Tag Archives: folk music

She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain

Nationality: American
Age: 76
Occupation: Teacher
Performance Date: 4/29
Primary Language: English

“She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain,

She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes,

Oh we’ll all go out to meet her when she comes,

Oh we’ll all go out to meet her when she comes,

Oh we’ll all go out to meet her,

Yes, we’ll all go out to meet her,

Oh we’ll all go out to meet her when she comes, hi Babe! (*makes waving motion*)

We’ll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes,

We’ll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes,

We’ll all have chicken and dumplings,

We’ll all have chicken and dumplings,

We’ll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes, Yum-yum! (*rubs stomach*)

We’ll have to sleep with Grandma when she comes,

We’ll have to sleep with Grandma when she comes,

We’ll have to sleep with Grandma,

We’ll have to sleep with Grandma,

We’ll have to sleep with Grandma when she comes, Scoot over!” (*makes nudging motion*)

 

“I probably learned this one from my Dad. It was another one we would always sing in the car, because you can keep adding onto it. We would sang the 10 lines we knew, and then we would take turns making up verses. Our favorites were always the ones with funny gestures!”

As a folk song, this piece both hearkens from a certain point in history, but is fluid enough to change over time (while still retaining enough of the original structure to be recognizable. With this particular song, it seems that much of the joy contained within in the song is focused on the performance of the piece. Though the roots of this song can be traced back to an African-American spiritual about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, it seems to have changed to the point where that is no longer an integral part of the songs meaning. Rather, the song has morphed into what seems to be (at least in the instance) a celebration of family, and the act of family coming together. This can be shown both in the particular lyrics cited above, and it’s typical performance within a family setting.

My Grandma (the informant) stated that her favorite part of the song was the fact that she and her family could easily make up new lines to add onto the song once all the known lines were sung. This focus on collective performance and alteration could also be seen as a family-centric ideal. Singing such a song within the family environment could be viewed as a way to bolster both familial closeness and participation (especially important in my Grandma’s situation; she had 7 siblings).

 

For another form of this song:

Seeger, Pete. American Folk, Game & Activity Songs for Children. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2000.

I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

Nationality: American
Age: 76
Occupation: Teacher
Performance Date: 4/29
Primary Language: English

“I’ve been working on the railroad,

all the live-long day,

I’ve been working on the railroad,

just to pass the time away,

Can’t you hear the whistle blowin’”

rise up so early in the morn’,

can’t you hear the captain shouting

Dinah blow your horn.

Dinah won’t you blow,

Dinah won’t you blow,

Dinah won’t you blow your horn.

Dinah won’t you blow,

Dinah won’t you blow,

Dinah won’t you blow your horn.

Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah,

someone’s in the kitchen I know.

Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah,

strummin’ on the old banjo.

Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o,

fee, fie, fidlly-i-o-o-o-o

Fee, fie, fiddly-i-o,

strummin’ on the ol’ banjo.

“This song is a lot of fun, and is another one I learned at girl’s camp. I like it because you can really add a lot of different things into the song, and keep it going. When I taught 4th and 5th grade, I taught this song to my students while we were learning American history. They all seemed to enjoy it.”

Like other folk songs, it seems that much of the meaning and joy that this song evokes in the performer is it’s adaptability. It can change while still retaining the core identity of the piece. With a song like this, which is deeply routed in American history, this change is important. It allows the song to remain relevant and even novel to later generations, which is crucial to the survivability of a piece of folklore.

Wishcraft

Nationality: American
Age: 76
Occupation: Teacher
Performance Date: 4/29
Primary Language: English

“If there were witchcraft, I’d make two wishes,

a winding road that beckons me to roam,

and then I’d wish for a blazing campfire,

to welcome me when I’m returning home.

But, in this real world there is no witchcraft and golden wishes do no grow on trees.

Our fondest day dreams must be the magic that brings us back our happy memories.

Memories that linger, constant and true,

memories we’ll cherish, Camp Lo-Kai of you.

“I would sing this song at camp, always around a fire. We usually closed each night at camp with a big bon-fire. This would be the last song we’d sing before we headed to our cabins for the night! My friends and I just found out recently that the lyrics actually say “If there were wish craft”, so we’d been singing it wrong all this time! We do think the actual lyrics do make a little bit more sense than what we had been singing.”

Songs are an integral part of many camping experiences. In my mind, these songs help form a sense of community among the campers. This song in particular seems to evoke a certain nostalgia, a fondness for memories and a hope that the memories made during camp will last a lifetime. Indeed, this does seem to be the case for the informant, as she still meets with some of her camp friends, often singing this song when they do.

I found the shift in the lyrics interesting, especially given the fact that the informant and her friends came to like what was supposedly the original script of the song. This illustrates the change that is characteristic of folklore, but also brings up an important nuance: that this change is not always unidirectional, and can change back and forth depending on the sensibilities of the performer.

Horsey, Horsey

Nationality: American
Age: 76
Occupation: Teacher
Performance Date: 4/29
Primary Language: English

“I like to take my horse and buggy,

as I go traveling through the town,

I like to hear ol’ Dobbin’s clip-clop,

I like to feel the wheels go ‘round”.

“Horsey, Horsey, on your way,

we’ve been a’travelin for many a day,

so let your tail go swish and your wheels go round,

Giddy up! We’re homeward bound.”

“Music was always a big part of my life. My Mom loved to play the piano, and my family would always sing whenever we traveled. This one of the songs that my Mom taught to me, and I ended up teaching to my grandchildren. I believe I also heard the song at girl’s camp when I was a bit older; it was a song that many people seemed to know back then. I still sing the song when I get together with old camp friends. I think the song is a lot of fun to sing, because both the verses are sung at the same time by different singers, so it takes a bit of timing to get it right.”

My Grandma (the informant in question) taught this song to my sisters and I when I was young. My grandma loved to travel, a passion she instilled in myself and my siblings. As was the case when she sang the song with her siblings, we often sang it while on long road trips. Like my Grandma, I found that the song was most fun to sing as a round, as this required a mild degree of musical cooperation.

As it turns out, this song is actually a copyrighted piece with an established author. However, what I found to be interesting is that the lyrics I was taught differ slightly from the original script. The original song makes no mention of “Dobbin” (which, according to my Grandmother, is the name of the horse in question).

This song, at least in the course of my family’s use, was often performed while traveling. The lyrics themselves seem to invoke the joys of traveling, of moving from one place to another. I think this is particularly interesting because of the antiquated form of travel featured in the song. Though horse and buggies are not commonly used for travel (at least not in the US and other developed countries), there is a commonality which makes the song relevant even to those traveling in an automobile.

For another form of this song:

101 Childrens Songs & Nursery Rhymes. Pegas, 2001. MP3.

There’s a Daisy on my Toe

Nationality: White
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Huntington Beach, CA
Performance Date: 4/28/14
Primary Language: English

There’s a Daisy on my Toe

Personal Background:

Jack is a sophomore at California State University, Long Beach and is studying aerospace engineering. He is part of the Air Force branch of ROTC and is from Huntington Beach, California. He has grown up in a family that is also from southern California, and he considers himself someone who has a lot of “American values.”

Folk Song:

            “There’s a Daisy on my toe/ It is not real, it does not grow./ It’s just a tattoo of a flower/ So I look good taking a shower/ It’s on the second toe of my left foot./ If you ask me it looks real good./ There’s a daisy on my toe/ It is not real, it does not grow.”

This is a song Jack learned when he was at Camp Shalom in the Santa Monica Mountain Institute in Santa Monica, California for his AP Environmental Science Class. This is a song that the camp counselor taught his group one day when they were on a hike so they could pass the time. It was a song only his hiking group knew, and when everyone would get together, his group would sing the song the other groups did not know. Even though it was only taught to his group, he calls them “The Sunshine Bears,” other people from other groups said they had heard the song at other camps.

To Jack, this song is a reminder of his friends, The Sunshine Bears, he had while he was at camp. He was able to have this connection with only his group, and it is something he is able to take with him. It brings him a sense of happiness that he had a great time at the camp, and he also loves the fact he was able to mock the other groups who did not know the song.

Analysis:

What makes “Daisy on my Toe” a folk song is the fact that it is not copyrighted. It is something that is made for young kids to sing and have fun with. It has a simple enough rhythm that is slow, and has very simple lyrics, making so anyone can learn it. It is the perfect for children. It is part of a culture that is surrounded by camp and young kids, yet they do not need to know anything about the song to enjoy it the most. To me, it was a way Jack was able to feel like a kid again, even though he was in high school. He was able to be weird and crazy in the Sunshine Bear group. A song about a daisy tattoo can have a much deeper connection that originally thought.