|
Adam and Eve/Walking in the Parlor/History of the World
Old-Time minstrel song about the Creation;
ARTIST: Brown Collection under the heading "Walking in the Parlor"
CATEGORY: Traditional and Public Domain Gospel Songs
EARLIEST DATE: De History ob de World (from the Popular Extravaganza of Buffalo Gals at the Adelphi) 1847; 1925 (Scarborough)
RECORDING INFO: Adam and Eve [Me III-B 1]
Rt - Eve and Adam (Pickin' Up Leaves)
Mf - Six to Six
Cansler, Loman D.. Folksongs of the Midwest, Folkways FH 5330, LP (1983), trk# A.01 [1954]
Hart, Tim; and Maddy Prior. Folk Songs of Olde England. Vol. 1, Mooncrest Crest 23, LP (1968), trk# B.07
Nelstone's Hawaiians. Mountain Frolic. Rare Old Timey Classics; 1924-37, JSP 77100A-D, CD (2007), trk# A.13 [1928/09/21]
Adam and Eve
Bradley, Tommie. Violin, Sing the Blues for Me, Old Hat CD 1002, CD (1999), trk# 15 [1930/09/27]
Cranberry Lake (Jug Band). Old-Time and Jugband Music, Swallowtail St-8, LP (1977), trk# 5
Adam and Eve - Part II
Bouchillon, Chris. Original Talking Blues Man, Old Homestead OHCS 181, LP (1986), trk# B.06 [1928]
Bouchillon, Mr. & Mrs Chris. White Country Blues, 1928-36 - A Lighter Shade of Blue. Vol. 1, Columbia Legacy CT47920, Cas (1993), trk# 18 [1928/10/29]
Adam and Eve - part I
Bouchillon, Chris. Original Talking Blues Man, Old Homestead OHCS 181, LP (1986), trk# B.05 [1928]
Adam and Eve and the Bummel-Eye Bee
Beers, Robert. Fiddler Beers Sings Psalty Psongs with Psaltery and Pfiddle, Prestige International 13047, LP (196?), trk# A.02
RECORDING INFO: Walking in the Parlor [Me IV-E 76]
Uf - John's Lover's Gone
Walkie in the Parlor (minstrel song)
Beers Family. Walkie in the Parlor, Folkways FA 2376, LP (1960), trk# 3
Beers, Robert. Fiddler Beers Sings Psalty Psongs with Psaltery and Pfiddle, Prestige International 13047, LP (196?), trk# B.09
Thieme, Art. Songs of the Heartland, Kicking Mule KM 148, LP (1982), trk# 11
RECORDINGS (minstrel) :
Charlie Oaks, "Adam and Eve or 'Darkie's Sunday School'" (Vocalion 5113, c. 1927; rec. 1925)
Obed Pickard, "Walking in the Parlor" (Columbia 15246-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
Kilby Reeves, "Walkin in the Parlor" (on Persis1)
Art Thieme, "Walkie in the Parlor" (on Thieme02) (on Thieme06)
SOURCES: Folk Index; Kuntz
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Warner 177, "Walking in the Parlor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 288, "History of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 246-248, "History of the World" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 288)
BrownIII 341, "Walk in the Parlor" (4 texts plus 1 excerpt and 1 fragment; the "E" text seems more a floating verse collection with this chorus, and "C" lacks the chorus and is at best marginally related)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 181-182, "Story of Creation" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 203-205, "The Darky Sunday School" (1 text, t tune)
Hugill, p. 344, "De History ob de World" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 351-354, "Darky Sunday School" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 178, "Creation Song" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 186-189, "Young Folks, Old Folks (or The Silly Sunday School)" (1 text, tune referenced)
OTHER NAMES: The Sunday School Song; Walkie in the Parlor
NOTES: Adam and Eve/Walking in the Parlor is the title of a minstrel song about the humerous creation of the world and also a different fiddle and instrumental tune. The fiddle and banjo tune doesn't appear to be related to the biblical lyrics about creation and the bible but Kuntz in his Fiddler's Companion gives four separate versions and says of his version one that the tune is of minstrel origin.
The chorus from the minstel tune appears to be the source of the lyrics associated with the fiddle tune:
Den walk in, den walk in I say,
Den walk in, and hear de banjo play,
Den walk into de parlor, and hear de banjo ring,
And watch de *feller's fingers, while he plays upon de string.
Here are lyrics I have to the fiddle instrumental version from Charlie Acuff via John Hartford from the Devil's Box 1989. Sung to the A part:
Walkin', talkin', walking in your hand,
Walkin' in the parlor and you ain't a common man.
Fiddler Clayton McMichen and also fiddler Curly Fox do a version of the Walking in the Parlor minstrel song titled "History in a Few Words" (it's usually titled Adam and Eve) with the farcical lyrics found in the Walking in the Parlor minstrel songs. There is some fiddling but it's basically the crazy song about the creation of the world.
See E. and F. at the end of the Brown Collection for more fiddle lyrics.
The ballad index give this description: "I never went to free school nor any other college, But... I will tell you how the world was made in the twinkling of a crack. Walk in, walk in, walk in I say, go in the parlor and hear the banjo ring." Sundry observations about the creation and the Bible.
Here are the 1847 minstrel lyrics:
"De History ob de World" (1847) (from the Popular Extravaganza of "Buffalo Gals at the Adelphi") Words and Music --- anon. Arr. by T. Contreso [Source: pages 70-71 of "Minstrel Songs, Old and New" (1883)]
1. O, I come from ole Virginny
Wid my head full ob knowledge,
And I never went to free school
Nor any other college;
But one thing I will tell you,
Which am a solid fact,
I tell you how dis world was made
In a twinkling ob a crack.
CHORUS: Den walk in,
Den walk in I say,
Den walk in,
And hear de banjo play,
Den walk into de parlor,
And hear de banjo ring,
And watch dis niggers fingers,
While he plays upon de string.
2. Oh, dis world was made in six days,
And den dey made de sky,
And den dey hung it ober head
And left it dar to dry;
And den dey made de stars
Out ob *lubly wenches eyes,
For to gib a little light
When de moon didn't rise.
(CHORUS)
3. So Adam was de first man,
Ebe she was de oder,
And Cain walk'd on de treadmill,
Because he kill'd his broder;
Ole Moder Ebe
Couldn't sleep widout a pillar,
And de greatest man dat eber lived
Was Jack de Giant killer.
(CHORUS)
4. And den de made the sea,
And in it put a whale,
And den de made a racoon,
Wid a ring around his tail;
And all de oder animals
Was finished one by one,
And stuck against de to dry
As fast as they were done.
(CHORUS)
5. O, lightning is a yellow gal,
She libs up in de clouds,
And thunder he's a black man,
For he can hollow loud;
When he kisses lightning,
She dodges off in wonder,
Den he jumps and tares his trowsers,
And dat's what makes de thunder.
(CHORUS)
6. O, de wind begin to blow,
And de rain begin to fall,
And de water came so high,
But it drown'd de *sinners all;
And it rain'd forty days and nights,
Exactly by the counting,
And it landed Noah's ark
'Pon de Alleghany Mountains.
(CHORUS)
Traditional Ballad Notes: Not to be confused with a fiddle tune of the same name. - PJS The chorus of this song varies quite a bit; the Lomax version is "Young folks, old folks, everybody come, Join our darky Sunday School, and make yourself to hum. There's a place to check your chewing gum and razors at the door, And hear such bible stories as you never heard before." The Pankakes have something similar, but less racist. (Their version is also incredibly full -- 21 verses! If they didn't conflate it, someone else did.)
It is quite likely that these versions originated as separate songs, and I thought about splitting them. But the only distinguishing feature is the choruses. Under the circumstances, it seemed better to place all listings in the same place. I initially excluded Randolph's "History of the World," partly by accident, as just too distinct from the versions I had seen. It's now clear that it's the same song. Those who wish to know more are referred to Cox's extensive notes on songs of this type. - RBW
Among the sundry references in this song:
"Jonah... took a steerage passage in a transatlantic whale": The Bible says "fish," and the fish never left the Mediterranean, and Jonah wasn't planning on entering the Atlantic either.
"Esau... sold [his farm] to his brother for a sandwich and a beer": In Gen. 25:29-34, Esau came back hungry from hunting, and sold his birthright (probably pasturage, not a farm) to his younger fraternal twin Jacob for "bread and lentil stew."
"Noah was a mariner... with half a dozen wives and a big menagerie": Although many of the patriarchs had multiple wives, Noah himself seems to have had only one (cf. Gen. 7:7).
"Elijah was a prophet who attended county fairs, He advertised his business with a pair of dancing bears": hardly worth refuting, but it is worth noting that Elijah was a solitary prophet at a time when most prophets came in groups ("the sons of the prophets"). He spent much of his time trying to be left alone, not advertising his services (cf., e.g., 1 Kings 19:3-4, 2 Kings 1:9fff.)
"Ahab had a wife, and her name was Jezebel... She's gone to the dogs... Ahab said he'd never heard of such an awful thing": Jezebel was indeed Ahab's wife, and was eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9:30-37) -- but Ahab had been dead for a dozen years by the time she was killed.
"Salome was a chorus girl who had a winning way": This is textually complicated. All accounts say that a girl captivated Herod Antipas by dancing for him, and that he executed John the Baptist as a result. Matt. 14:6 says that the girl was "the daughter of Herodias"; the best manuscripts of Mark 6:22 call her his [Herod's] daughter Herodias. But nowhere is she called "Salome"; we learn this name from Josephus.
"Now Joey was unhappy in the bowels of the soil": Refers to the selling of Joseph into Egypt (Genesis 37). Joseph, however, was not a farmer but a herdsman, and there is no evidence he was unhappy; he spent his time dreaming about ruling over his brothers.
"Samson was a husky guy from the P.T. Barnum show": While Samson probably belonged in a circus (it's hard to imagine someone so thoroughly inept; had he not been a strong man, he would have been a joke), the Bible tells his story "straight" (Judges 13-16).
"Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego": The Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3).
"Methuselah was crabby 'cause he couldn't save a joke": Methuselah lived longer than any other figure in the Bible (the Hebrew of Gen. 5:25-27 lists him as living to the age of 969), but gives no indication of his character or the length of his whiskers.
"Pharaoh kept the Israelites to make his cigarettes": This is almost accurate, in that the Israelites did, in effect, go on strike in Exodus. However, tobacco was not known in Egypt at the time (it grows only in the New World); the Israelites "struck" for the right to worship in their own way, plus better living conditions.
"David was a fighter, a plucky little cuss": 1 Samuel 17.
"Daniel was a naughty man, he wouldn't mind the King" -- Formally, Daniel defied the king, but it was actually the King's counselors who came up with the law Daniel defied (Daniel 6). - RBW
Notes, Andrew Kuntz: WALKING IN THE PARLOR [1]. See related tune "Trude Evans." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas. D Major. Standard tuning. AB (Silberberg): ABB (Brody): ABA'A'B'B' (Krassen). A melody with minstrel-era origins, although some hear distinct echoes of the English morris dance melody “Shepherd’s Hey.” The tune was mentioned in an account as having been played at a LaFollette, northeast Tennessee fiddlers' contest in 1931. The title (as "Walk in the Parlor") appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountian fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Wilson Douglas (Ivydale, W.Va.) remarks it was noted W.Va. fiddler French Carpenter's favorite tune, and says of its origins with his mentor:
A lady composed that. She was a fiddler and a top squaredancer. She lived during Carpenter's time, but she was old. French said she played that tune and nobody could beat her.That's where he learned it. Her name was Trod Evans. She was a lady fiddler.
Indeed, the tune is sometimes called “Trude Evans.” It took five years, according to Douglas, for him to learn the tune with "the proper time at the proper time, or the proper rock, or the proper swing, or the proper shuffle." Despite its minstrel beginnings Gerald Milnes found a version with topical references regarding the nature of John D. Rockefeller (Milnes, Play of a Fiddle, 1999). Sources for notated versions: Highwoods String Band (New York) [Brody, Phillips]; John Hilt (Tazewell County, Virginia) [Krassen]; Wilson Douglas (W.Va.) [Phillips]; Charlie Acuff [Phillips]; Oscar ‘Red’ Wilson [Silberberg]. Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pg. 284. Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1983; pg. 114‑115. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 252 (two versions). Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 164. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 6. Anachronistic 001, John Hilt (Va.) ‑ "Swope's Knobs." Document 8039, “The Hill Billies/Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters: Compoete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Vol. 1” (reissue). Paramount 33153 (78 RPM), Dr. D. Dix Hollis (Ala., 1861‑1927), 1924. Rounder 0047, Wilson Douglas (W.Va.) ‑ "The Right Hand Fork of Rush's Creek" (1975). Lee Hammons ‑ "Shaking Down the Acorns." Rounder 0023, Highwoods String Band ‑ "Fire on the Mountain." Rounder 0089, Oscar and Eugene Wright ‑ "Old Time Fiddle and Guitar Music from West Virginia." Rounder C‑11565, Eugene Wright ‑ "Rounder Fiddle" (1990). In the repertoire of Luther Davis, Galax, Va.
WALKING IN THE PARLOR [2]. AKA and see "Rochester Schottische [1]." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, North Carolina. D Major. ADae tuning. The tune was known by the title "Rochester Schottische" to Tommy Jarrell, the influential old‑time fiddler from Mt. Airy, N.C., though it bears no resemblance to the "Rochester Schottishe" that is printed in older American collections, nor is it, for that matter, a schottische at all. It seems unrelated to other "Walking in the Parlor" entitled tunes. Barry Poss (1976) speculates that the tune in older printed collections as "Rochester Schottische" may have been played at one time around the Round Peak, North Carolina, area, but that the title became detached from the tune, which then fell out of the repertory, and became attached to another melody. County 756, Tommy Jarrell (N.C.) ‑ "Sail Away Ladies" (1976).
WALKING IN THE PARLOR [3]. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning. ABB'. Similar to version #1, albeit a ‘crooked’ (irregular metre) version. Source for notated version: D. Dix Hollis (N.C.) [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; pg. 252. Document DOCD 8032, D. Dix Hollis (et al) – “Alabama Stringbands.”
WALKING IN THE PARLOR [4]. A fourth version??? Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, Mississippi. D Major. Recorded for the Library of Congress by Herbert Halpert in 1939 from the playing of Lee County, Mississippi, fiddler W.E. Claunch.
Brown Collection 341 Walk in the Parlor
The pieces here assembled under this title are all descendants of a highly popular song of the minstrel stage a hundred years ago, concerning which see Cox's headnote to his West Virginia version, FSS 503. In its fuller form it is a burlesque version of Bible
stories, as in A and B below. Texts from later tradition vary a good deal. Cox's from West Virginia, Ford's from the Midwest (Traditional Music of America 278-80), and our A and B, though they all go back to the minstrel song of the 1840s, differ widely, even in tbe chorus. Bits of it are reported as sung by Negroes in Mississippi (JAFL xxvi 159) and Alabama (ANFS 136, 141, 144). A song with a like theme but not, so far as I can make out, of the same derivation, 'I Was Born about Ten Thousand Years Ago.' is
separately considered, as are also 'When Adam Was Created' and 'Ye Lords of Creation,' which are quite different alTairs. The' The manuscript has "barn room."
- West Virginia has "advance" : the other texts throw no light on the passage N.C.F., Vol. III. (J8) fragments E and F retain not much more than the cliorus of the original song.
A. 'Sunday School Song.' Contributed in 1923 by Miss Mary Scarborough of Wanchese, Roanoke Island. What is here set down as the first stanza is in B called the chorus.
1 Young folks, old folks, everybody come.
Come to our Sunday school and make yourselves at home.
Please check your chewing gum and razors at the door.
And you'll hear more Bible stories than you've ever heard before.
2. Adam was the first man; Eve was his spouse.
They never had a bit of trouble keeping house;
Folks said their married life was happy in the main
Until they had a little kid and started raising Cain.
3. Noah was a sailor, he sailed upon the sea.
He took along a circus and a whole menagerie.
He spent his time a-fishing, so the Bible tale confirms,
But he couldn't do much fishing 'cause he only had two worms.
4 David was a fighter, a plucky little cuss.
Saw Goliath coming, pining for a fuss.
He knew he'd have to fight him or else he'd have to dust ;
So he picked up a cobble stone and busted in his crust.
5 Salome was a dancer, she danced the hootchy kootch.
The people raised a racket 'cause she didn't wear so mooch.
The King said, 'My dear, we cannot have that here.'
Saloiue said, 'The heck you can't,' and kicked him in the ear.
6 Daniel was a naughty man, he wouldn't mind the King.
The King had never heard of such a funny thing.
So he put him a den with the lions underneath;
But Daniel was a dentist, so he pulled the lions' teeth.
7 Pharaoh kept the Israelites to make his cigarettes.
He wouldn't give them wages and he wouldn't pay their debts.
So Moses, walking delegate, advised them all to strike;
So they picked up all the hay in sight and biat it down the pike.
8 Jonah was a sailor, so runs the Bible tale.
He tried to cross the ocean in the steerage of a whale.
Judiah in the whale that a hit opprcsst'ch
So he merely i)ushe(l a Inittun and the whale did the rest.
B.'Young Folks, Old Folks, Everybody Come.' Contributed by Mrs. W. L. Pridgen of Durbani in 1923. Differs from A by omissions, contraction, rearrangement, and tlie introduction of new matter, and what is entered in A as stanza 1 is here called, no doubt rightly, the chorus.
1 Adam was the first man ever was invented.
Along came Eve and he was contented.
Along came old Noah, fnmhlins^- in the dark.
Grabbed a nail and a hammer and he built himself an ark.
Chorus: Old folks, young folks, everbody come.
Come join the Sunday School and make yourself athome.
Please check your chewing gum and razors at the door.
And you'll hear more Bible stories than you ever heard before.
2 David had a slingshot; a funny little cuss.
Along came Goliath, just a-pining for a fuss.
David saw he'd have to fight or else he'd have to dust,
So he grabbed him up a cobble stone and insisted in his crust.
3 Eve had an apple, She cut it in two.
She gave Adam half, and that wouldn't do.
Cain fired up, got mad mighty quick.
So he slapped old Abel in the neck with a brick.
4 I thank you for your kindness and your very kind applause.
I cannot sing for you any more because — because — because —
There's more upon the program, but I fear I am a bore.
The really truly reason is, I don't know any more.
'If Religion Was a Thing That Money Could Buy.' Contributed by J. C. Paisley. Date and region not noted on tlie manuscript. This is a Negro version, somewhat different in temper and with a quite different chorus ; yet stanzas 2 and 5 are tlie same as stanziis i and 3 of B.
1. If religion was a thing that money could buy
The Jews would live and the Irish die.
Ain't I glad that this ain't so!
Dis ole *feller gunter stand a little show.
Chorus: Live a humble, live a hunihle.
Live a humble till I die.
2. Adam was the first man that was ever invented.
Den come Eve and den he was contented.
'Long come Noah fumbling in the dark.
He grabbed up a hammer and built himself a ark.
3 Den come the animals two by two,
De hippopotumus, de kik kangaroo.
Den come de monkey, den come de bar.
Den come de elephant without any bar.
4 Next come de whale; he was a snorter.
He grabbed old Jonah right under the water.
Three days and three nights he was a-getting mighty rank.
And he fired old Jonah right out on the bank.
5. Eve she had an apple; she cut it in two.
She gave Abel half, Well, that wouldn't do;
Cain fired up, he got mad mighty quick.
He soaked old Abel in the neck with a brick.
D. 'Adam Was the First Man." From Mr. Southgate Jones of Durham in 1920. He writes: "Some fifteen years ago I used to hear sung several verses which began with
Adam was the first man ever was invented;
Me lived in a mud house all contented.
'Long came brother Noah stumbling in the dark.
He got a hammer 'n nails and built him an ark.
E. Walk in the Parlor." Ccmtrihuted l)y Laura M. Cromartie of Garland.
Sampson county. Not dated.
The creeks all muddy, the ponds all dry,
'T wasn't for the tadpoles we'd all die.
First chorus: Walk in, walk in. walk in, I say,
Walk in de parlor and hear de banjo play;
Walk in de parlor and hear de banjo ring.
Watch a *banjo finger while he pick upon a string.
Second chorus: Walk in. walk in, walk in, I say,
Walk in de parlor and hear de banjo play.
Dere's a little ash cake an' not a bit of fat;
The white folks 'll grumble if you eat much of dat.
F. 'Walk in the Parlor." Contributted by Jennie Belvin of Durham in July 1922. Only four lines.
Walking and a-walking
And a-walking, I say,
Walking in the parlor
Just to hear the banjo play,
|