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Uncle Bill/Nancy Till/ Down By the Cane Break/Come, Love Come
Old-Time Minstrel Ballad and American, Dance Tune; Widely known
ARTIST: From American Memory-A Parody on "Nancy Till" by John L. Zieber, Sung by J. W. THOMPSON, at the "Kossuth Exchange." Published by J. Andrews, No. 38 Chatham Street, N. Y. [n. d.] Ca. 1850’s;
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 parody lyrics of Nancy Till (Uncle Bill) from American Memory:
Way up town near the top of the hill,
There I met a toper and his name was Uncle Bill;
He knows he's a toper, he knows known it very well,
And if he keeps a drinking they will put him in a cell
CHORUS: Come, Bill, come, your funds are low,
As you sit dry near the Park fountain, O;
Come, Bill, come, just you go along with me,
I'll pay the way as we go on a spree.
I come from the Island, to-day they set me free,
So come along, my chum, we will have a jolly spree;
Like a fish you must drink, till your funny old nose
Will turn to the hue of a full-blown rose.
Come, Bill, come, &c.
Slowly the tumbler begins for to rise,
His lips touch the glass as he winks both his eyes;
The landlord he laughs with a right hearty will,
As he sees all the capers of old Uncle Bill.
Come, Bill, come, &c.
Open your mouth, Bill, drink till you're blue,
Drink to my health, while I'm paying for you;
I have got lots o' rocks, so drink to your fill,
O! see how it glides down the throat of Uncle Bill.
Come, Bill, come, &c.
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