Bluegrass Messengers

Weevily Wheat- Uncle Dave Macon (TN) 1938

[From: 'Songs and Stories of Uncle Dave Macon' Uncle Dave Macon c/o of WSM, Nashville Tennessee 1938.  Reprinted by the Tennessee Folklore Society. This was not recorded, but included in his songbook.

3 stanzas are from "Seventeen" see also the two "Way Down Yonder" versions which are similar.

R. Matteson 2018]


WEEVILY WHEAT- from Uncle Dave Macon printed in his 1938 songbook

'Way down yonder in the maple swamp
The water's deep and muddy
There I spied my pretty little miss
Oh there I spied my honey.

Chorus: Weevily wheat ain't fit to eat
And neither is your barley
Have some flour in half an hour
To bake a cake for Charley.

How old are you my pretty little miss?
How old are you, my honey?
She answered me with a 'Yes sir-ee
'I'll be sixteen next Sunday'

Marry me, my pretty little miss
Oh, marry me my honey
She answered me with a 'Yes, sir-ee,'
'Just go and see my Mammy'

'Way down yonder in Bangor town
Once there lived a Quaker
Every man had to own some land
If not but half an acre

Charley he's a handsome man
Oh, Charley he's a dandy
Charley he's the very man
That sold his hat for brandy