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Old Plank Road/ Down the Old Plank Road/ Way Down the Old Plank Road
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown Southeast;
ARTIST: Source: Uncle Dave Macon (with Sam McGee) 'Way Down The Old Plank Road' recorded on 14 April 1926 in NYC and issued as Vocalion 15321 in June 1926 and as Vocalion 5097 in February 1927. Reissued on Uncle Dave Macon 'Go Long Mule' County CO-CD-3505.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes.
DATE: 1800’s.
RECORDING INFO:
Down the Old Plank Road
Holy Modal Rounders. Holy Modal Rounders, Fantasy 24711, CD/ (1972/1964), trk# 2.03 Paley, Tom. Shivaree!, Esoteric ES-538, LP (1955), trk# A.06
Smathers, Luke; String Band. Mountain Swing, June Appal JA 024, LP (1977), trk# 4
Way Down the Old Plank Road [Me II-Z19]
Dunson, Josh; & Ethel Raim (eds) / Anthology of American Folk Music, Oak, Sof (1973), p 94
Banjo Newsletter, BNL, Ser (1973-), 1977/12,p20
Feldmann, Peter; & the Pea Patch Quintet. Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm, Hen Cackle HC 504, CD (2004), trk# 2 (Old Plank Road)
Highwoods String Band. Dance All Night, Rounder 0045, LP (1975), trk# 14
Luckiamute River String Band. Waterbound, Lucks '94, Cas (1994), trk# B.01
Macon, Uncle Dave. Anthology of American Folk Music, Smithsonian/Folkways SFW 40090, CD( (1997), trk# 78 [1926/04/14]
Macon, Uncle Dave. Uncle Dave Macon. Early Recordings, County 521, LP (197?), trk# 4 [1926/04/14]
Macon, Uncle Dave. Rosenbaum, Art (ed.) / Old-Time Mountain Banjo, Oak, sof (1968), p72
Macon, Uncle Dave. Classic Sides 1924-1938, JSP 7729A-D, CD( (2004), trk# A.11 [1926/04/14]
New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p202
Scragg Family. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, Sonyatone ST-1001, LP (1973), trk# 9
RELATED TO: Ain't I Goin' (Nebraska Play-Pary song 1882);
OTHER NAMES: Ole Plank Road; Down the Old Plank Road; Way Down the Old Plank Road
SOURCES: JOAFL; Kuntz
NOTES: Old time song first recorded by Uncle Dave Macon in 1926. Similar versions are found in Talley and Ames in the JOAFL Ain't I Goin' (Nebraska Play-Pary song 1882); See notes: Way Down the Old Plank Road.
Kuntz: OLD PLANK ROAD. AKA and see "Way Down the Old Plank Road," "Plank Road." D Major. Standard tuning. AA'BB'. Plank roads were a feature of American transportation in the mid-19th century, the first being constructed in Michigan (1837) and New York (1844). When they were properly maintained they provided a smooth surface, and should not be confused with log ‘corduroy’ roads that were often quite dangerous. Construction consisted of laying planks of pine or oak, eight to sixteen feet long and three to four inches thick, across ‘sleepers’ or ‘stringers’ that had been placed parallel.
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The tune was recorded by David Harrison “Uncle Dave” Macon (1870-1952), the “Dixie Dewdrop,” a popular and colorful entertainer and recording star in the early days of radio and 78 RPM recordings. Macon sang and played banjo, sometimes with a group called the Fruitjar Drinkers. “Way Down the Old Plank Road” is a song about working on a Georgia chain gang. The road theme is one Macon would have been attuned to, however, for before he made it big with his music he was the proprietor of the Midway Mule and Wagon Transportation Company.
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Rather be in Richmond with all the hail and rain,
Than to be in Georgia boys wearin' that ball and chain.
Chorus:
Won't get drunk no more, won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more, way down the Old Plank Road.
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I went down to Mobile, but I got on the gravel train,
Very next thing they heard of me, had on that ball and chain.
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Doney, oh dear Doney, what makes you treat me so,
Caused me to wear that ball and chain, now my ankle's sore.
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Knoxville is a pretty place, Memphis is a beauty,
Wanta see them pretty girls, hop to Chattanoogie.
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I'm going to build me a scaffold on some mountain high,
So I can see my Doney girl as she goes riding by.
***
My wife died on Friday night, Saturday she was buried,
Sunday was my courtin' day, Monday I got married.
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Eighteen pounds of meat a week, whiskey here to sell,
How can a young man stay at home, pretty girls look so well.
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Harry Smith (Folkways FA2953, 1952) writes: “Dave Macon, the ‘Dixie Dew Drop’, was born at Smart Station, Tennessee, October 7th, 1870. He learned his trade in Nashville, where his parents operated the Macon Hotel, a theatrical boarding house, and became a professional entertainer about 1888. Many of the songs he learned before 1900 from workers on the levee and along the Mississippi were recorded among the hundred or so titles he cut between 1923 and 1938, and are unique among commercial recordings. His descriptions of life on the chain gang here and on (“Buddy Won’t You Roll Down the Line”) of this set are two of the most characteristic of a number of songs of this type he recorded. The verses about the scaffold and the wife’s death are widely known folk-lyric elements.” African-American collector Thomas Talley (born c. 1870) printed a tune called “Aunt Dinah Drunk” in his 1922 work Negro Folk Rhymes, which includes a chorus which shows up in the Macon song “Way Down the Old Plank Road.”
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Yes, I won’t git drunk an’ kicky up a chunk.
I won’t git drunk an’ kicky up a chunk.
I won’t git drunk an’ kicky up a chunk,
‘Way down on de ole Plank Road.
Oh shoo my Love! My turkle dove.
Oh shoo my Love! My turkle dove.
Oh shoo my Love! My turkle dove,
‘Way down on de ole Plank Road.
***
A few bars of the verse melody appear in “I’m Off to Charlestown,” an air in Kerr’s Merry Melodies (c. 1880’s) that sounds as though it was imported from America. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 18. County 521, "Uncle Dave Macon: Original Recordings, 1925‑1935." County 541, Uncle Dave Macon – “Nashville: The Early String Bands.” Folkways FA2953, Uncle Dave Macon – “American Folk Music” (1952). Folkways 2492c, New Lost City Ramblers. Rounder 1033a, Uncle Dave Macon – “Tennessee Strings.” Rounder Records 11569c, Highwoods String Band – “Way Down the Old Plank Road.” VET 101a, Uncle Dave Macon – “The Dixie Dewdrop.” Vocalion 15321 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon (1926).
WAY DOWN THE OLD PLANK ROAD
Source: Uncle Dave Macon (with Sam McGee) 'Way Down The Old Plank Road' recorded on 14 April 1926 in NYC and issued as Vocalion 15321 in June 1926 and as Vocalion 5097 in February 1927. Reissued on Uncle Dave Macon 'Go Long Mule' County CO-CD-3505.
[Spoken] Hot dog, buddy let's go
Rather be in Richmond, midst all the hail and rain,
Than for to be in Georgia boys, wearing that ball and chain.
Chorus:
Won't get drunk no more, won't get drunk no more,
Won't get drunk no more, way down the old plank road.
I went down to Mobile for to get on the gravel train,
Very next thing heard of me, had on a ball and chain.
Chorus
Doney, oh dear Doney, what makes you treat me so?
Caused me to wear the bail and chain, now my ankle's sore.
Chorus
[spoken] Glory halelujah there!
Knoxville is a pretty place, Memphis is a beauty,
Want to see them pretty girls, hop to Chattanoogie.
Chorus
[Spoken] Glory halelujah there! Fare thee well I'm gone!
I'm gwine to build me a scaffold on some mountain high,
So I can see my Dora girl, she goes riding by.
Chorus
My wife died Friday night, Saturday she was buried,
Sunday was my courting day, Monday I got married.
Chorus
[Spoken] Gee horse there!
Eighteen pounds of meat a week, whiskey here to sell,
How can a young man stay at home, pretty girls look so well.
Chorus
[spoken] Fare thee well!
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