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Nancy Till/ Down By the Cane Break/Come, Love Come
Old-Time Minstrel Ballad and American, Dance Tune; Widely known
ARTIST: English Broadside published at Taylor's Song Mart, 92, & 93, Brick Lane, Bethnal Green, London. Same lyrics as the version arranged for guitar by Thomas Crouch published by New York: Firth, Pond and Co., 1853;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Mid 1800’s- Minstrel Era;
RECORDING INFO: (Come Love Come) Warner, Jeff; and Jeff Davis. Wilder Joy, Flying Fish FF-431, LP (198?), cut# 1;
Boatman/Boatsman- Arkansas Sheiks. Whiskey Before Breakfast, Bay 204, LP (1975), cut# 18a; Benford, Mac. Backwoods Banjo, Rounder 0115, LP (1979), cut# 15b; Coryell, Lea. Cornbread & Rum, Coryell, CD (2001), cut# 3; Doherty, Mick;, Steve Einhorn and Dan Compton. Simple Gifts, Doherty, Compton, Einh.., Cas (198?), cut# 12b; George, Franklin/Frank. Traditional Music for Banjo, Fiddle & Bagpipes, County C-2703, Cas (1992), cut#A.03; George, Franklin/Frank. Traditional Music for Banjo, Fiddle and Bagpipes, Kanawha 307, LP (1967), cut#A.02; Grey, Sara. Sara Grey, Folk Legacy FSI-038, LP (1970), cut#B.04; Haley, Ed. Grey Eagle (Vol. 2), Rounder 1133/1134, CD (1997), 2.07; Hollow Rock String Band. Devil's Riding Horse. 44th Annual Old Time Fiddler's Convention, Union Grove SS-2, LP (1978), cut#A.02; Jabbour, Alan. Fresh Oldtime String Band Music, Rounder 0262, LP (1988), cut# 1; Johnson, Cletus. Old-Time Banjo Anthology, Vol. 1, Marimac AHS 4, Cas (1991), cut# 3; Krassen, Miles. Appalachian Fiddle, Oak, sof (1973), p69; New Tranquility String Band. Berkely Farms, Folkways FA 2436, LP (1972), cut#A.07; Ruffwater Stringband. Michigan Spring, Ruffwater MS 006, Cas (Ruf), cut# 9a; Skylark. Favorites, Little Bird LB 1001, Cas (1990), cut#A.06a; Trail Band. Voices from the Oregon Trail, Trail's End TEP 001, Cas (1991), cut#B.05a
RELATED TO: Boatman; Johnny Booger; Old Aunt Atkins
OTHER NAMES: Nancy Dill; “Nancy Gill” “Down By the Cane Break” “Down By de Cane Break,” “Down in the Cane Break,” “Come Love Come,”
SOURCES: Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 2; No. 408, pg. 46. American Memory Collection; Levy Collection; Ceolas: A Fiddler’s Companion;
NOTES: Standard 4/4 time), G Major, AA'BB'. Popular minstrel tune known as “Down By the Cane Break” that was “Sung Nightly with Tremendous Applause, by all the Minstrel Bands.” One of the earliest publications of Nancy Till in 1851 was written for and sung by White’s Serenaders and published in New York by Firth, Pond and Co. Other subsequent editions include a piano solo, Nancy Till Schottisch, by Henry Chadwick New York: Firth, Pond and Co., 1853 and Nancy Till arranged for guitar by Thomas Crouch New York: Firth, Pond and Co., 1853. The song spawned several parodies such as “Uncle Bill” also included in this collection.
Collected as “Nancy Gill” from the songs of Charles Edward Prewett, British Columbia Light Horse, minstrel shows, Vernon B.C., Canada (ca. 1915). A version with similar first verse and chorus is in the Levy Sheet Music Collection under the title Nancy Till. Anne and Frank Warner, collected a fragment of this song from Eleazar Tillett of Wanchese, NC (Outer Banks) in 1951 and it was recorded by Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis as Come Love Come on the album Wilder Joy (Flying Fish 1986), a compilation of two songs Nancy Till and Dan Emmett's (Mt. Vernon, OH) "Boatsman Dance" of the 1840s. Frank Brown of Duke Univ. also collected a version of this song in 1926 from Charles Tillett, Eleazar Tillett's husband. [Brown, Frank C. Folk Songs from North Carolina. Durham: Duke University Press, 1952. (Vol. III of the Seven vol. Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, p. 491.
Here are the minstrel lyrics to Nancy Till from a British broadside:
Down in the cane brake close by the mill,
Da lib'd a yellow girl, her name was Nancy Till,
She know'd I lub'd her,--she know'd it long,
I'm going to serenade her, and I'll sing dis song.
CHORUS: Come, love come, the boat lies low,
She lies high and dry on the Ohio;
Come love, come, and go along with me,
I'll take you down to Tennessee.
Open de windows love, O do!
And listen to de music, I'se playing for you,
De whispering of love, so soft and low,
Harmonize my voice wid de old banjo.
Softly de casement begin for to rise.
De stars am a shining above in de skies,
De moon am declining behind yonder hill,
Reflecting its rays on you, my Nancy Till.
Farewell love, I must now away,
I've a long way to travel before de broke of day,
The next time I come be ready for to go,
In sailing on the banks of de Ohio.
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