who denied making it up:
I'll go down to MacDonalds,
I'll stand there in the line
I'll buy a billion hamburgers
And make them change the sign.
From Old-time Rec music:
Carl: "As far as I know there are two "Rock the Cradle Joe"s, that, by sound, appear to be related and came into the revival repetoire in the 70s. One is from the West Virginia fiddler, Frank George. The other I learned from the musicians who hung out around Lexington, VA at the time, Odell McGuire and company (don't know where they got it from).
Rafe Stefanini: "Rock the Cradle Joe" comes from the playing of Wallace "Babe" Spangler, of Meadows of Dan, Virginia, who recorded it in the late 1920's. It was included on an LP called "The Old Virginia Fiddlers", issued by County Records probably in the late 70's."
According to liner notes by Tom Carter and Barry Poss: "Rock the Cradle Joe" on Old Virginia Fiddlers (County 201) was by Wallace's son, J.W. "Babe" Spangler, in 1948-49 timeframe. Wallace died in 1926. Babe recorded a few sides in 1929: Midnight Serenade and Patrick County Blues (both which appear on the LP), and Golden Slippers and Climbing Up the Golden Stairs.
The notes to Old Virginia Fiddlers also mention that Frank George learned "Rock the Cradle Joe" from Jim Farthing. Jim was originally from Franklin County, VA, which adjoins Patrick County to the North. Here are more lyrics from the Old-Time Music forum:
What'll we do when the baby cries?
I don't know.
What'll we do when the baby cries?
Rock that cradle, Joe.
Gotta go home, Gotta go to bed
Gotta go to work in the morning
Whatcha gonna do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe
Verse: Gotta go to bed, gotta go to sleep,
Gotta get up in the morning.
Who will mind the baby-o
And rock the cradle, Joe?
Chorus: Rock the cradle Lucy,
Rock the cradle, bye.
Rock the cradle Lucy,
Don't let the baby die.
Rock the cradle Lucy,
Rock the cradle Joe,
Rock the cradle Lucy,
Don't let the baby go.
Here's "Rock the Cradle, Joe" from Kuntz:
ROCK THE CRADLE JOE [1]. See also related part 'B' of "Sally Ann" (B version). D Major. Standard. AABB. Most modern "revival" versions of the tune come from the playing of J.W. "Babe" Spangler of Meadows of Dan, Virginia, who recorded it in the late 1940's. The following ditty is sometimes sung to the tune in old-time tradition:
***
('B') Rock the cradle Lucy, rock the cradle low,
Rock the cradle Lucy, Rock the Cradle Joe.
***
Rock the cradle Lucy, rock the cradle high,
Rock the cradle Lucy, don't let that baby cry. (Kuntz)
***
('A') Can't get up, can't get up,
Can't get up in the morning;
What we gonna do if the baby cries?
Rock the cradle Joe.
***
('B') Rock the cradle, rock the cradle,
Rock the cradle Joe;
Rock the cradle, rock the cradle,
Rock it nice and slow. (Johnson)
***
What'll we do when the baby cries
I don't know;
What'll we do when the baby cries
Rock that cradle Joe.
***
Variations of the words, however, were in tradition as "Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe," a nursery rhyme which has variants with verses which also resemble some of the "Old Joe Clark" verses:
***
Uncle Joe cut off his toe
And hung it up to dry;
The ladies began to laugh
And Joe began to cry.
***
Chorus:
Rock the cradle, rock the cradle,
Rock the cradle, Joe.
'I will not rock, I shall not rock,
For the baby is not mine.' (Version 'C', Number 97, The Frank C. Brown Collection Of North Carolina Folklore, Volume 3)
***
Lani Herrmann finds a similar verse in the biography of Jennie Devlin (1865-1952) by her granddaughter Katharine D. Newman (Urbana, IL: Univ of Illinois Press, 1995; "an Illini Book"). Allan Lomax recorded this version as a recitation by "Grandma Deb," one of the names by which Jennie Devlin was known. It seems to echo the North Carolina version:
***
O, rock the cradle, John,
O, rock the cradle, John,
There's many a man
Rocks another man's child
When he thinks he's rocking his own.
***
Apparently a "Rocke the Cradle, John" "was licensed by Laurence Price in 1631 in England, and there is an Irish song called "The Old Man Rocking the Cradle."
ROCK THE CRADLE JOE [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. A version of “Rock the Cradle Joe [1].” From the playing of West Virginia fiddler Franklin George, who learned the tune from Jim Farthing, originally from Franklin County, Va. Gerry Milnes says this version “maintains much more character and melody” than the “watered-down” version that has long been a staple of “revival” fiddlers’ conventions. Shanachie Records 6040, Gerry Milnes & Lorriane Lee Hammond – “Hell Up Coal Holler” (1999).
ROCK THE CRADLE JOE [3]. New England, Polka. D Major. Standard. AABB. Similar to version #1. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 14.
Here's "Rock the Cradle, Joe" from Frank Brown Collection:
97 Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe
This title is chosen because the stanza to which it belongs seems to have a certain currency independent of the rest of the A text. Stanza 4 suggests that the A text niiglit be reckoned a form of 'Liza Jane' — which is a song of very indefinite content. Most of
its stanzas are found in other contexts; stanza 1 commonly with "raccoon" instead of "'squirrel," as in "De Raccoon Has a Bushy Tail.' which see; stanza 2 as part of a square-dance song (Ford's Traditional Music of America 29) ; stanza 3 as a separate item. 'If I Had a Scolding Wife'; stanza 5 is substantially the same as a bit of Negro song reported by Perrow from Mississippi (JAFL XXVI 126) ; stanza 7 is but a slight variation of the second stanza of 'The Jaybird' A and D in our collection. See also White, ANFS 234-6, and Davis, FSV 152. The chorus (which appears as the last stanza in A) is known also in Arkansas and 'I'exas (TNFS 153-4). Probably, although the contributors do not say so, the whole thing was sung as a play-party, i.e., dance song.
A 'Song.' Contributed by Elsie Doxcy of Currituck county as sung in western North Carolina.
1 The squirrel he has a bushy tail.
The possum's tail is bare.
The rabbit has no tail at all
But a little bit of hair.
2 The raccoon up a chestnut tree,
The possum in the holler,
A purty girl at our house
As fat as she can waller.
3 Ef I had a scolding wife
I'd lick her sho's yo' bawn ;
I'd take her down to New Orleans
En trade her off for cawn.
4 Git along, Liza,
Git along, Liza Jane ;
I don't keer wherever you go
Jes' so you come back again.
5 Once I had an old gray mule ;
'Member day she wuz bawn.
Ever' tooth that ol' mule had
Would hold a barrel of cawn.
6 Apples in the spring-time.
Peaches in the fall ;
Ef I can't get the one I want
I won't have none a-tall.
7 Jay bird sitting on a hickory limb
Winked at me, I winked at him;
Up with my gun and let her go
An' knocked her plumb to Mexico.
8 Uncle Joe cut off his toe
And hung it up to dry;
And all the girls began to laugh
And Joe began to cry.
9 Rock the cradle, rock the cradle,
Rock the cradle, Joe.
Rock the cradle, rock the cradle,
Rock the cradle, Joe.
B 'Peaches in the Summer Time.' Contributed by W. B. Covington, with the notation: 'Sung anywhere in X. C, but first heard in Scotland county. Tliis is one of those never ending songs." But all that he set down is a form of stanza 6 of A and the start of another stanza.
Peaches in the summer time.
Apples in the fall;
If I can't get the gal I want
I won't have none at all.
Cabbage in the summer time,
Collards in the fall. . . .
From: The Frank C. Brown Collection of NC Folklore, vol. III, Folk Songs.
No. 97. Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe; Version A has 9 verses. Verses 1 - 7 are familiar floaters. Version C: (Reported by S.M. Davis of White Hall on the Neuse River as a nursery rhyme: "A song my mother's old nurse used to sing her to sleep by.")
Version C:
1. Uncle Joe cut off his toe
And hung it up to dry;
The ladies began to laugh
And Joe began to cry.
Chorus: Rock the cradle, rock the cradle,
Rock the cradle, Joe.
'I will not rock, I shall not rock,
For the baby is not mine.'
2. My wife is sick, my wife is sick,
My wife is sick abed.
You hateful Reb, you hateful Reb,
There's whiskey in your head.
The first stanza of C is reported by K. P. Lewis of Durham as sung by Dr. Kemp P. Battle of Chapel Hill.
'Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe.' The same stanza reported by Fairley, a student at Duke University. Locale and date not noted.
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