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Governor Al Smith for President/White House Blues/Mister McKinley
Old-Time Song and breakdown
ARTIST: Governor Al Smith for President Carolina Night Hawks; Sung to the tune of "Whitehouse Blues"
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: Bascom Lamar Lunsford titled it "Zolgotz"; he heard Willard Randolph sing it in about 1923. First recorded in 1926 by Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "White House Blues" (Columbia 15099D, 1926; on AAFM1, CPoole01, CPoole05)
RECORDING INFO: Allen, L. G. `Pug'. Appalachia, The Old Traditions, Home Made Music LP-001, LP (1982), cut# 1b (McKinley); Alterman, Ned; and Richie Mintz. Bluegrass Bass, Oak, sof (1977), p59 (Whitehouse Blues); Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Folk Songs of our Land, Columbia CL 1830, LP, cut# 12 (McKinley's Gone); Greenbriar Boys. Ragged But Right, Vanguard VSD 79159, LP (1974), cut# 3 (McKinley); Harper, Roy. It's a Long Way Back, Old Homestead OHS 80094, Cas (1989), cut#B.05; Mainer, Wade. From the Maple on the Hill, Old Homestead OHTRS 4000, LP (1976), cut#D.04 (McKinley); Monroe, Charlie; & the Kentucky Pardners. Charlie Monroe on the Noonday Jamboree - 1944, County 538, LP (1974), cut# 17; Moody, Clyde. White House Blues, Rebel REB-1672, LP (1989), cut# 8; Muleskinner. Muleskinner, RidgeRunner RRR 0016, LP (1978), cut# 5 (Whitehouse Blues); Neaves, Glen; and the Grayson County Boys. 28th Annual Galax Old Fiddlers Convention. Galax, Virginia 1963, Kanawha 302, LP (1963), cut# 10 (Whitehouse Blues); New Lost City Ramblers. Sing Songs of the New Lost City Ramblers, Aravel AB-1005, LP, cut# 18; New Lost City Ramblers. Songs of the Depression, Folkways FH 5264, LP (1959), cut#A.04; New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p228; Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Anthology of American Folk Music, Smithsonian/Folkways SFW 40090, CD( (1997), cut# 20; Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Old Time Songs, County 505, LP (196?), cut# 1; Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Roots N' Blues - The Retrospective (1925-50), Columbia Legacy 47911/47912-15, Cas (1992), cut#1.01 (Whitehouse Blues); Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Ballads and Breakdowns of the Golden Era, Columbia CS 9660, LP (196?), cut#A.01 (Whitehouse Blues); Reno, Don; Bill Harrell and the Tenn. Cutups. Don Reno and Bill Harrell with the Tennesse Cutups, Rural Rhythm RR 171, LP (196?), cut# 15 (Whitehouse Blues); Roundtown Boys. Deadheads and Suckers, Swallow 2001, LP (1978), cut#A.07; Snow, Kilby. More Goodies from the Hills, Union Grove SS-3, LP (1969), cut# 8; Southern Mountain Melody Boys. Tribute to the Appalachian String Band Music Festival, Chubby Dragon CS 1001, Cas (199?), cut#B.08; Stoneman's Dixie Mountaineers. Ernest V. Stoneman & his Dixie Mountaineers. 1927-28, Historical HLP-8004, LP (196?), cut# 4 (Unlucky Road to Washington); Watson, Doc. Essential Doc Watson, Vanguard VCD 45/46, CD (1986), cut#24 (Whitehouse Blues); Watson, Doc; and Family. Treasures Untold, Vanguard CV 77001, Cas (1991), cut# 9; West, Hedy; and Bill Clifton. Getting Folk Out of the Country, Bear Family BF 15008, LP (198?), cut# 3 (Whitehouse Blues); Moody, Clyde. White House Blues, Rebel REB-1672, LP (1989), cut# 15; Warde Ford, "Buffalo, Buffalo (Death of McKinley)" (AFS 4198 B3, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell); Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, "Whitehouse Blues" (Decca 29141, 1954); Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "White House Blues" (Columbia 15099D, 1926; on AAFM1, CPoole01, CPoole05); Riley Puckett, "McKinley" (Columbia 15448-D, 1929); Swing Billies, "From Buffalo to Washington" (Bluebird B-7121, 1937)
RECORDING INFO Solid Gone: Cool, Blackie. Back Memories, Augusta Heritage AHR 002, LP (1984), trk# 3; Rush, Tom. Tom Rush, Elektra EKS-7288, LP (1965), trk# 8; Watson, Doc and Merle. Down South, Sugar Hill SH-3742, LP (1984), trk# 7;
RECORDING INFO Cannon Ball Blues: Berkeley, Roy. Roy Berkeley with Tim Woodbridge, Green Linnet SIF 1007, LP (1977), trk# A.01 (Cannonball); Carter, A. P.. Sing Out! Reprints, Sing Out, Sof (196?), 11, p49 [1930/05/24?] (Cannonball) Carter Family. Cohen, Norm (ed.) / Long Steel Rail. The Railroad in American Folksong, Univ. of Illinois, Bk (1981), p414 [1935/05/10]; Carter Family. Country & Western Classics, Time-Life Records TLCW-06, LP (1982), trk# 3.01 [1935/05/10]; Clifton, Bill. Carter Family Album, London SLH101, Cas (1990/1961), trk# 4; Greenhill, Mitch. Shepherd of the Highway, Prestige PR 7438, LP (1966), trk# 9; New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p116 (Cannonball); Phillips, U. Utah. Good Though, Philo 1004, LP (1973), trk# A.01 (Cannonball Blues); Riddle, Lesley (Esley). Step by Step, Rounder 0299C, Cas (1993), trk# 13 [1970ca] (Cannon Ball) - Guthrie, Woody/Traditional (Hobo Blues); Houston, Cisco. I Ain't Got No Home, Vanguard VRS 9107, LP (1962?), trk# 14 (Hobo Blues)
RELATED TO: Delia; That Crazy War; The Cannonball (Solid Gone); Cannonball Blues; Battleship of Maine; Pig in a Pen;
OTHER NAMES: Mr. McKinley; Road to Washington; Governor Al Smith for President; Cannon Ball Blues; Zolgotz (Czolgosz by Lunsford-1949 Library of Congress)
SOURCES: Anthology of American Folk Music, Oak, Sof (1973), p 56; Harvey, Roy. Old-Time Country Guitar, Oak, Sof (1976), p63 Lomax-FSNA 143, "Mister MacKinley" (sic) (1 text, 1 tune); Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 56 "White House Blues" (1 text, 1 tune); Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 228 "White House Blues" (1 text, 1 tune); Rorrer, p. 73, "White House Blues" (1 text); Silber-FSWB, p. 287, "White House Blues" (1 text); DT, WHITHOU*; Roud #787
NOTES: Typical verses: "McKinley hollered, McKinley squalled; The doc says, 'McKinley, I can't find the ball.'" Describing McKinley's assassination by Zolgotz, his poor medical treatment, and his funeral. MacKinley is usually said to be "bound to die."
Charlie Poole’s 1926 version is the classic version of this song. Bascom Lamar Lunsford titled it "Czolgosz”; he heard Willard Randolph sing it in about 1923. “McKinley had been unpopular among farmers, most of whom had supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan, and his passing was not much mourned among country people -- thus the jaunty, humorous tone of this song.” TBI
HISTORICAL NOTES:
Sept 6, 1901 - President William McKinley is shaking hands at an exhibition when
he is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who felt McKinley was receiving too much
attention. McKinley's wounds should not have been serious, but his inept doctor
decided to operate immediately rather than wait for a specialist.
Sept 14, 1901 - Death of McKinley (due more to operative trauma than to his wounds).
Theodore Roosevelt becomes President.
There are many versions and parodies of White House Blues: there is one collected in Kentucky in the 1930s, talking about Herbert Hoover (included in NLCR Songbook from Bob Baker), a second recorded by country-and-western singer Tom T. Hall in the 1970s, talking about Richard Nixon. There is a recent parody with lyrics about Bill Clinton. The Carolina Nighthawks also recorded a "Governor Al Smith for President."
The origin of “White House Blues” is found in the murder ballad “One Mo’ Rounder Gone” also known as the popular song “Delia.” “One Mo’ Rounder Gone” was collected by Howard Odum between 1906-1908 and appeared in print in the JOAFL in 1911. The song can be traced back to around 1900 when the murder of Delia Green took place in Savannah, Georgia. The lyrics and form are the same as “White House Blues” and was surely a song Charlie Poole must have heard in his travels. Here is a verse from Odum’s 1911 printed version in the JOAFL:
Rubber-tired buggy, double-seated hack,
Well, it carried po' Delia to graveyard, failed to bring her back,
Lawdy, one mo' rounder gone.
"Delia Green, age 14, was shot and killed by Moses 'Coony' Houston, age 15 in the Yamacraw section of Savannah at about 11:30 PM on Christmas Eve, 1900. She died Christmas day in her bed at home. Delia and Coony had been 'more or less intimate' (newspaper) for several months and Coony said something to the effect that he would or wouldn't let her do this or that. Delia reacted with strong words to the effect that he had no control over her whatever. He then shot her.” John Garst [For more info see: Delia]
“Delia" gained national prominence as "Delia's Gone" after the Bahaman Blind Blake (Blake Alphonso Higgs) recorded it in the 1950s. Almost every pop group of the "great folk scare" recorded it. Further, it crossed over into country and rock. Johnny Cash recorded it twice, once in about 1960 and once in 1993. Bob Dylan recorded it in 1992. In field recordings, it goes well back into the '20s and '30s, and it was recorded by jazz band leader Jimmy Gordon at that time. In published collections, you find versions in the collections of Odum and Johnson (1925 and earlier) and White (1928). It is no doubt older, dating to about 1900. White's informant said he learned it between 1900 and 1904.
"Delia" also known as "Little Delia," "Delia Gone," "Delia's Gone," "One More Rounder Gone," "All My Friends Have Gone," "All I Have Is Gone," "All I Got Done Gone," "All I Done Got Done Gone," "Cooney Killed Delia," "Cooney Shot Delia," "Tony and Delia," and possibly "Tony Killed Delia" or "Tony Shot Delia) is often associated with the melody and lyrics in the “Frankie and Johnny” murder ballad. Reese DuPree’s 1924 recording of "One More Rounder Gone," on Okeh 8127 is sung to a similar melody to Frankie and Johnny. Some versions share lyrics and both emerged in the early 1900’s. The melody of Frankie and Johnny was popular in 1904 and in 1912 the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields collaborated on a fairly authentic version of “Frankie and Johnny” as we know the song today. The versions of “Delia/One Mo’ Rounder Gone” that use the Frankie and Johnny melody are different songs with similar lyrics.
The "One More Rounder Gone" tag which is used as the last line of the three line song probably predates the origin of both “Delia” and ‘White House Blues,” both murders taking place within a year of each other around 1900.
One main group of related songs that use the same melody as White House Blues are the Cannonball Blues/Solid Gone songs. The Carter family recorded Cannonball Blues (Also known as “The Cannonball”) which uses the melody of "White House Blues" in 1930 and again in 1935. They had heard the song performed by an itinerant singer/guitarist Lesley Riddle (Born: June 13, 1905, Burnsville, NC Died: July 13, 1980, NC). “In Kingsport, Tennessee in 1928, Riddle met A.P. Carter, founding member of the Carter Family country band. Carter learned the song "Cannonball" from Riddle, and Riddle began accompanying Carter on his "song-collecting" trips throughout the Appalachian region. Carter would write down lyrics he liked, and it was Riddle's job to remember the music. Maybelle Carter, A.P.'s wife and guitarist for the band, is noted as having learned much in the way of guitar technique from Mr. Riddle.”
This version also has an instrumental break with a different melody. In another verse the lyrics also include the “She’s gone, she’s solid gone.” Their version is essentially what we call the song, “Solid Gone” by Doc Watson or “She’s/He’s Solid Gone.” Recorded as "The Cannonball" by Kilby Snow (on KSnow1), this song was from Lesley Riddle in the 1930’s and has been recorded by a number of artist and still remains popular today. There are several other blues titled “Cannonball Blues” by Frank Hutchinson, Furry Lewis and Jelly Roll Morton which are all different songs.
Another version of White House Blues is the song about Herbert Hoover. Singer says Hoover let the country go to ruin; now Roosevelt's "doing his best," but times are still hard -- long hours for poor wages (if they're working at all), bad clothes, poor food. The refrain says of Hoover, "Now he's gone, I'm glad he's gone." It was recorded by New Lost City Ramblers as "White House Blues" (on NLCR09) (on NLCR12) and appears in their songbook.
Here are the lyrics to Governor Al Smith from Carolina Night Hawks:
Governor Al Smith for President- Carolina Night Hawks
Sung to the tune of "Whitehouse Blues"
See notes below:
(Fiddle)
Down in the White House, preparing for his rest
Al and his buddies are doing their best
He'll win, bound to win
Hoover in the northland he's firing his guns;
Smith in Dixie is winning everyone.
Hard to beat, he's hard to beat.
(Fiddle)
You hear people shouting, "No booze!" they say,
It's running free now, you can get it any day,
From bootleggers and killers too
The sugar that they make now will make you bounce around
The brandy too will put you flat on the ground
Bad stuff, hard to drink
(Fiddle)
I won't be long now 'till she will be free
Then they'll make corn liquor as pure as can be
Free from lye, and sugar too.
When booze went out, we didn't think then
That we would ever get together back again
She's coming back, back again.
(Fiddle)
Let's nominate Al Smith, nominate I say
That he'll find it through on election day
Yes through, all the way.
He made a good governor you'll have to agree
He'll make a good president as good as can be
Yes he will, yes he will.
(Fiddle)
Let's nominate Al Smith, nominate I say
That he'll find it through on election day
Yes through, all the way.
NOTES: The same day marked the recording debut of a third band from Ashe County known as the Carolina Night Hawks, who arrived in Atlanta prepared with an original song promoting the Candidacy of New York governor Al Smith in the upcoming 1928 presidential election. Smith was the leading contender for the Democratic nomination, and advocated the repeal of Prohibition. The song, entitled simply Governor Al Smith for President, was penned by the group's banjoist Donald Thompson, and sung in a high tenor by mandolinist Ted Bare to the tune of White House Blues. Providing the instrumental lead was 15-year-old Howard Miller on fiddle, backed on guitar by his father, Charles Miller. Charles, born in 1887 along Stagg Creek near Comet, North Carolina, had learned to play fiddle from his father, Monroe Miller. By the mid-1920s, the Millers had teamed with Ted Bare, playing for box suppers and square dances throughout the Lost Provinces. In 1927 they were joined by Donald Thompson, a school teacher and talented songwriter from Laurel Springs, who played both fiddle and banjo.
Of the four songs recorded by the Night Hawks, only Thompson's composition was issued by Columbia, released in time to exploit Al Smith's wave of popularity.
Donald Thompson later recalled the recording session: We went in a Buick and they paid all expenses. We got to Atlanta and went right to the studio building. We didn't know anything about recording, never even seen a studio. A fellow meet us and took us to a room and said we could start practicing, so we did. Finally the guy came back and took us into the studio. There was a whole jug of whiskey sitting there, and he said, "Do you all want a nip?" Well, Ted took a nip, but the rest of us didn't. Ted took a little but not enough to hurt him. Then Ted, Howard, and Mr. Miller got up close to the microphone, and they put me about eight feet behind. That banjo was loud, you know. Then they said, "Now you watch the light. When the light comes on, you start." So we watched, and when it came on we just started and went straight on through and never made an error. We never had to repeat a single song. I wasn't a bit nervous when we went in there, and the rest weren't either. Old Ted just went right into it! After we got back home, they sent us checks. They paid us around $100 apiece and expenses and all that. We had to eat, you know. They paid that too. We had a good time! I was a Democrat then, I'm a Democrat now! Dyed in the wool! I was hoping our record would help Al Smith, but I don't think it ever got far enough along to help him much. He got defeated. Even so, I think we did a pretty good job on our record. When we finished recording, they played it back to us, and it sounded mighty good.
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