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Walk Along John/Come Along John
Old-Time Play-Party song and Minstrel Tune;
ARTIST: Virginia Serenaders (Music at Levy)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1834
RECORDING INFO: Walk Along John [Me IV-D11] (fiddle)
Rt - Lost John
At - Johnny Walk Along with Your Paper Collar On
Rm - Stoney Point
Uf - Wild Horse/Horses
Carlin, Bob. Banging and Sawing, Rounder 0197, CD (1996/1985), trk# 2 [1982-85]
Collins, W. S.. Thede, Marion (ed.) / The Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p135b [1930s]
Driver, Bill (William). Christeson, R. P. (ed.) / Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol 1, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1973), #128 [1950/07]
Galbraith, Art. Simple Pleasures; Old-Time Fiddling from the Ozarks, Rounder 0157, LP (198?), trk# 6
Hall, Kenny. Gray, Vykki M,; and Kenny Hall / Kenny Hall's Music Book, Mel Bay, Sof (1999), p 42
Hunt, Bud. Music of the Ozarks, Heritage (Galax) 060, LP (1985), trk# B.02
Stoneking, Fred. Saddle Old Spike. Fiddle Music From Missouri, Rounder 0381, CD (1996), trk# 21
Stoneking, Lee R.. Missouri Old Time Fiddling, Stoneking, LP (197?), trk# B.05
Thomas, Tony. Old Style Texas and Oklahoma Fiddling, Takoma A 1013, LP (195?), trk# 6
Wood, Emmanuel; and Family. I'm Old But I'm Awfully Tough, MFFA 1001, LP (1977), trk# 5
Walk Along John (Minstrel) - Carter, J. P./Stevens, Bill
North Folk Rounders. Gee Ain't It Grand, Fretless 140, LP (1979), trk# b.08
Walk Along John (Play-Party)
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p134
Campbell, Booth. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume II, Songs of the South and ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p384/#296 [1942/02/05]
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-11
SOURCES: Ozark Fiddle Music; Folk Index; Kuntz
NOTES: Kuntz gives four separte listings for this song which originated as a minstrel piec by the Virginia Serenaders in 1843. The lyrics are also found in Old Dan Tucker and Wiki claims that "Walk Along John" was used as a basis for Old Dan Tucker which isn't likely in my opinion since Dan Tucker was written at least ten years earlier.
The song is found as a play-party song in Indiana in 1919:
THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA; A Collection of Folk-Songs and Games with Descriptive Introduction, and Correlating Notes BY LEAH JACKSON WOLFORD, M. A. PUBLISHED BY THEINDIANA HISTORICAL COMMISSION INDIANAPOLIS 1916
100. Walk Along John.
Mrs. A. T. Beckett, Versailles, Incl.
1. Walk along John, the fifer's son,
Ain't you mighty glad your day's work's done?
Walk along John, the fifer's son,
Aint you mighty glad your day's work's done?
*Refrain: O 'twill never do to give it up, Old Uncle Ben,
It will never do to give it up so,
O 'twill never do to give it up, Old Uncle Ben,
It will never do to give it up so.
2. Old Mr. Coon, you come too soon,
The girls won't be ready till tomorrow afternoon,
Old Mr. Coon, you come too soon,
The girls won't be ready till tomorrow afternoon.
*As this song was given me it had a change of key before the refrain as indicated
above, but I am of the opinion that the original kept the same key throughout.
It's evolved or been titled “Johnny Walk Along with Your Paper Collar On” and found under that title as a fiddle tune with the accompanying lyrics:
Johnny walk along with your paper collar on,
Ain't you mighty glad your day's work's done?
Here are listings by Kuntz:
COME ALONG JOHN. AKA and see “Walk Along John [1].” American, Breakdown. USA, Arizona. G Major. Standard tuning. AAB. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 89, pg. 32.
S: Viola “Mom” Ruth – Pioneer Western Folk Tunes (1948)
WALK ALONG JOHN- AKA and see “Come Along John,” "Johnny Walk Along With Your Paper Collar On." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma. G Major. Standard tuning. AAB (Thede): AABB (Christeson, Phillips). The regionally very popular "Walk Along John" appears to be a Mid‑West variant of "Ston(e)y Point [1]." It was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from the playing of Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's, and it was recorded in the 78 RPM era by Luke Highnight’s Ozark Strutters. “Walk Along John” is one of the ‘100 essential Missouri fiddle tunes’ according to Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden, although each fiddler seems to have his own variant. Sources for notated versions: African American fiddler Bill Driver (Miller County, Missouri) [Christeson]; W.S. Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Tony Thomas and Bruce Molsky with Bob Carlin [Phillips]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 91. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 251 (two versions). Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 135. Heritage 060, Bud Hunt ‑ "Music of the Ozarks" (Brandywine, 1984). Rounder 0157, Art Galbraith (Springfield, Mo.) ‑ "Simple Pleasures." Rounder 0197, Bob Carlin ‑ "Banging and Sawing" (1985. Learned from Tom Fuller {Okla.} via Brad Leftwich).
The minstrel song lyrics to Walk Along John are typical of those of the early minstrel show. They are largely nonsense about a black man who boasts about his exploits. Here's a verse and chorus from the Virginia Serenaders:
VERSE: All the way from ole Carolina,
For to see my ole Aunt Dinah,
Says I, "Ole lady how's de goose?"
De jaybird jump on de Martin's roost.
CHORUS: Come along John, Come along John,
Come along John, de fifer's son,
Ain't you might glad dat your day's work done.
WALK ALONG JOHN (edited) broadside- no author or date
Paul, Printer, 18, Great St. Andrew Street, 7 Dials.
Johnny Run-a-long was a bery lazy man,
He always run away from work whenever that he can,
De boss man run after him and caught him by the collar,
No good to shake him because he would'nt hollar.
CHORUS: Walk along John, walk along John
Walk along john the piper's son,
Aint you mighty glad your day's work's done.
O dis ole mourner he grew pale.
And he floated down de riber wid his ole coat tail,
He said to me widout my desire,
De water-butt has busted and set de house on fire.
Dis ole mourner he said he woud'nt steal,
But I caught him one night in my corn field,
I ask him for my corn & he swore I was a liar,
He struck a congreve and set the field on fire.
Oh dis ole mourner he went to de riber
And dat was the last ob dat injun gibber,
He might have been saved I'm told no doubt,
For he was to lazy to pull himself out.
The instrumental and play-party songs may have evolved from Shock Along John, which is an old African-American corn shucking song, with simply "shock along John" repeated as the lyrics.
Meade gives the music by Henry Russell 1846 and lists two instrumental versions; on by Luke Highnight and his Ozark Srutters (1928) and the other by Bob Miller and His Hinky Dinkers (1929).
Ozark Fiddle Music has an instrumental version by Lee Stoneking, a Missouri fiddler, with extensive notes.
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