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Georgie Buck/ Georgia Buck
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown- Southeast: Piedmont and Appalachian region, relatively rare banjo song;
ARTIST: This is the first recorded version from 1927 by Al Hopkins and his Bucklebusters
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: Early 1900’s;
RECORDING INFO: Global Village C217, (Black fiddle and banjo players) Joe and Odel Thompson - "Old Time Music From the North Carolina Piedmont." Rounder CD 0382, Marvin Gaster - "Uncle Henry's Favorites."
OTHER NAMES: Georgie Buck; Barbara Buck; Old Georgie Buck;
SOURCES: "The tune was also in the repertoire of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, guitarist and banjo player Elizabeth Cotten, and was played by African-American fiddler Joe Thompson in GDGD tuning." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). American Banjo Echoes in Appalachia by Cecelia Conway. 1995); Recordings by Dick Roberts and Joe Thompson & Odell Thompson (Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40079) and Odell Thompson (Rounder CD 0439) clearly belong to Conway's banjo song genre, although a 1927 recording by The Hill Billies (reissued on Document DOCD-8041) treats it more like a regular song. A rather odd-sounding field holler version by Leonard Emanuel (Rounder CD 0071) is indicative of another way in which this song was used. Doc Watson also does a banjo version.
NOTES: "Heard in many parts of the South, but relatively rare" (Kerry Blech). The tune is known as a black Southern banjo song.
Georgia Buck belongs to what Cecilia Conway calls 'the banjo song genre'. Such songs are usually characterized by the following five musical features: 1) rhythmic and syncopated playing throughout the performance, especially when singing; 2) elaborated instrumental interludes; 3) compressed vocal lines of two or more syllables per beat; 4) occasional but irregular interruptions by instrumental interludes within the stanza; and 5) varied repetition of instrumental elements. (American Banjo Echoes in Appalachia by Cecelia Conway. 1995).
The first recorded version from 1927 by Al Hopkins and his Bucklebusters is a version of Rueben's Train with some of the lyrics adapted from Georgia Buck. The first and especially the last verse seem to come from the stock of the Georgia buck song even though hey are fit into the Reuben's train form.
Here are the lyrics from Al Hopkins:
(Banjo)
My name is Georgia Buck,
And I never have any luck,
Cause I've been married all these days Lord Lord
Cause I've been married all these days
Oh-oh, me oh-oh my
Cause I've been married all these days Lord Lord
Cause I've been married all these days.
(Banjo)
My wife is a queen,
The best I've ever seen,
But her mother's 'causin' trouble all the time Lord, Lord,
Her mothers been causin' trouble all the time.
Oh-oh, me; oh-oh my
But her mother's 'causin' trouble all the time Lord, Lord,
Her mothers been causin' trouble all the time.
My wife is always mad,
Seh can go back to her dad,
She ain't my lovin' woman anymore Lord, Lord
She ain't my lovin' woman anymore.
Oh-oh, me; oh-oh my,
She ain't my lovin' woman anymore Lord, Lord
She ain't my lovin' woman anymore.
Now I's wide awake,
And the last word that I say, is
Never let a woman have her way Lord Lord,
Never let a woman have her way.
Oh-oh, me; oh-oh my,
Never let a woman have her way Lord Lord,
Never let a woman have her way.
Georgie Buck is dead, and the
Last word he said, is
Dig me a whole in the ground Lord, Lord
Dig me a hole in the ground.
Oh-oh, me; oh-oh my,
Dig me a whole in the ground Lord, Lord
Dig me a hole in the ground.
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