Bamboo (River Come Down)

DESCRIPTION: "You take a stick of bamboo (x3), You throw it in the water." "River, she come down (x2)." You travel across the river to come home.
AUTHOR: Dick Weissman and Dave van Ronk
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (album, "Peter, Paul and Mary")
KEYWORDS: river travel campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 550, "Bamboo" (notes only)
RECORDINGS:
Marianne Corbino, "Bamboo" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #632, recorded 08/10/2023)
NOTES [102 words]: Apparently there is a bit of back story here. This started as a tune by Dick Weissman with the lyric "River, she come down." Dave van Ronk added the words so that he would have something to use while teaching guitar accompaniments. It wasn't really meant to be a song; it was a practice piece. But Peter, Paul and Mary liked it, so it became a hit and even found itself used in camps.
Van Ronk didn't even like his own lyrics -- but confessed ironically that it was the only one of his songs that brought in any royalties. But the complicated authorship situation means that the lyrics could drift quite a bit.- RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ACSF550B

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