Old Bangum- Hamner (TN) 1953 Boswell Collection
[From: Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee: the George Boswell Collection - p. 18 by George W. Boswell, Charles K. Wolfe, Vanderbilt University, 1997.
R. Matteson 2014]
Old Bangum- Sung by Clara Hamner, Clarksville, TN; 1953. "This version was collected from Clara Hamner in Clarksville on December 10, 1953. She had learned it from her mother, Marion Henry Hamner, who had been born in Clarksville in 1908. Marian(sic) Henry had learned it from her mother, Clara McCauley, born in the Clarksville area around 1882."
1. There's a wild boar in these woods,
Dellum dare, dellum,
He'll grind your bones and suck your blood,
Dellum dare, dellum,
Kitty, ki, kum.
2. Old Bangum will you ride,
Dellum dare, dellum,
With a sword and pistol by your side?
Dellum dare, dellum,
Kitty, ki, kum.
For to seek the wild boar in his den,
And there you'll find the bones of a thousand men,
Old Bangum took his wooden[1] gun,
For to shoot the wild boar as he run,
Old Bangum took his wooden knife,
For to take away that wild boar's life,
Old Bangum took his wooden horn,
Old Bangum took his wooden horn,
Old Bangum blew both loud and shrill,
The wild boar heard on Temple Hill,
The wild boar came with such a rush,
He tore his way through brake and brush,
They fought all day and they fought all night,
The wild boar fled in the morning light,
He tracked the wild boar to his den,
And there he saw the bones of a thousand men,
Old Bangum slew that wild boar then,
And he saved the lives of a thousand men.
1. woodsman's gun; cf. Davis C