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Wild Boar/Wild Boar in the Woods/Wild Hog In the Woods/Old Bangum (and his Boar)/Old Bang 'Em/
See Also: Old Bangum
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va., Kentucky;
ARTIST: Sung by Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander at her home in Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, VA. 7.8.79
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes.
DATE: Early recording date 1931 "Wild Hog In The Woods (instrumental)" Lonesome Luke and his Farm Hands.
RECORDING INFO: Abrahams, Roger D. Abrahams, Roger; & George Foss / Anglo-American Folksong Style, Prentice-Hall, Sof (1968), 3.11
Brand, Oscar. Songs Inane Only, Riverside RLP 12-835, LP (1958), trk# B.08
Broghton, Mollie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 55/# 9C [1917/05/10] (Sir Lionel)
Dashiell, Mrs. Langdon. Scarborough, Dorothy (ed.) / A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, AMS, Bk (1966/1937), p192,407 [1930ca] (Ole Bangum)
Dyer-Bennet, Richard. With Young People in Mind, Dyer-Bennet 6, LP (1958), trk# A.02
Gellert, Dan. Young Fogies, Heritage (Galax) 056, LP (198?), trk# 32
Hamner, Clara. Wolfe, Charles K.(ed.) / Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee. George Boswell, Univ. Tennesse, Sof (1997), p 18/# 8 [1953/12/10]
Hayes, Jim;, Jr.. Chase, Richard (ed.) / American Folk Tales and Songs, Dover, sof (1971/1956), p126 [1930-40's]
Hemingway, Adelaide. Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Our Singing Country, MacMillan, Sof (2000/1941), p149 [1939]
Henry, Violet. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 55/# 9D [1917/05/21] (Sir Lionel)
Herring, Merritt. Precious Memories, Herring 31351, CD (199?), trk# 2 (Bangum and the Boar/Bo')
Hicks, Buna. Traditional Music of Beech Mountain, NC, Vol I, Folk Legacy FSA 022, LP (1964), trk# 2 [1961-63] (Sir Lionel)
Hicks, Dee. Five Miles Out of Town: Traditional Music from Cumberla... Vol.2, County 787, LP (1986), trk# 10 [1977-82]
Hicks, Dee. Old Time Herald, Old Time Herald, Ser, 4/8, p43(1995) [?] (Bangum and the Boar/Bo')
Hightower, Mrs. Paul. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey O.(ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwes, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p 29/# 10A [1940s] (Bangum Rode the Riverside)
Loomes, Jon. Fearful Symmetry, Fellside FECD 186, CD (2005), trk# 12 (Wild Boar)
McCurdy, Ed. Ballad Record, Riverside RLP 12-601, LP (1955), trk# A.10
Mitchell, Howie. Howie Mitchell, Folk Legacy FSI 005, LP (1962), trk# B.02
Payne, Frank. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 72/# 7 [1934/05/14]
Pittser, A. H.. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey O.(ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwes, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p 30/# 10B [1940s]
Rice, Mrs. Tom. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 54/# 9A [1916/08/16] (Sir Lionel)
Ritchie, Jean. British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains (Vol. 1), Folkways FA 2301, LP (1961), trk# 9
Seeger, Peggy. Long Harvest. Traditional Ballads in their English, Scots and..., Argo ZDA 69, LP (1967), trk# A.05 (Wild Boar)
Seeger, Peggy. Long Harvest. Traditional Ballads in their English, Scots and..., Argo ZDA 69, LP (1967), trk# A.07 (Ole Bangum)
Smith, Betty; and Chisholm, N. B. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 54/# 9B [1916/09/27] (Sir Lionel)
Smoke Creek. Smoke Creek, Smoke Creek SCC 9714, Cas (1996), trk# 7
Stevenson, Nancy McCuddy. McNeil, W. K. (ed.) / Southern Folk Ballads, Vol 2, August House, Sof (1988), p157 [1953-55] (Ole Bangum)
Stiles, Eddie. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 81/N 13C [1934/06]
Wilson, Ella. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p 77/N 13A [1936/08]
Workman, Nimrod; and Phyllis Boyens. Passing Thru the Garden, June Appal JA 001, LP (1975/1972), trk# B.04 (Quil O' Quay)
RELATED TO: Wild Hog in the Woods (Ballad); Blow Your Horn Hunter; Sir Eglamore
OTHER NAMES: Sir Lionel; Wild Hog in the Woods; Old Bangum; Isaac-a-Bell and Hugh the Graeme; Bold Sir Rylas; Jovial Hunter (of Broomsgrove); Brangywell; Old Bang 'Em; Wild Hog; The Jovial Hunter; Rurey Bain; Bangum and the Bo'; Rackabello
SOURCES: Taylor Kimble (Va.) [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 171. Flying Fish FF-275, "The Blue Flame Stringband" (1982. Learned from Pete Sutherland). Heritage XXXIII, Kimble Family (Va.) - "Visits" (1981). Marimac 9000, Dan Gellert & Shoofly - "Forked Deer" (1986. Learned from Brad Leftwich). Marimac 9036, the Kimble Family - "Carroll County Pioneers." Rounder 0010, The Fuzzy Mountain String Band (1972. Learned from southwestern Va. fiddler Taylor Kimble).
PRINT SOURCES: Child 18, "Sir Lionel" (6 texts)
Bronson 18, "Sir Lionel" (17 versions)
Leather, pp. 203-204, "Brangywell"; p. 204, "Dilly Dove" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #5, 13}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 434-435, "Sir Lionel" (notes plus a partial reprint of Child A)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 60-61, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #17}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 226-229, "Sir Lionel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #17}
Belden, pp. 29-31, "Sir Lionel" (2 texts, 1 tune, plus fragments of 1 stanza and 1 line respectively) {Bronson's #7}
Randolph 7, "Lord Bangum" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Davis-Ballads 8, "Sir Lionel" (7 texts, 4 tunes entitled "Bangum and the Boar," "Old Bang'em," "Ole Bangim," "Sir Lionel") {Bronson's #12, #10, #8, #15}
Davis-More 10, pp. 72-78, "Sir Lionel" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 191-191, "Sir Lionel" (1 text reprinted from Scarborough-NegroFS, and found also in Davis and Scarborough-NegroFS, with local title "Old Bangum"; 1 tune on p. 407) {Bronson's #8}
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 51-52, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune, the same as that in Scarborough-SongCatcher) {Bronson's #8}
SharpAp 9 "Sir Lionel" (4 fragments, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #16, #15, #11, #9}
Ritchie-Southern, p. 85, "Bangum Rid by the Riverside" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 100-103, "Sir Lionel" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 157-159, "Ole Banghum" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 19, "The Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrove" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 272, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson't #8}
Niles 13, "Sir Lionel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Chase, pp. 126-127, "Old Bangum and the Boar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, p. 60, "Old Bangum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 217, "Old Bangum" (1 text)
DT 18, JOVHUNTR* OLBANGUM*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 24, #2 (1975), p, 5, "Quil O'Quay" (1 short text, 1 tune, from the singing of Nimrod Workman)
NOTES: "Wild Hog in the Woods" is a ballad and a fiddle and instrumental tune. According to Alan Jabbour the instrumental tunes are based on the ballad. Others (Ballad Index notes) see little relationship between the ballad and instrumental tune. IMHO there is a relationship and a old-time/bluegrass jams the tune is played as instrumental breaks between the verses.
Notes ballad Index: Many versions of this song have been stripped down to descriptions of the hunt and the fight. Others have subplots concerning Sir Lionel's brothers.
The versions of this called "Wild Hog in the Woods" should not be confused with the fiddle tune of the same name, which is unrelated to any tune I've ever heard with the ballad. Great tune, though - PJS
Flanders, in her notes in "Ancient Ballads," makes the astonishing (for her) admission of how different the common version of this is from the alleged roots: "If 'Old Bangum' can be considered as a direct descendant of the romance Sir Eglamour of Artois, it is surely a classic example of degeneration through oral tradition.... Although the Child 'Sir Lionel' is probably related to the medieval romance, scholars have just as probably been over-enthusiastic in relating 'Old Bangum' songs too closely to 'Sir Lionel.' As Belden, 29, suggests, a song-book or music hall rewriting may well lie between the two."
She adds, "The 'Old Bangum' texts are the only American forms of Child 18. They are known in... England as well, and are characterized by a nonsense refrain which Alfred Williams... notes is meant to sound like a bugle." - RBW
Notes Kuntz: A Dorian (Phillips): D Dorian (Fuzzy Mtn. String Band). AEAE or GDGD (Taylor Kimble). One part. Alan Jabbour says (regarding some instrumental versions) the tune is "almost certainly" an instrumental adaptation of the tune used in the Appalachians for the ballad "Bangum and the Boar" (Child 18) or "Old Bangum." There are words collected by Henry Galssie in 1962 from Mrs. Ruby Bowman Plemmons (Washington, D.C.), who learned them from her mother who lived in Laurel Fork, southwestern Va. Another version was recorded for the Library of Congress from Dan Tate. Guthrie Meade (1980) points out the tune's high part is the same as the tune "Fun's All Over."
Scarborough: Professor Kittredge speaks of this song in a discussion in the Journal of American Folk-lore. Mrs. Case says: "Both General Taylor and President Madison were great-great-grandchildren of James Taylor, who came from Carlisle, England, to Orange County, Virginia, in 1638, and both were hushed to sleep by their Negro mammies with the strains of Bangum and the Boar.
Mike Yeats: Wild Hog in the Woods is an Old World ballad which has now, to all intent and purpose, disappeared from the lips of European singers (although it was collected in the UK from six singers between 1850 and 1905), but which has nevertheless survived quite well in North America (there are 4 versions in Sharp's Appalachian collection). Professor Child, who called it Sir Lionel, linked it to the Medieval romance of Sir Eglamour of Artois, as well as to various Scandinavian ballads of the 16th century.
The Kimble Family - who can be heard singing on Volume 2 of this set - recorded an instrumental version of Wild Hog in the Woods (Marimac cassette 9036 and County LP 746).
Lyrics to Wild Hog in The Woods/Old Bangum:
Wild Hog in the Woods (Child 18, Roud 29)
(Sung by Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander at her home in Meadows of Dan, Patrick County, VA. 7.8.79) Spoken: I'll sing There is a Wild Hog in the Woods as my father used to sing it.
There is a wild hog in the woods,
Diddle-o-down, diddle-o-day.
There is a wild hog in the woods,
Diddle-o.
There is a wild hog in the woods,
Kills a man and drinks his blood.
Cam-o-kay, cut him down, kill him if you can.
I wish I could that wild hog see,
And see if he'd take a fight with me.
There he comes through yonders marsh,
He splits his way through oak and ash.
Bangum drew his wooden knife,
To rob that wild hog of his life.
They fought for/four hours of the day,
At length that wild hog stole away.
They followed that wild hog to his den,
And there found the bones of a thousand men.
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