Sugar in the Gourd (Bacon in the Smokehouse)
DESCRIPTION: "Bacon in the smokehouse, barrel full of lard, Milk in the dairy, butter on the board, Coffee in the little bag, sugar in the gourd, And the way to git it out is to dash the goard about."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Wyeth); 1855-1860 (see Notes re Wyeth)
KEYWORDS: food dancing nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #137, "Bacon in the Smokehouse" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Skean-CircleLeft-FolkPlayOfKentuckyMountains, pp. 44-48, "Sugar on the Floor" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: John Allen Wyeth, _With Sabre and Scalpel_ (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1914 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), "(Sugar in de gourd)" p. 63 (1 verse)
Roud #5051 and 17580
RECORDINGS:
Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers, "Sugar in the Gourd" (Columbia 15612-D, 1930)
NOTES [106 words]: Roud splits Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida's "Bacon in the Smokehouse" from "Sugar in the Gourd," but all the texts involved are short, and the form appears the same; I'm lumping them until someone turns up another "Bacon in the Smokehouse" version. "Bacon" is Roud #5051; "Sugar in the Gourd," #17590.
Skean-CircleLeft-FolkPlayOfKentuckyMountains's "Sugar on the Floor" is more a dance instruction than an actual song, and might be done to some other tune, but the title makes it seem likely that it goes here.- RBW
Wyeth learned "Sugar in de Gourd" from the slave that tought him to make and play the banjo, in Tennessee, around 1855-1856. - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: Morr137
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