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Good Old Bowling Green/Bowling Green
American, Reel and Song Tune USA, Southwestern Pa. Traditional tune- lyrics Cousin Emmy
ARTIST: J. E. Mainer
Listen: J. E. Mainer- Bowling Green
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Tune early 1900’s, lyrics mid 1900’s;
RECORDING INFO: Cousin Emmy (Cynthia May Carver). New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy, Folkways FTS 31015, LP (1968), cut# 9; Kossoy Sisters. Bowling Green and Other Folksongs from the Southern Mountains, Tradition TLP 1018, LP (196?), cut# 1; Kossoy Sisters. Banjo Music of the Southern Appalachians, Olympic OL-6173, LP (196?), cut#A.02; Seeger, Mike; and Alice Gerrard. Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard, Greenhays GR 704, LP (1980), cut# 1; Weaver’s (Good Old Bowling Green) Reunion Concert at Carnegie Hall; The Walker Family: Bowling Green Legends of Old Time Music, Vestapol video- Stephan Grossman. Davenport, Clyde. Puncheon Camps, Appalachian Center Ser. AC002, Cas (1992), cut# 15
OTHER NAMES: “Good Old Bowling Green”; Related to “Lost John (lyrics)”; “Bluegrass Express (lyrics);
SOURCES: Kossoy Sisters. Grass Roots Harmony, Oak, Sof (1968), p.34 Silber-FSWB, p. 43, "Bowling Green" (1 text) Seeger, Pete. How to Play the Five String Banjo, Seeger, sof (1962), P21; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc; Bowling Green .......... v.13#1 ... p.19 Sing Out); Weaver’s Sanga Music 1958.
NOTES: Bowling Green was originally a fiddle tune when floating lyrics and a chorus were added by Cousin Emmy. Whether she wrote the lyrics or heard the version is unclear but she seems to be the source.
Uncle Earl's version is a cover of Cousin Emmy's song with the extra verse missing in the version she does with the New Lost City Ramblers (see Version 3). J.E. Mainer's chorus is different but the lyrics are similar- suggesting a different source.
Kuntz notes: "D Major. Standard. AB. A fife tune from southwestern Pa., well known and regarded by local fifers. Sources for notated versions: Hiram Horner (elderly fiddler from Fayette County, Pa., 1960), Marion Yoders (Greene County, Pa., 1960). Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 232, pg. 191." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
Cousin Emmy appears to have been one of the first to wed the “Bowling Green” lyrics with the fife/fiddle tune (See: Clyde Davenport Puncheon Camps, Appalachian Center Ser. AC002, Cas (1992), cut# 15); Bowling Green, Kentucky is a popular lyric site. “Lost John Dean from Bowling Green” has the Bowling Green lryic. “She'll cross the river at Newport town/ Louisville, Lexington, she's southbound/ Richmond, Winchester, Bowling Green/ Prettiest places I've ever seen” from the bluegrass song, “Bluegrass Express.”
GOOD OLD BOWLING GREEN- J. E. Mainer
Listen: J. E. Mainer- Bowling Green
[fiddle]
Wish I was in Bowlin' Green
A-sittin' in a chair
One arm around my pretty little miss
The other one around my dear.
CHORUS: Good old Bowlin' Green my boys,
Good ol' Bowlin' Green my boys.
Good ol' Bowlin' Green my boys,
Good ol' Bowlin' Green.
[fiddle]
If you see that gal of mine,
Tell her once for me.
If she loves another man,
I sure will set her free.
CHORUS: Good old Bowlin' Green my boys,
Good ol' Bowlin' Green my boys.
Good ol' Bowlin' Green my boys,
Good ol' Bowlin' Green.
[fiddle]
I'm goin' through this ol' wide world,
I'm goin' through it alone;
I'm goin' through this ol' wide world,
Cause I ain't got no home.
CHORUS: Good old Bowlin' Green my boys,
Good ol' Bowlin' Green my boys.
Good ol' Bowlin' Green my boys,
Good ol' Bowlin' Green.
[fiddle]
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