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Waterbound/Way Down in North Carolina
Old-Time Play-Party Song and Breakdown
ARTIST: Fields Ward and the Grayson County Railsplitters
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: Recording Fields Ward March 5, 1929
RECORDING INFO: Waterbound [Me II-AA47] - Ward, Fields
Rt - Stay All Night
Bogtrotters (Bog Trotters). Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward, Folkways FA 2363, LP (1962), trk# B.16 [1937]
Buzzard Rock String Band. I've Got the Blues for My Kentucky Home, June Appal JA 054, LP (1988), trk# B.06
Common Ground. Traveller's Choice, Kicking Mule KM 229, LP (1984), trk# 2b
Cooney, Michael. Still Cooney After All These Years, Front Hall FHR 016, LP (1979), trk# A.06
Down Trodden String Band. Land of the Sky, Downtrodden DTM 010, CD (2007), trk# 3
Flat Mountain Girls. Flat Mountain Girls, Flat Mountain --, CD (2003), trk# 8a
Grayson County Railsplitters. Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol 2., County 534, LP (1980), trk# B.01 [1929] (Way Down in North Carolina)
Iron Mountain String Band (Calif.). Someday We'll Meet Again, Folkways FA 3836, LP (1981), trk# A.07
Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), trk# A.03
Muller, Eric. Muller, Eric & Barbara Koehler / Frailing the 5-String Banjo, Mel Bay, Sof (1973), p32
New Golden Ring. Five Days Singing - Vol. I, Folk Legacy FSI 041, LP (1971), trk# 1
Nittany Ramblers. Devil's Riding Horse. 44th Annual Old Time Fiddler's Convention, Union Grove SS-2, LP (1978), trk# A.04 (Water Bound)
Rosenbaum, Art. Five String Banjo, Kicking Mule KM 108, LP (1974), trk# 12
Rosenbaum, Art. Rosenbaum, Art / Art of the Mountain Banjo, Centerstream, Fol (1981), p28
Rustical Quality String Band. Rustical Quality String Band, Red Dog RD 8312, LP (1983), trk# B.01
Seeger, Mike; and Paul Brown. Way Down in North Carolina, Rounder 0383, CD (1996), trk# 11 (Way Down in North Carolina)
Seeger, Mike. Mike Seeger, Vanguard VRS-9150, LP (1964), trk# B.01
Siegel, Peter. Old-Time Banjo Project, Elektra EKL 7276, LP (1964), trk# 6
Silberberg, Gene. Silberberg, Gene (ed.) / Complete Fiddle Tunes I Either Did or Did Not., Silberberg, Fol (2005), p206 (Water Bound)
Smith, Ralph Lee. Dulcimer. Old Time and Traditional Music, Skyline DD-102, LP (1975), trk# 13
Traum, Happy. Traum, Happy (ed.) / Flat-Pick Country Guitar, Oak, Sof (1973), p 82
Ward, Fields; and his Buck Mountain Band. Early Country Music. Vol. 1, Historical HLP 8001, LP (197?), trk# A.01 [1929/03] (Way Down in North Carolina)
Webb, Bob; and Craig Edwards. Cluck Old Hen, Richmond Webb RWA 4303, CD (2004), trk# 4
OTHER NAMES: Waterbound; Down in North Carolina
RELATED TO: Boat's Up the River
SOURCES: Folk Index; Kuntz
NOTES: Waterbound, a play-party song from Grayson Co. Virginia, appears to come directly from Field's Ward's 1929 recording titled "Way Down in North Carolina." The relationship with "Going Up the River" by Roscoe Holcomb is questionable.
BOAT'S UP THE RIVER (Roscoe Holcomb)
The boat's up the river and it won't come down,
Then I believe to my soul, Lord, that I'm waterbound.
If the river was whiskey and I was a duck,
Lord, I'd dive to the bottom and I'd never come up.
Holcomb's song seems to be related to the the African-American songs that are part of the Alabama Bound family. Here are two verses from Newman I. White, "American Negro Folk Songs," collected in 1915, sung on Tennessee River boats (only fragments collected):
The boat's up the river and she won't come down,
I believe to my soul she must be water bound.
The boat's up the river and she won't come down,
One long-lonesome-blow and she won't come down.
Holcomb and Ola Belle Reed's version are very similar:
Boat's Up The River (Ola Belle Reed)
Boat's up the river won't come down
tell by the way she's comin', Alabamy bound.
Alabamy bound, boys, Alabamy bound
Tell by the way she's comin', Alabamy bound.
Closer in form to "Waterbound/Way Down in North Carolina" are the similar "Big Boat's Up the River" song recorded by Harry Belafonte and Peter Paul and Mary.
Big boat up the river and she can't come down
Big boat up the river and she can't come down
Big boat up the river and she can't come down
Big boat up the river and she can't come down
This appears in the Song Notes of the Old Town School of Folk Music: "Waterbound” is a play-party song from Grayson County, Virginia, that has since become a favorite of fiddlers and banjo pickers throughout the country. The verses relate to the idea of a mountain frolic that goes until morning because the creek bed road has washed out. “Waterbound” was recorded in 1938 by the famous Bogtrotters Band of Galax who undoubtedly spread the song about. The “B” part of the instrumental version suggests that the tune may hark back to the well-known “Buffalo Gals.”
These notes and the following notes from Kuntz in the Fiddler's Companion seem to ignore Fields Ward's recording in 1929 which is essentially the version sung today.
Here are the notes from Kuntz: WATERBOUND. AKA and see “Stay All Night,” "Way Down in North Carolina." Old‑Time, Song/ piece. USA, Virginia. A Major. Standard. AB (Silberber): AABB (Kuntz). This piece is originally from Roscoe Holcomb, though the Bogtrotters also recorded an early version of the song.
Lyrics from Art Rosenbaum [Kuntz]:
Chickens crowin' in the old plowed field, (x3)
Down in North Carolina.
Waterbound and I can't go home, (x3)
I have to stay till morning.
Bill and Charlie lets go home, (x3)
Before the water rises.
The water's up and I can't get across, (x3)
I'll ride the old white horse.
The old man's mad but I don't care, (x3)
Just so I get his daughter.
If he don't give her up I'm a‑gonna run away, (x3)
Down in North Carolina.
Waterbound and I can't go home, (x3)
Down in North Carolina.
Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 315‑316. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 165. Carryon Records 005, "The Renegades" (1993). County 534, Fields Ward‑ "Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol. II" (various artists). Kicking Mule 203, Art Rosenbaum‑ "The Art of the Mountain Banjo." Rounder CD 0383, Mike Seegar and Paul Brown - “Down in North Carolina” (appears as “Way Down in North Carolina”).
Way Down in North Carolina- Fields Ward known as the Grayson County Railsplitters with Ernest Stoneman- guitar and Eck Dunford- fiddle. 1929
Fiddle (Eck Dunford)
Chicken's crowing in the old ploughin' field,
Chicken's crowing in the old ploughin' field,
Chicken's crowing in the old ploughin' field,
Way down in North *Carolina.
Fiddle
Get outside and let's go home,
Get outside and let's go home,
Get outside and let's go home,
Before the water rises.
Fiddle
Waterbound, and I can't go home,
Waterbound, and I can't go home,
Waterbound, and I can't go home,
Way down in North Carolina.
Fiddle
Her old man's mad, and I don't care,
Her old man's mad, and I don't care,
Her old man's mad, and I don't care,
Long as I get his daughter.
Fiddle
If you don't give her up we're gonna run away
If you don't give her up we're gonna run away
If you don't give her up we're gonna run away
And go to North Carolina.
Fiddle
*pronounced: Caroliner
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