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Alabama Gals (Buffalo Gals)

Traditional Old-Time; Breakdown, Song. North Ga., central Ala. CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: Mid-1800’s. Used in the 1850’s at minstrel shows.

OTHER NAMES: (The “Buffalo” name can be changed to any city’s name, and was used as New York Gals etc.)"Round-Town Girls/Gals," “Buffalo Girls/Gals,” “Portsmouth Airs”; “Bear Creek Hop” has same melody.

RECORDING INFO: Seeger, Pete;, Mike Seeger, and Larry Eisenberg. American Playparties/Play Parties, Folkways FC 7604, LP (1959), cut#A.04; Stoneking, Lee R.. Missouri Old Time Fiddling, Stoneking, LP (197?), cut#A.04 (Alabama Gals); Warren, Paul. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 12/1, p55 (Alabama Gals)

SOURCES: The Black-Faced Minstrel groups. Woodring and Neithammer (Pa.) [Kuntz]. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 323. Marimac Cassette, "Tuesday Nite Live." Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc.

NOTES: One frequent name for “Buffalo Gals” in the south is Alabama Gals when played as a fiddle tune for dances. "G Major. Standard. AABB. This popular melody was in the repertoire of Fiddlin John Carson (north Ga., 1922) under this title. It was predicted (in the Chilton County {Ala.} News of June 1st, 1922) to "vie with the latest jazz nerve wreckers for first place" at a Chilton County convention (Cauthen, 1990). African-American fiddler Joe Thompson played this tune in GDGD tuning." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).

I know a gal with a wart on her chin,
Her eyes turned out and her ears turned in;
She's a darned good gal for the shape she's in
And I told her just to come out tonight.

Alabama Gals won't you come out tonight,
Come out tonight, come out tonight,
Alabama Gals won't you come out tonight,
And dance by the light of the moon.

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