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Hunt the Buffalo/Shoot The Buffalo/Banks of Pleasant Ohio/
Old-Time, Breakdown and Song. USA; Mississippi; Kansas; Arkansas, Missouri.
ARTIST: From Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore, Botkin
CATEGORY: Fiddle Tunes
DATE: Early 1800s; In R. E. Banta book, The Ohio, the song is dated 1812-1818; "The Banks of Ohio" appeared in print in The Forget-me-not Songster, ca. 1840; a complete version appears in George Stuyvesant Jackson's Early Songs.
Collected in 1909 by Perrow; First recorded by The Swamp Roosters in 1930 but was never released.
RECORDING INFO: Shoot the/that Buffalo [Me II-A28]
Lomax, J. A. & A. Lomax / American Ballads and Folk Songs, MacMillan, Bk (1934), p296
Ford, Ira W. / Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1965/1940), p244
Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Folk Song USA, Signet, Sof (1966/1947), # 32
Fife, Austin E. & Alta S. / Cowboy and Western Songs, Bramhall House, Bk (1982/1969), p272/# 98A
Fife, Austin E. & Alta S. / Cowboy and Western Songs, Bramhall House, Bk (1982/1969), p274/# 98B-C
Brand, Oscar. Absolute Nonsense, Riverside RLP 12-825, LP (195?), trk# A.09
Breeden, A. W. (Professor). Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p308/#523C [1935/04/12]
Cotten, Elizabeth. Shake Sugaree, Volume 2, Folkways FTS 31001, LP (196?), trk# 14
Drake, Rod. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p150 [1952]
Fox, Martin. New River Jam: One, Mountain 308, LP (1976), trk# 14
Hartley, Savannah. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p309/#523F [1941/10/22]
Hughes, Ella. Skip to My Lou, Pine Breeze 004, LP (1977), trk# B.03 [1975]
Jones, Mrs. W. E.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p307/#523A [1928/11/05]
Smithers, Rena. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p308/#523D [1934/04/17]
Song Spinners. Johnson, Margaret & Travis (eds) / Early American Songs from ... the Spi, AMP, Fol (1943), # 4
Spradley, Isabel. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p308/#523E [1929/12/14]
Unidentified Singer. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p149 [1930s]
Waddell, Elizabeth. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p308/#523B [1930/06/12]
PRINT REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 523, "Shoot the Buffalo" (2 texts plus 4 excerpts, 1 tune)
Hudson 149, pp. 297-298, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text)
Fuson, p. 165, "Chase the Buffalo" (1 text)
SharpAp 262, "Chase the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 32, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 296-297, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 98, "Shoot the Buffalo" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 96, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 563, "We'll Hunt the Buffalo!" (1 text, 1 tune, with the chorus of "Shoot the Buffalo" and lyrics from "The Lovely Ohio")
RELATED TO: "Banks of the Ohio" "Banks of the Pleasant Ohio"
OTHER NAMES: “Hunting the Buffalo;” "Chase the Buffalo," “Gonna Go Huntin’ for the Buffalo”
SOURCES: Ceolas; Mudcat Café; Mike Seegar plays a version learned from Jimmy Driftwood (John Morris of Timbo, Arkansas), who had the tune from his uncle. They played it in B,EGB tuning. Source for notated version: Barb Zavon (Cincinnati, Ohio) via Helga Sermat (Vancouver, B.C.) [Songer]. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 105. Dorian Discovery DIS-80103, Helicon - "Horizons" (1992. Learned from fiddler Freyda Epstein, Charlottesville, Va.). HPV1, Ramona Jones – “Back Porch Fiddling.” Shanachie 6001, Norman Blake - “Just Gimme Somethin’ I’m Used To” (1991). Time and Strike #7785, Clyde Curley and Oxymorons – “Old Time Mandolin Music.”
NOTES- SHOOT THE BUFFALO: "Shoot the Buffalo" evolved from "The Banks of Ohio" which appeared in print in The Forget-me-not Songster, ca. 1840; a complete version appears in George Stuyvesant Jackson's Early Songs.
“Come all you young men, who have a mind to range,
Into the western country, your station for to change;
For seeking some new pleasure we'll altogether go,
Come along lively lads, and we'll altogether go,
And we'll settle on the banks of the pleasant Ohio...
Girls, if you'll card, knit, and spin, we'll plough, reap, and sow,
And we'll fold you in our arms while the stormy wind doth blow.”
-Excerpt from The Forget-Me-Not Songster
This is not the murder ballad, "On the Banks of the Ohio" which begins, "I asked my love to take a walk,' or the Nightingale Serenaders, "De Banks ob de Ohio" which begins, "We lib on de banks ob de Ohio Tral lal lal la." This song was titled, HUNT THE BUFFALO, OR THE BANKS OF THE PLEASANT OHIO in a broadside from the Civil War period.
Buffalo trails around the Ohio River were responsible for many settlements in Kentucky (Owensboro, Lexington, Louisville and Frankfurt) and Ohio (Cincinnati). According to R. E. Banta in the book, The Ohio, the song is dated back to the 1812-1818 period.
From an early source: A single verse drops in here as a matter of history. It is from one of the songs that was sung at the East at the end of some game where kissing-never to be a lost art-was going on between young people, who later largely became fathers and mothers out here in the Ohio-land.
“Arise, my true love, and present me your hand,
And we’ll march in procession for a far distant land:
Where the girls will card and spin, And the boys will plough and sow,
And we’ll settle on the banks of the pleasant Ohio.”
According to Barrett, this was popular emigrant song from the early 1800s and was especially popular in London. It was also found along the Missouri River in America. It was printed on numerous broadsides (there are six different broadsides of The Buffalo in the Bodleian Library Collection). Rev. S. Baring-Gould collected two versions.
Notes from Kuntz: A Major. Standard tuning. AABB. The melody is apparently based on an old play-party song from the Ozarks, with various titles such as “Shoot the Buffalo” and “Gonna Go Huntin’ for the Buffalo.” Mike Seegar plays a version learned from Jimmy Driftwood (John Morris of Timbo, Arkansas), who had the tune from his uncle. They played it in B,EGB tuning. Source for notated version: Barb Zavon (Cincinnati, Ohio) via Helga Sermat (Vancouver, B.C.) [Songer]. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 105. Dorian Discovery DIS-80103, Helicon - "Horizons" (1992. Learned from fiddler Freyda Epstein, Charlottesville, Va.). HPV1, Ramona Jones – “Back Porch Fiddling.” Shanachie 6001, Norman Blake - “Just Gimme Somethin’ I’m Used To” (1991). Time and Strike #7785, Clyde Curley and Oxymorons – “Old Time Mandolin Music.”
HUNT THE BUFFALO/SHOOT THE BUFFALO from Botkin
HUNT THE BUFFALO From Treasury of Mississippi River Folklore, Botkin
Come all you brisk young fellows, who have a mind to roam,
Unto some foreign country, a long way from home,
Unto some foreign country, a long with me to go,
And we'll settle on the banks of the lovely Ohio.
Chorus: Sweet and shady groves!
Through the wild woods we'll wander and we'll hunt the buffalo,
And we'll hunt the buffalo,
Thro' the wild woods we'll wander and we'll hunt the buffalo!
Come all ye pretty fair maids, and spin us some yarn
To make us some nice clothing, to keep ourselves warm;
For you can knit and sew, my loves, while we do reap and mow
When we settle on the banks of the lovely Ohio.
There are fishes in the river just fitted for our use
There's tall and lofty sugar cane that yields us some juice;
There is all kind of game, my boys, beside the buck and doe,
When we settle on the banks of the lovely Ohio.
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