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Run Mountain
Old‑Time, Breakdown and Song
ARTIST: J. E. Mainer
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1900s; 1930s recording, J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers
RECORDING INFO: Run Mountain
Angel Band. All the Good Times, Cardinale CDLP, LP (197?), trk# A.08
Famous Pyle Brothers. Up on Pyle Mountain, Pyle, Cas (1989), trk# A.02
Macon, Uncle Dave. Wolfe, Charles K.(ed.) / Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee. George Boswell, Univ. Tennesse, Sof (1997), p137/# 86 [1950/05]
Mainer's Mountaineers. J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, Arhoolie 5002, LP (1973), trk# 3
Mainer's Mountaineers. Good Ole Mountain Music, King 666, LP (196?/1946), trk# 4
Mainer's Mountaineers. Bluegrass Hall of Fame, Hollywood HT 105, Cas (1987), trk# 9
Mainer's Mountaineers. Bluegrass Bonanza., Properbox 29, CD (2001), trk# 3.25 [1949]
McCurdy, Ed. Songs of the Old West, Elektra EKL 112, LP (1956), trk# 12 (Chuck A Little Hell)
New Lost City Ramblers. New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 4, Folkways FA 2399, LP (1962), trk# 1
New Lost City Ramblers. Cohen, John, Mike Seeger & Hally Wood / Old Time String Band Songbook, Oak, Sof (1976/1964), p206
Plank Road String Band. Plank Road String Band, Carryon, LP (1976), trk# A.01
Smith, Ralph Lee. Dulcimer; More Old-Time and Traditional Music, Skyline DD-106, LP (1975), trk# 8
Good Ole Mountain Music : Wade Mainer & Mountaineers (1959) New Lost City Ramblers, Vol. 4 : New Lost City Ramblers (1962)
Good Ole Mountain Music : J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers (196?)
J.E. Mainer's Mountainerrs : Mainer's Mountaineers (1973)
Dulcimer - More Old Time And Traditional Music : Ralph Lee Smith (1975)
Plank Road String Band : Plank Road String Band (1976)
Bluegrass Hall Of Fame : J.E.Mainer's Mountaineers (1987)
Oh Boy! O'Boy! : Tim O'Brien & The O'Boys (1993) )
Run Mountain : J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers (1997)
"Chuck A Little Hill" Songs Of The Old West : Ed McCurdy (196?)
RELATED TO: Crow Black Chicken; Farmer's Daughter; Down the River I Go" (words); "Whoop 'em Up Cindy" (words); "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" [Child 81] (words); "The Hunt is Up" (words)
OTHER NAMES: Chuck A Little Hill
SOURCES: Kuntz; Mudcat; Folk Index; Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 206, "Run Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Run Mountain was even recorded by Bob Marley on his smash CD Ghost Country. Marley's lyrics came from Mainer's version.
From Kuntz: Most versions stem from J.E. Mainer, who did not claim to have composed it but rather said it was an old song he had heard:
Run Mountain, take a little hill. (x2)
Mainer himself said the last part was “check a little hill,” meaning to investigate a hill, but his brother Wade thought it may have been a mishearing of “there’s sugar in the hill,” referring to the preparation of moonshine, according to Lyle Lofgren.
Mainer's version is on King 819, J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers. Folkways FA 2399, New Lost City Ramblers ‑ "vol. 4."
"Run Mountain" was played by the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers in San Carlos on June 11th 1962. It was not performed by the Grateful Dead. Occurs only on pre-Dead tapes featuring future members of the dead.
The Chuck A Little Hill title is rare and derives from the use of that line in the chorus.
The tune and some of the lyrics are similar to those of the Crow Black Chicken performed by the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers in the same set.
Here's the full lyrics of the version performed by the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers:
Goin' on the mountain,
Get me a load of pine,
Put it on the wagon,
I rode down behind.
(Chorus) Run mountain, chuck a little hill,
Run mountain, chuck a little hill,
Run mountain, chuck a little hill,
There you'll get your fill.
Many miles from my home,
Roosters crow for day,
Me upstairs with another man's wife,
Better be getting away.
Chorus...
Way up on the mountain,
Give my horn a blow,
Thought I heard my true love say,
That's coming from my beau
Chorus...
When I'm in the fields hard at work,
I sit down to play,
Thinking of my own true love,
She's many miles away.
Chorus...
Wished I had a needle and thread,
Fine as I could sew,
Sew my pretty girl to my side,
Down the road I'd go.
Chorus...
Once I had a little girl,
Got her from the south,
Only thing that's wrong with her,
She had too big a mouth.
Chorus...
Took my girl to the blacksmiths shop,
To have her mouth made small,
Turned around a time or two,
Swallowed that shop and all.
Chorus...
The "Way up on the mountain, Give my horn a blow" is a floating verse that occurs in many traditional songs such as Bile De Cabbage Down, Crow Black Chicken and Old Joe Clark.
Run Mountain: J.E. Mainer
Went up on the mountain, To get a load of pine,
I put it on the wagon, And I broke down behind.
Chorus: Run mountain, check a little hill,
Run mountain, check a little hill,
Run mountain, check a little hill,
There you'll get your fill.
When I was real hard at work, I set down to play,
Thinking of my old true love, She's many miles away.
Me six miles from my home, And the chickens crowing for day,
Me upstairs with another man's wife, Better be getting away.
lf I had a needle and thread, As fine as I could sew,
I'd sew my true love to my side, And down the road I'd go.
I went up on the mountain, To give my horn a blow,
I thought I heard my true love say, That's coming from my beau.
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