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Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down Blues
Traditional Old-Time Breakdown; Piedmont Area;
ARTIST: "BABY LET THE DEAL GO DOWN" THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE Vol. XXIV. —OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1911—No. XCIV
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Early 1900’s; 1911 referenced for Poole's version.
OTHER NAMES & RELATED SONGS: “Last Gold Dollar;” “High Top Shoes;” “Don't Let My Deal Go Down,” “No Low Down Hanging Around;” “Lynchburg Town (Tune);” “Black Dog [Blues]” “Jamestown Exhibition”
RELATED TO: I Am Bound for the Promised Land (Melody); Will Sweethearts Know Each Other There
RECORDING INFO: Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" (Columbia 15038-D, 1925; on CPoole01, CPoole05); Riley Puckett, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (Columbia 15448-D, 1929); Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, "Don't Let the Deal Go Down" (Vocalion 05282, 1939) New Lost City Ramblers, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" (on NLCR01, NLCRCD1) (NLCR12); Bailey, Wheeler; and Preston Fulp. Kirkland Recordings, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS-106, LP (1984), cut# 15 (Never Let Your Deal Go Down); Baker, Etta. Music from the Hills of Caldwell County, Physical 12-001, LP (1975), cut# 3 (Never Let Your Deal Go Down); Boarman, Andrew F. Mountain State Music, June Appal JA 0025, LP (1978), cut# 16; Bulla Family. Bullas, Live, Family Vision Ministries, Cas (1993), cut#B.01 (Don't Let the Deal Go Down); Carawan, Guy. This Little Light of Mine, Folkways FG 3552, LP (1959), cut#A.06 (Been All Over This Country); Carson, Fiddlin' John. Fiddlers Convention in Mountain City, Tennessee, County 525, LP (1972), cut# 3; Carson, Fiddlin' John. Fiddlin' John Carson. Vol 4, Document DOCD 8017, CD (1997), cut#12; Flatt & Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. Flatt And Scruggs. Country and Western Classics, Time-Life Records TLCW-04, LP (1982), cut#D.03; Ford, Brownie. Stories from Mountains, Swamps & Honky-Tonks, Flying Fish FF 90559, Cas (1990), cut#A.01; Jackson, John. Deep in the Bottom, Rounder 2032, LP (1983), cut# 12; Johnson, Herman. Herman Johnson - National Champion, Gillian, LP (1978), cut#A.03; Kimble Family. Eight Miles Apart, Heritage (Galax) 022, LP (1979), cut# 14; Kimble Family. Pine Knots School Rowdies, Marimac 9037, Cas (1992), cut# 10; New Lost City Ramblers. Sing Songs of the New Lost City Ramblers, Aravel AB-1005, LP, cut# 2; New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 1, Folkways FA 2396, LP (1958), cut# 2; O'Connor, Mark. National Junior Fiddle Champion, Rounder 0046, LP (1975), cut# 4; O'Daniel, W. Lee; & his Hillbilly Boys. Western Swing. Vol. 2 Historic Recordings, Old-Timey LP 116, LP (1975), cut#A.03; Old Hat Band. Concert, Voyager VRLP 307-S, LP (197?), cut# 9; Plank Road String Band. Plank Road. Vocal and Instrumental Blend, June Appal JA 0015, LP (1978), cut# 13; Poole, Charlie; and the Highlanders. Charlie Poole and the Highlanders, 1927-29, Puritan 3002, LP (196?), cut# 3; Poole, Charlie; and the North Carolina Ramblers. Old Time Songs, County 505, LP (196?), cut# 11; Rosenbaum, Art (Arthur). Art of the Mountain Banjo, Kicking Mule KM 203, LP (1975), cut#1.04b; Seeger, Mike. Old Time Country Music, Folkways FA 2325, LP, cut# 10; Seeger, Mike. Music From the True Vine, Mercury SRMI-627, LP (1972), cut# 4; Solomon, Vernon. Texas Breakdown, Davis Unlimited DU 33038, LP (1976), cut# 6; Sutphin, J. C. "Cleve". American Banjo, Folkways FA 2314, LP (1966), cut# 20; Thomasson, Benny & Jerry. Weiser Reunion, Voyager VRCS 309, Cas (1993), cut# 11; Thomasson, Benny. Country Fiddling from the Big State, County 724, LP (1970), cut# 3; Ward, Fields and Wade. Country Music - Fields and Wade Ward, Biograph RC-6002, LP, cut# 12; Watson, Doc. Doc Watson on Stage, Vanguard VSD 9/10, LP (1970), cut# 25; Wills, Bob. Fiddle, Country Music Foundation CMF-010-L, LP (1987), cut# 11.
SOURCES: Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 182-183, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down;" Rorrer, p. 70, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues;(Charlie Poole version)" Darling-NAS, p. 285, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down;" Silber-FSWB, p. 144, "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down;" Alterman, Ned; and Richie Mintz. Bluegrass Bass, Oak, sof (1977), p51; New Lost City Ramblers. Old-Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1964/1976), p182;
NOTES: One of the standard “white blues” from the Piedmont region. "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" was performed initially by Charlie Poole and Fiddlin’ John Carson. It was also adapted by black Piedmont blues artists like Etta Baker and John Jackson. There are many great fiddle versions including those by Bob Wills, Benny Thomasson and later Mark O’Conner.
According to Kinney Rorrer's excellent book, Rambling Blues -- The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole, Poole's source for "Don't Let Your Deal" was another North Carolina musician, who having learned the song from a local black guitarist in 1911, taught the words to Poole, who already knew the tune. The African-American origin can be heard in Peg Leg Howell's "Skin Game Blues" (Before the Blues, Vol. 2, Yazoo CD 2016):
You better let the deal go down,
For the skin game's [type of card game] comin' to a close ...
The earliest printed version is probably from the JOAFL in 1911 collected by Odum from African-Americans:
CHORUS: Baby, let the deal go down (Repeat Three Times)
VERSE: I gamble all over Kentucky,
Part of Georgia, too,
Everywhere I hang my hat,
Home, sweet home, to me.
Many branches have grown from this tree including “Black Dog,” which has been performed by my group, the Bluegrass Messengers. There are floater lyrics from many sources including "In the Pines," "Last Gold Dollar" and "Little Maggie.”
LYRICS:
BABY LET THE DEAL GO DOWN
THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN FOLK-LORE
Vol. XXIV. —OCTOBER-DECEMBER, 1911—No. XCIV
FOLK-SONG AND FOLK-POETRY AS FOUND IN THE
SECULAR SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES —
BY HOWARD W. ODUM
The negro has portrayed some pictures of his adventures in crime
and rowdyism. He has told of shooting and killing, of his arrests and
conviction, and of his day in jail. The judges and jury make per-
manent impressions upon him. He is yet to tell something of his
gambling pleasures. The negro's propensities for "shootin' craps"
and gambling in general are well known. He boasts of his good and
bad luck. In "Let the Deal go Down" he gives a characteristic
picture:
|: Baby, let the deal go down : {three times)
I gamble all over Kentucky,
Part of Georgia, too,
Everywhere I hang my hat,
Home, sweet home, to me.
I lose my watch an' lose my chain,
Lose ev'y thing but my diamon' ring. —
Come here, all you Birmingham scouts!
Set down yo' money on Number Six.
When I left Kansas City, Missouri,
Had three hundred dollars;
Soon as I struck Birmingham,
Put *cup (cuff) on me.
*Cuff- handcuffs
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